• Peace is more than the absence of war: it cannot be reduced to the maintenance of a balance of power between opposing forces nor does it arise out of despotic dominion; but it is appropriately called "the effect of righteousness" (Is. 32,17). It is the fruit of that right ordering of things with which the divine founder has invested human society and which must be actualised by man thirsting after an ever more perfect reign of justice (Gaudium et Spes , 78).

• Peace cannot be obtained on earth unless the welfare of man is safeguarded and people freely and trustingly share with one another the riches of their minds and their talents. A firm determination to respect the dignity of other men and other peoples along with the deliberate practice of fraternal love are absolutely necessary for the achievement of peace. Accordingly, peace is also the fruit of love, for love goes beyond what justice can ensure (Gaudium et Spes, 78).

• Therefore, all Christians are earnestly to speak the truth in love (cf. Eph. 4,15) and join with all peace-loving men in pleading for peace and trying to bring it about. In the same spirit we cannot but express our admiration for all who forgo the use of violence to vindicate their rights and resort to those other means of defence which are available to weaker parties, provided it can be done without harm to the rights and duties of others and of the community (Gaudium et Spes, 78).

• If peace is to be established, the first condition is to root out the causes of discord among men which lead to wars - in the first place, injustice. Not a few of these causes arise out of excessive economic inequalities and out of hesitation to undertake the necessary correctives. Some are due to the desire for power and to contempt for people, and at a deeper level, to envy, distrust, pride, and other selfish passions (Gaudium et Spes, 83).

• The notion of liberation is echoed throughout Scripture. We see God working among his people to free them from any circumstance which binds them. For some it means freeing them from injustice and persecution from outside nations. For others it is liberation from that strict observance of law and ritual which blinds them to the needs of their sisters and brothers.

• In the New Testament we encounter Jesus in the synagogue taking up the message of Isaiah:"The spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me. He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and to the blind new sight, to set the downtrodden free, to proclaim the Lord's year of favour" (Luke, 4,16-22).

• In the Gospels we see Jesus going about the work of liberation. He frees people from whatever binds them: sickness, fear, oppression of any kind. In his encounters with people Jesus acts out of one of the fundamental principles of justice - i.e.. the recognition of the dignity of the human person. Through his words and actions Jesus teaches us that each person is of great value and worth in their Creator's eyes. Many of the stories in the Gospels are stories of how Jesus restores a sense of dignity to people from whom it has been taken away. We need only think of the woman caught in adultery (John 8,3-11), the man born blind (John 9,1-41), the cure of the leper (Mark 1,40-45).

• Perhaps it is in the Gospel that the best understanding of justice is given to us. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5) we hear Jesus say to us, "Happy are you who hunger and thirst for what is right". Our notion of justice is quite contemporary. Often when we speak of justice we automatically think of courts and judges and juries. But even with our current system of lawyers and trials, our experience is all too often that justice (true justice) has not been met.

• The bible's notion of justice is different. As said in the beatitude just mentioned, the biblical understanding of justice is "taking that which is wrong and making it right" (The Redemptorists, Toronto - Canada).

• The sign of a Christian is not despair but rather hope and perseverance. One suggested rule is, Think globally and act locally! Otherwise there are three means to help yourself and others:
  PRAYER, EDUCATION, PARTICIPATION.

Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) was declared patron of ecology by Pope John Paul II in 1980. He is universally known for the respect he had for all creatures. "Francis did not have an abstract vision of reality. He believed that every being, every animal, every thing must be treated with courtesy, respecting its uniqueness, its being and the very special place it occupied in the concert of creation" (Hermann SchalŸck OFM, "To Fill The Whole Earth With The Gospel Of Christ", English Speaking Conference of the Order of Friars Minor, St. Louis, MO 1996, n. 159, p. 45).

