By Lucy Slinger, Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration
When the air outside begins to feel crisp, it brings to my mind the season of remembrance in the Catholic Church. On Nov. 1 and 2, we celebrate all saints and the
souls of those who have gone before us. We remember saints as those who exemplified a way of life that radiates hope, joy and peace, not one that squelches the joy of living. I endeavor to emulate these people of goodness.
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, to emulate is to strive to equal or excel. To emulate another is to incorporate within your life goodness without pretense. It requires a heartfelt change put into action. That is why the Catholic Church invites us to learn about saints; sets aside special days of remembrance and encourages us to emulate their holy beings. When we share what we know about a good person by our own interactions, change within ourselves and others is possible. Hope is made tangible.
I invite you to do this exercise. Think about a living person who inspires you to emulate them. For me it’s Greta Thunberg, the Swedish environmentalist who, in the summer of 2018, at the age of 15, held the first “School Strike for Climate” outside the country’s parliament. Since then she has traveled around the world, talking with leaders of nations, religions and others, educating about the seriousness of climate change. It takes courage to publicly call those in power to be responsible and accountable for the negative actions that will impact future generations. Her courage, perseverance and self sacrifice are characteristics I want to emulate.
Share aloud the name and inspirational qualities of the person who inspires you with a family member, friend, coworker or even someone you don’t know. Then congratulate yourself because, by making this proclamation to the universe, you have dared to commit an act of tangible hope.
How is this exercise an act of hope? Science says that verbalizing a name sparks sound waves that resonate and impact everything in the universe with which they interact. Just as drops of rain create ripples in a pond, these waves spread out in all directions, causing change to everything around them. The energy of some sound waves will be enhanced, while others are cancelled out. In the chaos of today, we need to nullify negative sound waves — those of greed, conflict, starvation, death and destruction emitted by news stories, political rhetoric and even our personal conversations — to put forth and uphold the good of others. When we identify and share the names of aspirational people, those living or who have gone before us, we are sowers of tangible hope. These actions are fitting, as “Let us sow hope” was the theme of Catholic Climate Covenant’s 2024 Feast of St. Francis, celebrated on Oct. 4. The message shared by CCC calls us to take in the melting ice caps, rising seas, burning forests, dwindling crops and suffering people. “How could we possibly feel hopeful?” Hope is not only possible but essential along our faith journey. “Let us be instruments of God’s peace, and where there is despair let us sow hope by taking action.”
Together we take action for tangible hope
FSPA invites you to “sow hope” for the care of all creation by joining us in our seven-year commitment to the Laudato Si’ Action Platform: A journey of self-discovery, guided by seven goals that call us to immediate action.
We are called to protect “our common home for
the well-being of all, as we equitably address the
climate crisis, biodiversity loss and ecological
sustainability.” Wildflowers breathe life that is ours to sustain on FSPA land on St. Joseph Ridge in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
We are called “to promote eco-justice, with an
awareness that we are called to defend human
life from conception to death and all forms of life
on Earth.” Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration Kathy Roberg creates sleeping mats out of recycled plastic bags for unhoused members of her community in Spokane, Washington.
We are called to acknowledge that the economy “is a subsystem of human society, which itself is embedded within the biosphere — our common home.” Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration’s Georgia Christensen and Corrina Thomas joined Sister Sue Ernster at the 2023 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago, Illinois, where she spoke about FSPA’s divestment of fossil fuels.
We are called to ground ourselves “in the idea of sufficiency and promoting
sobriety in the use of resources and energy.” Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration Nina Shephard’s carbon footprint is made by the tires on her bike.
We are called to rethink and redesign “curricular and institutional reform
in the spirit of integral ecology to foster ecological awareness and transformative action.” FSPA Land Sustainability Coordinator Siena Muehlfeld cultivated such awareness at La Crossearea university and college back-to-school events.
We are called to the ecological spirituality “that springs from a profound ecological conversion and helps us to ‘discover God in all things,’ both in the
beauty of creation and in the sighs of the sick and the groans of the afflicted.”
FSPA affiliates and partners in mission Meg Paulino and Michael Krueger process into Mary of the Angels Chapel during a prayer service celebrating water.
We are called to “a synodal journey of community engagement and participatory action at various levels.” Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration Antona Schedlo engages and participates by learning about becoming a multi-issue voter via networkadvocates.org.