13-17 December 2019
Over five days in December, three events were held at the initiative of the Carmelite Institute Mdina, in collaboration with other groups, for the first year of this “ecological” initiative within the framework of Carmelite spirituality. The Argentinian Carmelite, physicist and climatologist, Rev. Dr. Eduardo Agosta Scarel, O. Carm., keynoted, or led, or participated in each of the events.
Event 1: Friday, 13 December 2019: Planting trees in Gozo
The first event, with the initiative of M.A.S.C. (the Maltese Association for the Study of Spirituality and Spiritual Companionship), was a joint collaboration with Għaqda Siġar Maltin (a recently formed NGO). The Carmelite Institute also financed this planting, and continuing care for, a variety of indigenous trees at Mġarr ix-Xini, Għawdex. The M.A.S.C. event recognized nearly forty current Theology graduates from the M.A. in Spirituality or Spiritual Companionship—by planting some twenty trees in all, which included Tamarisk, White Poplar, White Willow, Carob, and Chaste trees, all grown in the GħSM nurseries.
In this event six persons crossed over to Gozo [Rev. Dr. Eduardo Agosta Scarel, O. Carm; Rev. Dr. Charló Camilleri, O. Carm.; Rev. Dr. Glen Attard, O. Carm; Dr. Edward J. Clemmer; Warren J. Borg Ebejer, and Sharon Bonnici], who then at Wied Mġarr ix-Xini met up with the four young lads of GħSM [Steve Zammit Lupi, Steve Fayek, Matthew Cassar, and Andrea Fenech] who that morning had sited and prepared valley locations for our planting of the two-year old saplings. [Andrea, however, had to leave for other work before we arrived]. But, with the arrival of person-power from Malta, we nine present then each took our multiple turns at digging, unpotting, planting, and/or tagging of the trees, from 11:00-12:30, under the emerging sunny and clearing skies, and with various sounds of delighted birds serenading us from their hidden habitats within the valley’s peaceful silence. Afterwards, the six Malta travelers had a hardy marine-based lunch in Xlendi, as strong winds were forcefully rising. Yet, before catching the sometimes rocky 5:30 p.m. ferry home to Malta, a visit also was accomplished to Ta’ Pinu Sanctuary with our distinguished guest.
Event 2: Saturday, 14 December 2019: Day Seminar at the Carmelite Institute Malta
The second event was a Day Seminar at the Carmelite Institute, conducted by the Rev. Dr. Eduardo Agosta Scarel, O. Carm., entitled “One with Nature, One with God: A Christian Ecological Spirituality.” Morning sessions began at 9:30 and were concluded by Holy Mass at 12:30, followed by Fr. Charló’s hosted spaghetti with rabbit sauce lunch at 13:00; the afternoon sessions, also including group work, began at 14:30 and were concluded with a final plenary session at 16:00. The morning sessions addressed the physical science of Green House Gases in relationship to global warming and climate change, with graphic illustrations regarding the nature of the problem as both a social and spiritual issue. “The roots of the current ecological crisis are human and not merely technical or scientific ones,” and they are linked to the way that “human relationships” are developed towards the “Divine” and “Nature,” where the recovery of harmonic relationships with all created things and with God is required both for ecological and for personal healing, wherein the ecological crisis (in particular) appears to be due to “the implicit silence of the Divine dimension” in western societies. Specifically, that Divine dimension of reality may be recovered within contemplation, whereby “prayer, community and service may approach each other to mend Nature.” This is the “Ecological Conversion” required, and promoted most specifically and in its spiritual revolutionary form, by Pope Francis in his encyclical “Laudato, si” (2015).
Event 3: Tuesday, 17 December 2019: Public Lecture at the Faculty of Theology
The third event was organized by the Department of Moral Theology at the University of Malta, where the Rev. Dr. Eduardo Agosta Scarel, O. Carm., once again, presented a public lecture at the Faculty Boardroom, “Climate Change: A Theological Perspective,” which described the scientific and moral rationale for the present “time of urgency,” also with a specific focus on Malta within the global context. At the current rate of Green House Gases emissions, the point of no return for the planet and for humanity, an Anthropocene catastrophe sourced in human activity, may be upon us as soon as 2037, in only eighteen years. We must consume less; reduce and replace fossil-fuel based energy consumption; and change our life styles, in relationship to human desires and the discrepancy of unjust and unequal distribution of resources and wealth, and which restore our human connections with one another and with Nature and with the Divine.
