Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation

Justice, peace, and integrity of creation are closely intertwined. One cannot exist without the others. They
are all manifestations of love being nurtured in families and societies. They have love as their source and
they all promote love.

A Case of Love and Justice in the Family

In a family that puts a premium on love and justice, no one is set aside. A fair share of care and
attention due each one is given and received. A good illustration is a fair share of food among the children,
each child getting according to his/her capacity to consume – with no food going to waste. The parents see
to it that the stronger elder kids would not take what belong to the younger weaker siblings; instead they are
entrusted to check if food have been consumed well even if their parents are out for work. Loving parents
are responsible in managing the family’s food resources as part of the daily goals. When love and justice
are experienced in the family, peace, that is, harmony in the human heart is also experienced.

God as a Just and Loving Parent

God is the greatest loving Parent. He has provided his children with all resources not just to survive
but to grow in becoming what they truly are – just and loving. The creation stories show that the lands and
seas are teeming with all good things necessary for humans to experience peace (Gen.1: 331; 2:1-4). But,
human beings misused their freedom and abused the gift of creation. Despite this sinful act, God continued
to provide humans with what they need. In fact, He has given His Son as the greatest gift for humans to
have life. In this regard, the Gospel according to John says: “I came that they might have abundant life” (Jn.
10:10). God’s abundant graces never run out. As a gracious God, He always seeks humans so He can share
with them His life in abundance.

Contrary to God’s Loving Design

Instead of sharing with others, some of us continue to amass wealth only for ourselves. We keep on
wasting resources. Food waste among rich nations and food insecurity among the poor countries are forms
of injustice in the socio-economic-political sphere and towards the environment.1 “Whenever food is thrown
out it is as if it were stolen from the table of the poor.”2
The earth can produce enough to nourish all its inhabitants, on the condition that the rich countries
do not keep for themselves what belongs to all.3 Pope Benedict points out that the greed and selfishness that
result to some having more than they can possibly use while others do not have enough to survive underlies
the poverty that plagues so much of the world.4 The rich countries keep on producing fast and they have no
time to manage the surplus. The easiest way to make work fast and get things done for another abundant
production is to just throw away the surplus. They get rid of what is extra because they can get more. They
can buy again because they have more purchasing power.
The “throw away” culture exists due to the inordinate want to consume more than what is just
needed. When waste is more, the environment suffers and the most vulnerable poor who have no means to
protect themselves deteriorate first. In our own ways we contribute to this “throw away” culture.

1
Leonardo Boff, “Social Ecology: Poverty and Misery,” in Ecotheology: Voices from South and North, ed.David G. Hallman
(Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1994), 243. See Bevans and Schroeder, Prophetic Dialogue, (Manila Phils.: Logos Publications,
2012), 67.
2
Catechesis (5 June 2013): Insegnamenti 1/1 (2013), 280.
3
Benedict XVI, “Address to the New Ambassadors Accredited to the Holy See,” June 16, 2005,
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2005/june/documents/hf_benxvi_spe20050616_ambassad ors_en.html.
4
Woodeene Koenig-Bricker, Ten Commandments for the Environment (Pasay City, Phils.:Paulines Publishing House Daughters
of St Paul, 2012), 105.
Just observe in a typical local gathering. Some people who come first would put food on their plates more
than what they could consume. Leftovers – which are supposed to be reserved for others who are still
coming and for the unpopular neighbors – are discarded.

Become a Procreator: Promoting Peace and Justice

Learning from the ways of the Creator, the Greatest Provider, we, humans need to share with one
another their talents, time, expertise and resources. To promote peace borne out of justice, the few elite in
society must reach out in generosity to the marginalized. Rich countries, like the elder kids in the family,
must help and protect the poor countries, who are the younger siblings, so to speak.
The phenomena of food and resources going to waste while millions are starving to death and are
deprived of the right and opportunity to live a dignified life tell us that we humans have become unjust to
one another, and, so have deprived ourselves of authentic peace. Peace - which is not so much the absence
of war and conflict but a harmony in the human heart – is achieved only in an atmosphere of justice.
To eliminate the injustice of unfair distribution of wealth, we need to heed the Creator’s command:
“Go and subdue the earth?” (cf. Ge n 1:28). This is a command to pro-create, that is, to use all the resources
of the land to generate more wealth and distribute them fairly so that no one will be in great need and
nothing will go to waste.

JPIC as an SVD Concern

JPIC issues have been an important concern for the SVDs who want to become not only true disciples of
Christ but also authentic followers of St. Arnold and St. Joseph. Confronting JPIC problems is a natural
consequence of having been touched by the Biblical Word. When the Word becomes part of us, or rather,
when we become part of the Word or the Body of Christ, we cannot but reach out to others especially the
poor and to the environment. We engage in actions that promote peace as well as social and ecological
justice.
At the time of St. Arnold Janssen, JPIC work was shown in his great concern for the poor. He would
always lecture about taking care of the poor. He saw to it as well as that beggars were always given meals
once they go to the seminaries.5St. Joseph Freinademetz as well during his missionary work in China
helped a group of orphans so they be taken care of. In his letter to the SVDs in Tsingtao, he said: “they (the
orphans) are absolutely destitute… Please have the kindness to do something for them. With conditions as
they are we must not hesitate to incur a few extra expenses to save what can still be saved.”6Today, SVD
congregations have made JPIC activities an integral aspect of their apostolate. In fact, JPIC is considered as
a characteristic dimension of the SVD missionary work. Put differently, JPIC is specifically identified as
one of the pathways in prophetic dialogue.

Source: The Mission of Prophetic Dialogue

5
Father Stanley Plutz SVD, St. Arnold Janssen on missionary poverty, http://www.divineword.org/getinvolved/partners/st-arnold-
and-poverty/
6
Fritz Bornemann, As Wine Poured Out (Rome: Divine Word Missionaries, 1984), p. 317 as quoted in “SVD Characteristic
Dimensions,” In Dialogue with the Word, N. 3 – September 2002 (SVD Publications: Generalate – Rome, 2002), 20.