CARE OF CREATION 2020 GUIDE - TO LOVE IS TO HEAL from Discover Your Neighbor Learn more or access the most current guide: https://maryknoll.link/zyz

1. DYN Care of Creation:
To Love is to heal
www.DiscoverYourNeighbor.org

2. Objective
In this issue we will examine how we impact
creation and how creation impacts us. Pope
Francis through Laudato Si’ reminds us that
we are in relationship with the earth much as
we are with our own families. We examine two
traumatic events: COVID-19 and a nuclear
accident and their impact both on humans and
the environment. Together we will explore
ways that we can heal ourselves, others and
the environment through love and action.

3. Step 1: Pray
Pope Francis reminds us in Laudato Si’ of the
importance of healing creation. Our relationship with
Creation requires us to heal it, but it can also heal us.
When we connect with nature, it can help us heal
trauma, grief and sadness.
For this prayer, find a place in nature that you enjoy. If
you cannot go outside, listen to the rain, look up at the
sky or at a photo. You can find a video with photos on
discoveryourneighbor.org. Read the words very
slowly, pausing after each sentence. Allow yourself to
be still and present to God’s creation.
Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am.
Be still and know.
Be still.
Be.
Amen

4. FAITHPERSPECTIVE
“Trauma is anything that is overwhelming or too much to handle. This COVID-19 pandemic has been
overwhelming on a global basis, it has paralyzed the world and caused us to change. Because of what
is happening right now, we are all experiencing some sort of trauma,” explains Maryknoll Father Dennis
Moorman.
Before COVID-19, Father Dennis traveled around the world as a missionary priest working with people
who had experienced trauma in various ways. During days of physical distancing and restricted travel,
he now helps people cope with trauma virtually from his home in São Paulo, Brazil.
While in quarantine, Father Dennis’ mother passed away in Indiana. He said, “It was difficult not to be
with her or to have family with her when she died.” Like Father Dennis, so many are grieving now. Grief
is a way we respond to trauma.
Father Dennis explained, ”I have discovered that trauma and spirituality are intertwined. Spirituality is
the experience of being connected—to our self, other beings, our physical environment and to God.
Staying connected to others and creation helps us feel safe, (but with the COVID-19 virus, it has been
difficult because we have had to stay physically distant from one another). When we exercise, meditate
or spend time in nature, we are able to connect with our body, which can help us release some of the
trauma we may be holding.
“In my practice I can never separate the physical from the emotional—or the spiritual. As a witness to
the Gospel, I believe that to love is to heal. As Jesus said , ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes
in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these…’ “ (John 14:12)
STEP 2: MAKE PERSONALCONNECTIONS

5. NEIGHBOR FOCUS:
After the earth quaked, the ocean flooded the town with a wall of water causing a nuclear accident in
Fukushima, Japan, on March 11, 2011. The nuclear waste poisoned the earth, the farms and the
people. Maryknoll Sister Kathleen Reiley, who lives in Japan, has dedicated her life to accompanying
children with cancer and bringing awareness against nuclear energy.
She tells the story of a farmer who called for an end to nuclear energy because of its harmful impact.
One day Sister Kathleen took a visitor to a cow farm. She explained, “The government had asked the
farmer to kill the cattle. The milk could not be sold nor could people eat the cows’ meat because the
cows were contaminated. The cows were innocent victims of problems caused by human beings. But
this wonderful man asked the government to let the cows live a natural life and die a natural death.”
The farmer had this message on a sign: “We lived here with no fear of nuclear energy and now we
know we lost something that we can never get back and we want people to understand that we have
to say goodbye to nuclear energy.” Sister Kathleen and the farmer have chosen to break the chain of
destruction that began with the nuclear accident. As missionary disciples, they have dedicated
themselves to advocate for change and to care for the children, the animals and the environment in
order to create a better tomorrow. We can do the same.
DISCUSS or REFLECT on the following questions:
How do these stories illustrate the connection between humans and the earth? Why is it important to
stay connected to one another in times of crisis? What are some of your favorite ways to stay
connected to nature?
EXPRESS your grief and your hope. Both Father Dennis and Sister Kathleen accompany people who
have experienced trauma and loss. During COVID-19 we have all experienced some trauma and
perhaps loss. It is good to RECOGNIZE what has happened and to DISCUSS it by sharing with a
parent, friend or teacher. CONNECT with nature by spending some time walking in a nearby park or in
the woods; or with a group of people who support you. Be a PEACEMAKER and do something to
bring hope to yourself or others. Plant seeds, write your government representatives about nuclear
power, or light a candle to remember what you have lost and what brings you hope.

