John Surette, SJ (NEN)
“Your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions.” (Joel 3:1)
I have been a member of our Society for fifty-five years and have just turned seventy-eight years of age. On the occasion of my birthday I desire to share with you my dream for our Society in this first half of the twenty-first century.
My dream begins with a story from medieval Europe. It is a story about three classes of men: Three men were carrying stones at a worksite. The first man was asked what he was doing and he replied that he was carrying stones. The second, when asked the same question, replied that he was supporting his family. The third man answered the question by saying that he was building a cathedral.
In my dream I ask the question. What is the cathedral that we Jesuits are building in this century? Like the second man in the story, many of us are busy doing our teaching, our pastoral work, our social action ministries, our giving of the Exercises, and many other good works, but what is our overarching Great Work as a Society in this century? My dream reaches for an answer to this question.
I see our Great Work as our discerning the “universal good” and as our focusing on the “greater good.” I also see it as our moving onto the “frontiers…those geographical and spiritual places where others do not reach or find difficult to reach” that Father General Nicolas mentioned in his recent State of the Society message.
My dream also contains a reading of the signs of the times, those deep movements within the world and in the souls of peoples at the beginning of this century. What stands out for me among the signs is the slowly growing awareness that Earth’s web of life is under ever increasing stress and diminishment. Forests are shrinking, water-tables are falling, soils are eroding, fisheries are collapsing, rivers are running dry, glaciers and ice caps are melting, coral reefs are bleaching, the ocean is becoming more acidic, the atmosphere is warming, plant and animal species are going into extinction at a greater rate, and the children of all species are increasingly being born sick. In all of this and much more we are reaching the limits of what life on Earth can tolerate… we are facing ultimacy.
We are the first generations of humans ever to be aware of such an ultimacy. No previous humans could even have imagined it. The great teachers of the past did not speak about it. There is no mention of it in our sacred texts and traditions. Our evolutionary past has not prepared us to deal with it.
In my dream I worry that later on in this century the children and grandchildren will find themselves living within a community of life here on Earth that has a compromised future, a future in which it will be increasingly difficult for them to live with hope, find meaning, and enjoy beauty.
What is happening to Earth belongs to an order of magnitude beyond any other into which we Jesuits have poured out our apostolic energies in the past. It is of greater magnitude than any of the present day social justice issues. In fact, it is foundational for them in that none of them will succeed apart from the larger context of what is happening to Earth itself.
We are confronted with the hardest reality of our times, namely, the fate of Earth with its human community. As a Company of religious men I see us being called to make a religious response to Earth’s fate. This appears to be the most challenging role that we Jesuits have ever been asked to assume. It is soul size. It will require that we move beyond any denial and paralysis and that we move into the future with hope, courage, and intention.
In my dream this future begins with embedding our passionate love of humanity within an equally passionate love of Earth and its web of life. This love will lead us into working with others to bring about a mutually enhancing relationship between Earth and its human community.
My brothers in Christ and companions on the way, I thank you for reading this outline of my dream. In doing so you have participated in my birthday celebration!
John has been giving retreats and workshops on ecological and cosmological themes for some twenty-two years. In these programs, he assists people to experience themselves not as living “on” Earth but as being “of” Earth. He resides in Chicago, USA and can be reached through his e-mail at spirearth(at)aol.com.
Dear John: I was born 70 years ago in Spain and I dream your way. There are many religious papers related to be aware of our warming climate, but we lack of examples like yours, ideas to act.
Twenty years ago I sat up a company http://www.sumersol.com , devoted to avoid emission of CO2 at the atmosphere. We switch fossil fuels for thermal solar energy, in hotels, nursing homes, community swimming pools, etc.
We do not sell the components of the solar system, but we sell the thermal energy that it gets, so the user does not need to make any investment, he only needs to employ properly the TIME, signing a long term contract during which he will save money and save the Earth.
There are many ways to fulfil your dream, this is one.
Yours Juan J. Rojo
Thank you John,
Interesting! and Happy belated Birthday :)!
Its our Lord’s first command to us in Genesis to steward this earth well 🙂 I think we are meant to ground ourselves in this life fully, living fulness of life in all its aspects. Our Lord Jesus suffered so much for us and cruelly died so as to give us a completely restored/sinless life.
We are not be ‘of’ ‘this world'(the present world system) with its values, ungodliness and sin but I fully believe our Father is totally passionate to partner with us to bring Heaven to earth. ‘Your Kingdom come, YOUR Will be done; on earth as it is in Heaven’ Jesus taught us to pray. There is no darkness in Him 🙂
I do believe that the dreams God gives His children are very important. A little while ago, a friend was on a national flight in the US. After they had taken off, a serious problem occurred and during 10 minutes, the crew and passengers were readied for the worst. Its was a v serious crises situation. Then my friend, a passionate Christian, felt the Lord reminding him of some of his dreams he still had in his ardent work for the restoration of family and community, etc. The plane made an emergency landing and not 1 person got hurt! He felt that, as long as God’s people have dreams (put in our hearts by God anyway!), our Father treasures the realisation of the dreams of His kids so much that they work as true preservation – salt on His earth. Abraham lived by faith, not sight!
That makes may very passionate to dream BIG cose I’m partnering with a very BIG G-D for whom everything is possible and whose will it is ‘to make ALL things new’ :))
Even when I was not a Christian yet, our Lord always brought Christians from different parts of His body on my path, Catholics, Protestants, Evangelicals, Charismatics etc and I never realised there were differences that could divide them. I only experienced from each of them Gods Love, embrace and witness and they ALL contributed to the salvation of my kids and me in the end. I love it also how, in so many places our Lord is bringing His church together in all its diversity and unique expression and flavour in His great unconditional Love so that His new Earth is brought about powerfully in His grace. PRAISE HIM so much, His Way and timing are perfect.
Aunque mi comentario esta fuera de la fecha en que se escribió este articulo por parte del padre John Surette, SJ. Es un llamado a toda la humanidad para que entre todos tomemos conciencia acerca de lo que le esta pasando a nuestro planeta, por el manejo irresponsable que le hemos venido dando a nuestros recursos naturales, los que mañana seguramente perderemos en su totalidad de no corregir las políticas equivocadas en cuanto al manejo irresponsable de estos recursos. Todos estamos en la obligación de cuidar y proteger nuestra única casa en el universo, nuestra tierra con toda si biodiversidad.
Gracias padre John, seguiremos recibiendo con mucho entusiasmo sus enseñanzas.
Atentamente,
Ing. Uriel Henao Ramírez.