To hope and to act are two essential attitudes of every Christian. In the words of Pope Francis (Message of His Holiness Pope Francis for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation), it means “to live an incarnational faith, one that can enter into the suffering and hope-filled “flesh” of others, by sharing in the expectation of the bodily resurrection to which believers are predestined in Christ the Lord” (n.9). It is important that we keep asking ourselves these questions: „Where, when, and how are we to bear that witness? Surely by caring for the flesh of suffering humanity. As people who dare to dream, we must dream with our eyes wide open, impelled by a desire for love, fraternity, friendship and justice for all. Christian salvation enters into the depths of the world’s suffering, which embraces not only humanity but also the entire universe, nature itself, and the oikos, the home and living environment of humanity” (n.2) „In our hopeful and persevering expectation of the glorious return of Jesus, the Holy Spirit keeps us, the community of believers, vigilant; he continually guides us and calls us to conversion, to a change in lifestyle in order to resist the degradation of our environment and to engagement in that social critique which is above all a witness to the real possibility of change” (n.5) Therefore, let us not only pray and hope inactively, but let us accept the challenge of concrete actions that many times has to begin with changing our own lifestyle, mentality, especially the way we understand and exercise power over our brothers and sisters and over creation. It is a long process, and „the beginnings are tiny, but the expected results can prove to be infinite in their beauty” (n.3). It starts with you and me, here and now, when we decide to HOPE AND ACT WITH CREATION.
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