During the spring of 1225 Francis lay sick in a poor hut near the church of San Damiano, on the flanks of the hill upon which Assisi, his native town, stands. He was left to the loving care of Clare and the Poor Ladies of San Damiano. He had become a blind man, groping in the dark. To go out in the light of the sun was an unbearable torment. Yet, in that state of agony, he composed one of the most beautiful lyrics of literature, considered to be the first song written in his Umbrian dialect. It speaks all about the beauty of creation. Francis invites all creatures, the sun, moon, stars, wind, water, fire, earth, to praise God for having made them.

His christian vision of the world includes also the human person, especially the person who understands the peace of forgiveness and patience, and who awaits death with the joy of one who is waiting for a dear friend. The Canticle of Creatures is a masterpiece of the art of living to the full, of accepting that you are a tiny part of a reality which is your friend, as long as you do not dominate it.

Francis loved woods and mountains. His holidays were always spent in lonely hermitages cut off from the din of the plain where production was the rule of the day. Le Carceri above Assisi still speak of this yearning which is found in all of us. We all long for inner peace. Francis found it. Not by escaping from reality, but by understanding the rhythms of nature, and respecting its laws. He did not meddle with the environment to cause climatic change or alter the ecosystem. Nor did he try to change genetic codes. Above all, he did not agree with the wrong concept of man dominating nature, as many christians thought with their erroneous interpretation of Genesis 1,28: "Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and conquer it".

An exotic tale narrates how Francis tamed a wild wolf in Gubbio. It could be one of the romantic fairy-tales about the poverello of Assisi. But it could also be seen as a true story about respect for the dignity of the human person. It speaks about my dignity, about your dignity. It speaks about my right, about your right, to have enough food to eat, enough shelter to live decently, enough care to feel accepted and loved. If we do not respect these needs there will be many wolves of Gubbio around, armed with their only means for self-defence, that is, violence.

Francis probably makes us aware of the folly of nuclear arsenals. If we got rid of them, we are still afraid of ravenous wolves who might be able to produce them in the future. Francis remains a prophet warning us that ecology is not only a science depending upon human expertise. He encourages us to accept that ecology in aid of human dignity spells one important word for all of us - peace.

157. As a result of what we have been seeing, we feel a strong compulsion to participate actively in every possible way in the promotion of justice and peace, taking account of concrete situations. This extends to the safe-guarding of creation, especially since we are all aware that it is "mortally wounded".

158. Francis is undoubtedly a singularly powerful witness of peace, justice and safeguarding creation, attitudes he lives as a gift of God in Christ and radiated in a particularly convincing way. The day of prayer and fasting for peace held in Assisi on October 27, 1986, was a wonderful evoation of this attiitude, proposing it again with tremendous urgency, given the difficulties of the times in which we live. In this way the see of what has come to be known as "the spirit of Assisi" was planted.

159. In this spirit we cultivate a profound vision which highlights the fraternal relations of all being in creation. We know the respect Francis had for all creatures. He sough to become one with them in praising the Creator. This was no generic or abstarct vision of reality. He believed that every being, every animal, every thing must be trested with courtesy, respecting its uniqueness, its being and the very special place it occupied in the concert of creation.

160. To foster justice, peace and care for creation is to be aware that all beings exists in God and are called to a universal brotherhood, desired always by God and realized in Christ. "In Christ, firstborn of all creation, all things hold together". In early Franciscan experience, humans, nature and God are linked together by an intense degree of sympathy and affection. The saint of Assisi is thus one who situates himself easily among all creatures, never above them.

161. It is up to us to keep this rich tradition in mind, since it is part of our charism. We should constantly nourish it and activate it in our own historical context whenever the "signs of the times" require it. We are persuaded that it is never enough simply to be-in-the-world. We are called first of all to be-together, to coexist and to share along the lines of communion, participation and universal brotherhood.

162. It is justice that achieves such a universal brotherhood. Justice enables something that belongs to our ideal to become visible. It hears the cry of the excluded. It turns the world into a place of realistic sharing. It permeates the global tissues of existence, accepting the challenges and responding to the crying needs of now. It becomes the operative and liberating shape of the Gospel. It includes every aspect of life, of groups and of peoples. It is at the root of the basic rights of the human person. It points to the protection of minorities in the face of social, political and economic structures.