6. STEP 3: EXPLORE SCRIPTURE AND TRADITION
READ ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:
Old Testament: Sirach 38:1-8
Life of Jesus: Matthew 4:23-25
Christian Living: James 5:13-15
In small groups REFLECT on the following questions.
What do these Scriptures tell us about God’s love and
healing? How can we use that healing love to care for
ourselves, others and creation in difficult times? Where do
you most want to experience God’s healing love in our
world? How can you take part in making this a reality?
Use these Scriptures and the prayer to JOURNAL.
Consider how the environment and the social crises are
interconnected. How does one lead to or spill over into the
other? What can someone your age do to bring about
healing?

7. What Does the Church Say?
“We are faced not with two
separate crises, one
environmental and the other
social, but rather with one
complex crisis, which is both
social and environmental.
Strategies for a solution demand
an integrated approach to
combating poverty, restoring
dignity to the excluded, and at the
same time protecting
nature.” Laudato Si’ 139

8. STEP 4: TAKE ACTION
Students in Seattle Show Us How To
Take Action
In 2020 when classes moved online, students in Seattle
who were part of the Missionary Discipleship Institute
(MDI) had to get creative in order to finish their project
answering the question: Who is my neighbor? With their
class project canceled, they created new ways to reach
out to their neighbors and to take care of the
environment. Each student found something they could
do to help their neighbor. Some of their projects were to
pick up trash, call elderly people to check on them, help
at the food bank, make videos for PE classes and make
masks.
READ this article to learn more about the students. In a
large group BRAINSTORM the answer to: Who is my
neighbor? and What can I do to show love to my
neighbor? TAKE ACTION individually or as a group on at
least one of the ideas you discussed.

9. RAISE YOUR VOICE
USE the Corporal Works of Mercy to
CREATE an individual action plan
committing to how you can bring healing
and love to those in your home, your
community and the environment. The
action plan can be as simple as writing “I
will love my neighbor by….. “ Or “I will work
to heal…..” Raise your voice by sharing
what you did with others and challenging
them to do the same.

10. BE A GLOBAL NEIGHBOR
You can be a partner with Maryknoll Fathers
Dennis Moorman and Daniel McLaughlin in
building a Therapy Center in São Paulo,
Brazil. Father Dennis will be providing therapeutic
support at this center and will meet with the
administrative team to oversee the financing of
this project. Your financial support will help with
construction, furniture, materials and equipment
and professional resources in order to welcome
and support individuals and families with low
income and limited access to therapy by providing
access to individual and group therapies. Visit
Maryknollsociety.org-work/brazil to learn more and
donate to this project.

11. ENGAGE YOUR FAMILY
WATCH the video Signs of Hope, or others about
nature during the COVID-19 shutdown. DISCUSS
ways that you have seen the natural environment
change while people stayed at home during COVID-
19.
WRITE a daily journal documenting everything you
encounter in creation (this can include people).
WRITE what you saw, smelled, touched, heard or
tasted. Keep this journal for at least a few days.
DESIGN a spider web with yourself or family at the
center. Throughout the web, put items from your
journal showing how you interact with nature.
DISCUSS how your family is linked to creation and
the impact you have on it and the impact it has on
you.