As a Disciple, Caring for Creation in the Watershed Where I Live

This year, the Season of Creation invites us to reflect on the theme: Living Water.

Canada has an abundance of water. This can make us less inclined to recognize the fragility of this resource. As Christians, we receive water as a gift from God. Without water, there is no life.

Canada has five major watersheds. In Quebec, I live in and regularly visit several places that are part of the Atlantic watershed.

In 2009, I attended a lecture by Ched Myers, an American theologian, during an ecumenical gathering in Ontario. Claude Lacaille, p.m.é., had introduced me to this author’s books as early as 2003, and I greatly appreciated Myers’ fresh approaches to rereading the Gospel of Mark in connection with the realities of our world.

I became particularly interested in his theological reflections on creation in a book entitled Watershed Discipleship: Reinhabiting Bioregional Faith and Practice.

I would summarize what I took away from my reading in this way: being a disciple of Christ by caring for creation from within the watershed where I live. Faced with the enormous task of caring for the 70% of our planet that is covered by water, the prospect of committing myself to the watershed of the place where I live seemed both liberating and tangible.

Over the years, I realized that I had taken many photographs that could form an album illustrating part of the watershed I regularly visit. I also travelled to certain places to broaden my perspective, including a small spring in the hills of Piopolis, in the Mégantic region.

This helps me become more attentive to caring for water, to following what protects it and what pollutes it, and to remaining aware of misuse and scarcity.

Above all, however, it gives me the opportunity to contemplate the four seasons: the flowing waters of summer; Lake Mégantic, abundant with fish; the Chaudière River, travelled by First Nations peoples; the spring floods; the fields and greenery; the great St. Lawrence River and the Atlantic Ocean, across which my earliest ancestors sailed nearly 350 years ago.

I can also contemplate all the plants, all the trees, all the birds and all the animals that find a home and refuge there; the ice, the snow, the frost and freezing rain—and give thanks to the Lord, God of the universe.

* Photos : R Grégoire