163. Equally, in a world which is crucified by violence, wars, radical fundamentalism. discords and divisions, we realize the urgency of Francis' invitation to be, more and more, workers for peace and instruments of reconciliation. Let us begin with those with whom we live and serve: the fraternity, the local and national community. In an ongoing spirit of discernment and guided by Gospel criteris, let us strive to work with the various local movements promoting peace, and with national and international organizations so as to promote peace among people of all ethnic groups, races, cultures and religions.

164. Scientific knowledge of ecosystems and of their interdependence continues to grow. Simultaneously, we are aware that the destruction of the environment threatens the future. The ecological crisis has become an ethical and moral problem. As a fraternity we must encourage the spirituality of the numerous groups which work for the protection of the environment. Progress will have to be measured qualitatively and not quantitatively, so that the quality of life is esteemed as more valuable than the tendency to accumulate things. I would point out that the Friar Minor, by adopting a simple life-style in the spirit of Saint Francis, already presents an answer to the crisis caused by the imbalance in creation.

(To fill the whole Earth with the Gospel of Christ, 1996, Hermann Schalück , Minister General OFM).

The life of St. Francis has a character of witness and a prophetic dimension. The environmental crisis offers a unique historical challenge for Franciscans. What we are expected to do in the spirit of St. Francis is, first of all, to BE the change we wish to see in the world. That is what must characterize our commitment to the world, our commitment to evangelization. This can be realized in:

1. An ongoing conversion in our personal and fraternal lives.
To achieve this objective we must use our local and provincial chapters for evaluation of our life styles, patterns of consumption, capitalistic mentality, poverty; to constantly adopt and ecologically sound way of life (fewer amenities, reducing artificial needs, avoiding questionable products, etc.)

2. Recovering the ecological dimensions of our spirituality
In our attempt to revitalize contemplative life on the basis of responsibility for creation we are invited to reach for the tradition of Franciscan mysticism exploring Franciscan scripts, e.g. Canticle of Brother Sun. Nature should be rediscovered as a place of mystical contemplation. We have to promote the Franciscan ways of devotion which spring from the love and care for creations such as: Christmas cribs, blessing of animals, etc. In the attempts to revitalize our liturgy we must develop the multiple dimensions of the sacramental symbols which lead to the Creator and to the sacredness and integrity of all creation.

3. Integrating ecological issues in the process of formation.
First of all Franciscans must be well informed on ecological issues. Their ecological education must not be seen as an addition to the Franciscan formation but an integral part. It is necessary to adopt a new learning process which approaches ecological issues in an interdisciplinary and holistic way. The brother hood of all creation should be promoted in our initial and ongoing formation, encouraging those in formation to practice symbolic and sacramental attitudes towards nature.

We have to try to develop partnership with the public and private schools systems in order to implemenet our Franciscan viewpoint in programs related to the care of creation. We should also think of developing our own programs for environmental education which could be used as reference material by those who work on other environmental programs.

Formal studies of environmental issues should be encouraged within the Order so that as many brothers as possible study these issues, either at our Franciscan Centre for International Studies of Environment at the "Antonianum" in Rome, or in other study centres.

4. Cooperating with other ecological movements.
There are many people who seriously try to integrate their lives with the environment. We are called to initiate/or support a way of acting which says NO to violence, destruction, waste, nuclear testing, exploitation, domination, and YES to life, love, solidarity, self-determination, nonviolence.

5. Using ecological issues as a basis of ecumenical work.
Ecological crises do not have any boundaries. Therefore, environmental issues are our common responsibility. That is the basis for dialogue between people of different nationalities, religions and cultures.

6. Integrating safeguarding of creation with the work of justice and peace.
Injustice in the world is one of the main sources of environmental devastation and ecological crisis. To seriously approach the environmental crisis is impossible without working on a more just social order. Ecology is not just about human beings and nature, but also about the realtions between human beings themselves. Social justice and ecology go hand in hand.
(Boze Vuleta OFM, Seoul, Korea, 12 August 1995)