Caring for our Common Home is one of the four “Universal Apostolic Preferences” of the Society of Jesus. Integral ecology is therefore a priority for the Jesuits, and their Spirituality Centres also take it into account, especially in Châtelard and Penboc’h centres in France, and La Pairelle centre in Belgium. Let’s see how they contribute to contemplating Creation, caring for it and preserving it.

Caring for Creation is a spiritual experience.

So that everyone can seek and find God in Creation today, Spirituality Centres offer various types of sessions related to ecological reflection, gardening, and even flower arranging. Participants are invited to take a break, contemplate and improve our relationship with ourselves, Creation and God.

“Questioning our relationship with nature helps us discover the deep joy that ecological conversion brings”, explains Jean-Brice Bigourdan, director of Penboc'h Spirituality Centre (Southern Brittany, France).

Spirituality Centres La Pairelle and Penboc'h, offer sessions that combine gardening and Ignatian Pedagogy. The goals are to show participants that nature and spirituality are linked, and to (re)discover virtues such as patience and contemplation.

Among the newest sessions, the "bouquets and spirituality" retreat aims to link contemplation, floral arrangement, meditation and prayer. Participants discover how arranging flowers into a bouquet can be a prayer.

Last but not least, families, which are the first place of relationship and education, are also a place of ecological conversion. Some spiritual sessions are especially dedicated to them.

Flore de Langle, Communications Officer