International Commission for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation -JPIC

From a biblical perspective, the human experience has its deepest roots in communion with God, the Creator of all things. Through blessed participation in the original, fruitful grace of divine love, human beings have been given the mission of caring for, cultivating and administering the garden of Creation, so that life continues to abound in all creatures. But, preferring to focus on himself, he has been seduced by his own arbitrary desire to control, possess and accumulate goods, honors and power. By breaking his fundamental relationship with God, he disobeyed the law that safeguards the harmony, justice and beauty of all creatures with each other and with their Creator.

Coming to the rescue of our weakness in the mystery of his incarnation, Jesus Christ has shown us that God is Creator and Father, and that compassion and mercy are his permanent mode of action. According to Augustinian theology, it is precisely in order to restore all things to Himself that Christ is both the Way (the means) and the Fatherland (the final destination/goal) of human existence. Inhabited by this truth and guided by his Spirit, our inner teacher, we can all begin to live again, reconciled and reintegrated into the new creation: ” If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new ” (2 Cor. 5:17). In other words, founded and rooted in Christ through baptism, we form his Church, the new people of God on pilgrimage along the paths of history (LG, chapter II) in the spirit of the Beatitudes (Mt 5:1-12).

As Assumptionists, sons of the venerable Father Emmanuel d’Alzon, we form a missionary Congregation at the service of proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of God:

“The Founder’s Spirit urges us to make our own the great causes of God and man, to situate ourselves where God is threatened in man and man threatened as the image of God ” (RV 4).

As“men of faith and of our time “, we are called to follow Christ and to act prophetically ” like Him, a witness to the Father’s love and in solidarity with mankind ” (RV 2), in relation to every situation in the world:

” The Kingdom of God is near, and is manifested in the commitments of our Congregation for a more fraternal and just world. These are authentic prophetic signs of the Gospel “.

(Proceedings of the 34th CG/2023, no. 55).

Thus, present on every continent, our international and intercultural communities aim to be places of daily conversion and spaces of ongoing and integral formation. By sharing ” the joys and hopes, the sorrows and anxieties of the men and women ” (RV14) who surround them, our communities make themselves partners in their aspirations and efforts, especially with the poor and vulnerable, and with all “ who thirst and hunger for justice ” (Mt 5:6). In this way, they collaborate boldly and selflessly to bring about a more just and fraternal world. They aim to break down walls and build bridges that enable genuine proximity, listening and dialogue between people, diverse peoples, Christian traditions, religions and cultures.

That’s why all our educational, parish, social and communications institutions want to be increasingly at the service of justice, peace and the integrity of creation.

Deep down, we understand that the cry of man and the cry of the earth are linked, and that we must confront the spiritual, human and ecological crisis of our time in an integral, collaborative and networked way. With personal and collective responsibility, in accordance with the social doctrine of the Church and the recent and current magisterium of the Church (LS, LD, FT, QA, DT), we want to journey together, religious men and women of the Assumption Family and lay people of the Alliance, supporting and encouraging each other. Together, we are strong and we can do more to help the world open up to a ” hope that does not disappoint ” (Rom 5:5).