Francis' canticle was groundbreaking in its embrace of all creation as equal to humanity. Today, it reads as a call to embrace our fragile universe and earth and all its inhabitants.
"In mission stations, we never bother about whether the priest faces east or west. What we need is Eucharist," one sister said after the resolution of the five-decade-old dispute in an Indian archdiocese.
"LCWR assemblies are wonderful," writes national correspondent Dan Stockman, "but they don't usually change your outlook on life. This one, for me at least, did exactly that."
How many of us think that we can dictate the terms of our physical, spiritual or emotional healing? How many of us carry ideas about who should heal us, how and in what time frame?
"Pope Leo: What would Jesus do today? Jesus, the Palestinian Jew — he would stand in the hunger line. I'm sure of it. Where should we stand, as his followers?" writes Sr. Magda Bennásar in a public letter to Pope Leo XIV.
Ethical frameworks are needed to guide posthuman life toward robust, sustainable futures, but theology and spirituality can only contribute meaningfully if they adequately engage human evolution.
