Together with representatives of other NGOs and social organisations, Pax Christi International’s Advocacy Officer Giulia Bordin took part from 6 to 9 March 2026 in a retreat on integral ecology organised by European Laudato Si’ Alliance (ELSiA) in the beautiful setting of Taizé.

Giulia Bordin, PCI Advocacy Officer
March 2026

De noche iremos, de noche
que para encontrar la fuente
sólo la sed nos alumbra
sólo la sed nos alumbra.

How did we end up like this? How did this thirst become so strong that we long for a just world so much that we feel it in our hearts and our daily lives?

Conflict is everywhere: among humanity, with wars and violence without precedent; with nature, with the intrinsic disrespect for what breathes and lives like us; and within ourselves, in the struggle to understand where to look and which direction to take.

We are all thirsty: thirsty for justice, for peace, for harmony… and yet we seem not to be able to find the source. A source that can make us feel content, at peace.

Are we maybe looking at the wrong source? Are we trying to drink polluted water? Polluted with grime, violence, unleashed egoism and self-pity?

We are so thirsty, and yet so alive. We are attached to the living, to what breathes, in an intrinsic way.

“Many things have to change course, but it is we human beings above all who need to change.” (Laudato Si’, 202)

While in Taizé, we reflected a lot on our role, on our standing in this world, on our connection. We also discussed the humility to recognise our limitations and yet to continue to persevere. It is a balance that isn’t easy to maintain, especially for a long time and alone. We are surrounded by speed, to the point we made our living the need to run to survive. And yet, the Creation tells us a different story. It tells us that we need to run only when needed. Not all the time. Running all the time isn’t sustainable for life, isn’t suitable for a way of living that corresponds to our strengths. And yet we feel superior to it. We feel we can make it. That we are the fastest and, to remain the fastest, we need to run.

And look at what running has brought us: a world where we long for caring, and sometimes we forget how to do that. Where we rarely stop and listen, where we are constantly on the move, trying to reach the next step. And all this running makes us thirsty. Eventually, while running we missed looking at so many Sources, at so many oases. Ending up in a desert, screaming for help, thirsty for compassion and a helping hand.

We forgot that the Source was always there. So close and yet so impalpable. The Source is in the communion we create with ourselves, nature and others, like Jesus did. In standing together, in exchanging, in looking at others with a sense of care to protect the mystery in them, this unattainable knowledge that others are.

And silence is a great Source for all this. To reconnect with the communion, to listen truly to the Source.

“Nature is filled with words of love, but how can we listen to them amid constant noise?” (Laudato Si’, 225)

While in Taizé, I was looking for a calm bench on which to lay down and relax. I found the perfect spot: direct sunlight but with a light breeze passing by, slightly covered by a blossoming tree. I lay down and suddenly a buzzing noise was in my ears. I opened my eyes trying to look for the source. I looked down, near me, underneath the bench, but I couldn’t understand the origin. I closed my eyes again, and yet this noise was still there, interrupting my peace. I looked again. And I did this three times in total. Until the third time I looked up. And there it was, “my Source”: hundreds of bees, searching for pollen in the just-opened flowers of the tree above me. I looked at them for some time, fighting against the urge to close my eyes due to the sunlight, and I was in awe, caught by surprise and admiration. They moved swiftly, always towards what nourishes them, never away from it.

That noise became a melody, the sound of nature looking for a source and finding it. And I felt so embraced that I closed my eyes, and that buzzing relaxed me to the point that I lost track of time, arriving late to the next gathering of the day. But still, that moment gave me so much peace that I go there with my mind whenever the “running urge” kicks in.

“If we approach nature and the environment without this openness to awe and wonder, we will no longer hear the language of creation.” (Laudato Si’ 11)

We are not lost. We just missed our Source in the attempt to run to reach the “best” one. The path to a just world, to just peace, is a walkable path. We might happen to run sometimes, but this should be only when required. It is a path we walk together, with nature too, as we are part of it. From each other and from nature as well, we learn and we are reminded how to walk. Especially from nature, to which we belong.

And we will probably remain thirsty, we will not be sufficiently satisfied by the Source we found, but that Source we will find along the path will always accompany us, allowing us not to feel empty and to feel energised to continue our walk. We will continue planting seeds on the way, watering them, and, even if we don’t see them immediately, the sprouts will find their way, for future generations to cultivate and help them blossom. As humanity will.

“All of us can cooperate as instruments of God for the care of creation.” (Laudato Si’, 14)

“Our world has so much beauty, but so much injustice too. What is my place in all of that? What am I being asked to do? This is the question which I often feel in my heart, faced with the complexity of life and choices with which I am confronted.” Brother Matthew, “What are you seeking?”, Letter 2026

Read here the article published by ELSiA about the meeting held in Taizé from 6 to 9 March 2026

(Photos credits: CIDSE and Laudato Si’ Movement)