The Laboratory for Integral Ecology, on the occasion of Earth Day 2026, proposed the following reflection in the light of our charism:

SMALL ACTIONS – BIG CHANGES

Below is the PDF containing concrete proposals for “small actions for big changes”:  Earth day 2026 eng

TOWARD A REGENERATIVE APOSTOLICITY:

FROM CREATION RECEIVED TO CREATION ASSUMED AS MISSION

By Father Godfrey Nzamujo OP. – Songhai International

In the light of Laudato si’ and the teaching of Pope Francis, and drawing from the living experience of Songhaï, a truth imposes itself with a new clarity:

👉 the way we inhabit creation determines the way we proclaim the Creator.

We find ourselves today at a critical moment in human history. The ecological crisis, the disintegration of economies, the loss of meaning, and the fragilization of societies are not separate crises. They reveal one and the same original wound:

👉 the rupture of the covenant between God, man, and creation.

Now, from the very first pages of Scripture, this covenant is clearly established:

“The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and to keep it” (Genesis 2:15).

Man is therefore neither the absolute owner nor a simple user of the earth. He is guardian, servant, and collaborator of creation.

In this context, the apostolic mission can no longer be limited to word or social action.

👉 It must become a way of inhabiting creation according to God, a way of restoring the lost covenant.

THE EARTH: A SACRED GIFT AND A COVENANT TO BE INHABITED

Biblical Revelation teaches us that creation is not neutral.

“The earth is the Lord’s and all that it contains” (Psalm 24:1).

The earth is therefore a gift, but more than that, it is a space of communion.

When the earth is reduced to a resource, it is profaned. When it is recognized as a gift from God, it becomes a place of blessing.

Saint Paul reminds us that:

“The whole creation groans in the pains of childbirth” (Romans 8:22).

This groaning is not an end, it is an expectation:

👉 the expectation of a humanity reconciled with its mission.

Thus, moving from a logic of exploitation to a logic of regeneration is not merely a technical or ecological choice.

👉 It is a spiritual conversion.

THE LOGIC OF THE LIVING: A PARTICIPATION IN THE CREATIVE BREATH

Life, in the biblical perspective, is never static. It is dynamic, relational, fruitful.

“I have come that they may have life, and have it in abundance” (John 10:10).

This abundance is not material accumulation. It is participation in the very life of God.

At Songhaï, this truth becomes visible.

The earth is not only exploited, it is put into relationship:

• light becomes biomass, · microorganisms restore fertility, · water becomes a vector of life, · animals amplify cycles, · waste becomes resources.

This deeply resonates with the biblical logic in which:

👉 God does not create a closed world, but a world called to unfold in fruitfulness.

“Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28).

Here, fruitfulness is not only biological. It is ecological, economic, and spiritual.

 

3. AN ECONOMY TRANSFIGURED BY THE GOSPEL

The Gospel does not speak directly about economic systems, but it radically transforms their foundations.

“The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath” (Mark 2:27).

In the same way, the economy is made for man, and not man for the economy.

Now, current systems have inverted this order:

• man becomes an instrument, · nature becomes raw material, · the finality becomes accumulation.

Faced with this, Songhaï embodies another vision:

👉 an incarnated, relational, and regenerative economy.

In this perspective:

• work becomes participation in the creative work of God, · production becomes service to life, · wealth becomes the capacity to make live.

This is exactly what the parable of the talents suggests (Matthew 25): what is received must be made fruitful, multiplied, and transmitted.

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SONGHAÏ: A LIVING PARABLE OF THE KINGDOM

Jesus often taught in parables, starting from concrete realities to reveal the Kingdom.

Songhaï can be understood as a contemporary parable of the Kingdom of God.

“The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed…” (Matthew 13:31)

A small seed, but which becomes a tree where life abounds.

At Songhaï:

• the earth becomes a school, · work becomes formation, · production becomes testimony, · the community becomes a sign.

But more deeply:

👉 one learns there to see differently.

For every transformation begins with the gaze.

As with Peter after the Resurrection, it is not competence that changes first, it is perception.

Songhaï thus becomes an incarnated apostolic experience, where the Gospel is not only proclaimed, but structured in reality.

 

5. FOR A CONGREGATION ON MISSION IN CREATION

The question posed to every congregation today is radical:

👉 How can one be a sign of the Kingdom in a world in systemic imbalance?

The answer calls for a profound missionary conversion.

An apostolic congregation is called to become:

• a place of reconciliation between man and creation, · a school of integral formation, · an actor of transformation of territories, · a visible sign of a reconciled life.

This implies:

• integrating ecological issues as spiritual issues, · forming disciples capable of acting within complexity, · moving from assistance to transformation, · making creation a theological and missionary place.

 

CONCLUSION: PARTICIPATING IN THE WORK OF RE-CREATION

Scripture ends with a promise:

“Behold, I make all things new” (Revelation 21:5).

This newness is not only future. It already begins here and now.

The call of Laudato si’ is therefore profoundly evangelical:

👉 we are not only called to preserve, 👉 but to cooperate in the work of God’s re-creation.

The experience of Songhaï is a concrete sign of this.

It shows us that when:

• man rediscovers his rightful place in creation, · science unites with wisdom, · the economy rediscovers its human finality,

then life does not run out.

👉 It becomes superabundant. 👉 It becomes fruitful. 👉 It becomes enduring.

And it is precisely there that the apostolate reaches its full truth:

👉 to proclaim life by making it visible, incarnated, and operative in the world.