San Damiano: Care for Creation is Our Soul Work (In-Person or Online)

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“The most remarkable feature of this historical moment on Earth is not that we are on the way to destroying the world — we’ve actually been on the way for quite a while. It is that we are beginning to wake up, as from a millennia-long sleep, to a whole new relationship to our world, to ourselves and each other.”  –Joanna Macy

As a celebration of Earth Day we will reflect upon how Laudato Si leads us to our soul work in the world.  Are there times you wish you were more connected to your life’s purpose?  Are you seeking the meaning of being alive in this challenging time?  What does it mean to follow Jesus today?

Anne and Terry Symens-Bucher are founders of Canticle Farm, an intentional community in Oakland, California experimenting at the intersection of faith, social justice, and Earth-based activism.  We believe the political, economic, educational, and ecological crises we are facing in this historical moment are rooted in a spiritual crisis arising from the illusion of the separate, autonomous self.  The spiritual journey we are being invited into today is moving from the individual, separate, autonomous consciousness to a communal consciousness, to become persons in community capable of caring for our common home.  Canticle Farm is rooted in Franciscan spirituality and the Work That Reconnects, a body of teachings best known through living systems and Buddhist scholar Joanna Macy.   By reflecting upon Laudato Si and engaging in the experiential exercises of The Work That Reconnects, we can be led to our soul work—the unique and particular work we came into this life to do.

For the past fifteen years, Anne has worked as Joanna Macy’s executive assistant and prior to that in the Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation office for the Franciscan Province of Saint Barbara (western U.S.).  Terry has a Master of Divinity Degree from the Franciscan School of Theology and a Juris Doctor degree from U.C. Hastings College of Law.  Both Anne and Terry are professed Secular Franciscans.

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