Medellin (Colombia). On 13 November 2023, as part of the Provincial Gratitude Festival held at the “La Montañita” Spirituality Center in La Estrella, Antioquia, the Communities of Mary Help of Christians Province (CMA) organized an ecological fair in which they shared the educational initiatives with which they are committed to promoting care of the common home.
“All you creatures of the Lord, bless the Lord” (Dan 3:57). This is the biblical quote that inspired the spiritual experience, which contains all the elements necessary to say Thank you to the Lord: water, earth, sun, stars, moon, night, plants, flowers, fruits, animals, mountains, sea, snow, fire, air, heat, wind, human beings; for all this, praise has been raised with Saint Francis.
In the various mission contexts, the FMA have carried out commitment and awareness-raising proposals: recycling campaigns, school gardens, craft workshops with reusable materials, water saving techniques, etc. All these initiatives have an educational character, as they aim at the integral promotion of the poorest, through the improvement of situations of inequity and social inequality.
Aware of the enormous richness in the Preventive System, and thanks to the vision of integral ecology as a synthesis of the human and social dimensions aimed at the defense and care of life in all its manifestations, the FMA of the Province dedicate themselves as a priority to attention to human life, to the care of interpersonal relationships, to gestures of fraternity, and to the constant accompaniment of each of the Sisters and the people with whom the mission is shared.
The Ecological Gratitude Festival, as an expression of the path of deepening the encyclical letter “Laudato si'” and the apostolic exhortation “Laudate Deum” by Pope Francis, was a special opportunity to value and thank each Community for their contribution.
The creation of an educational-preventive ecosystem, enriched by the family spirit, was one of the best responses that Don Bosco and Mother Mazzarello could give to God’s call in the historical moment they lived. The gift of the Salesian Charism, being first of all a strong spiritual experience, is for the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians the most effective way to promote a culture of life that starts from conscience and the will to fully live integral ecology.
“I invite everyone to accompany this path of reconciliation with the world that hosts us and to embellish it with their own contribution, because our commitment has to do with personal dignity and great values” (Pope Francis, LD 69).
