Revision of the IHM Goal Statement — With Reverence For All Creation
We, the members of the Immaculate Heart Community, rooted in Jesus Christ and united with the people of God commit ourselves to build relations in society which foster access of all persons to truth, dignity, and full human development, and to strategically change practices and situations which impede such access.
With reverence for all creation, in our choice of work and living style, and in our use of time, talent, and money, we hold ourselves accountable to God and to one another for effecting this goal and supporting one another in this effort.
With reverence for all creation…. is a new phrase in our Immaculate Heart Goal Statement. These words played over and over in my mind recently as I walked around our beautiful grounds at La Casa de Maria and Immaculate Heart Center for Spiritual Renewal.
Reflection on our Goal Statement
Francis of Assisi wrote the hymn, Canticle of Brother Sun, during the last year of his life. Legend has it that the beloved Saint Francis saw himself as united with all of God’s creation and as one with even the smallest creatures. During the last year of his life, Francis, nearly blind from an eye disease, in constant severe pain, and lying in a hut overrun with mice, wrote the joyous Canticle of Brother Sun, in which he calls all creation his mother, his brothers, and his sisters. He sees even death as part of the beautiful natural world that God created. Here are some of the words from St. Francis’s beautiful hymn, Canticle of Brother Sun.
