Joining Our Earth Spirituality Conversation

JCL joins our conversation by sending a reflection "Pathways to Faith", by Dean Walley. While the book is out of print this poetic gift has been a source of inspiration for many years. Exerpts follow:

As the sun nourishes the earth, the light of faith can nourish our lives....and help us grow closer to the Source of life. As the moon pulls the tides....the power of faith can cause our lives to flow....out of oceans of turbulence and fear toward quiet harbors of serenity....A bird soars joyfully....across the sky....its beauty tells of a love that is greater than all others....and our hearts find winds wiith which to soar to new heights of faith. Across our path a tree has fallen....yet even in death it has the promise of life. For its life is flowing into the earth from which it came.... And so its life will go on....We see the promise of light and happiness in the miracle of sunrise....and every beam warms our heart like a smile of reassurance. In the endless procession of the seasons....cycle of life....carrying us beyond the mystery....into a place where the seasons of the heart will turn forever....And as the journey progresses, our faith grows ever stronger....We find that we never see shadows....as long as we face the sun....and we understand that the joy of our days is truly unlimited....when we look up, into the unknown....and count the stars.

Click on Fr. Jeffrey and Sheila for Complementary Perspectives

MANY THANKS TO ALL WHO VIEW THESE PAGES AND JOIN IN THE DIALOGUE

May I strongly recommend that you click on Fr. Jeffrey's blog(s) and Sheila's blog(s)for complementary perspectives? "Christian-Jewish Studies" and "The Mystery of Everything" catch the eye, expand the mind and lift the heart. You will find their images under the Comments on Hildegard.

The Mysterious Everything: Clues to the End of the Last Ice Age

The Mysterious Everything: Clues to the End of the Last Ice Age

Inspiration: Thomas Berry and the Earth Community

Thomas Berry: The Great Story

Meditation on Nature: World Religion View

A World Religion Perspective ::

Hildegard of Bingen, Patroness of Ecology (12th c.)

For some the unofficial Patroness of Ecology is the multi-talented Benedictine abbess
Hildegard of Bingen. Although faced with health problems, she led a very active life beyond convent leadership as a naturalist, healer, poetess, writer, artist, visionary and composer of music and plays. While Benedict (6th c.) shows us a Stewardship Model in relationship to Creation and Francis a Kinship Model, Hildegard reveals a Communion Model of fruitful love.

This model flows from the great love of God for Creation. Due to God's active love in all of Creation, every creature has what it needs to be creatively fruitful. God is the power that empowers all of Creation, not just to exist, but to be "green", fertile, to be creatively fruitful. We can delight in the "greening" of the earth, its beauty, radiance and fertility. The Creator gifts, embraces, kisses and loves all of Creation. Humans share in the great privilege of co-creating and loving. For Hildegard, we need the "greening" power of faith to be creatively fruitful in working with the earth and doing deeds of justice, peace and love.

Does Hildegard speak to our lives? To our times?

"The Amen of Nature"

Do you know what Oliver Wendell Holmes called "the Amen of nature"? A flower!
What might be your own "Amen of Nature"?

Chief Seattle, Suquamish Tribe, 19th c.

These are wise words attributed to Chief Seattle about our sacred interdependent Earth Community:

"The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land.
But how can you buy or sell the sky? The land?
If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?...
Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming insect.

All are holy in the memory and experience of my people.
We know the sap, which courses through the trees as we know the blood that courses through our veins. We are part of the earth and it is part of us.

The perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers.
The rocky crests, the juices in meadow, the body heat of the pony, and man, all belong to the same family...
This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth.
All things are connected like the blood that unites us all.

Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it.
Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself...We love this earth as a newborn loves its mother's heartbeat.
So, if we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it.
Care for it as we have cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you receive it. Preserve the land for all children and love it, as God loves us all."

Earth is our Home that feeds not just our bodies, but our whole selves: bodies-minds-spirits-imaginations.

We must keep Earth beautiful for all children: human children, fish children, bird children, plant children, etc., so that we can celebrate and thrive together!

St. Francis of Assisi, Patron Saint of Ecology

Spring Delights

Happy Earth Day!

What a wonderful day to celebrate the great gift of life and by our actions show that we cherish our one Earthcommunity!

Happy Spring !

Spring is bursting forth! What does it mean to you?

We are One Human Family

We are one Human Family interwoven with the one Earth Community and the one Universe Community on our Journey. What we do for and to others we do for and to ourselves. We nourish our own humanity by nourishing others. The classical Chinese world teaches us that we are the "heart-mind" of heaven and earth. Our nature is to be "human-hearted." Crisis is not only a crisis, but an opportunity for a creative turning point.

One action that a person might take is to request that Haiti's debt might be forgiven and that grants might be given. See http://www.one.org. Click Act Now. Click Help Haiti. Click Drop Debt. See message and an opportunity to personalize or simply sign.

How do we keep the Christmas spirit and other feasts alive on our common Journey?
Howard Thurman 20th century minister and writer urges the following:

"When the song of the angels is stilled,
when the star in the sky is gone,
when the kings and princes are home,
when the shepherds are back with their flocks,
the work of Christmas begins:
to find the lost,
to heal the broken,
to feed the hungry,
to release the prisoner,
to rebuild the nations,
to bring peace among the people,"

THE IMMEDIATE CHALLENGE IS TO HELP OUR SISTERS AND BROTHERS IN HAITI. We cannot do everything, but each of us can do something. Love not just in words, but in deeds keeps love alive.

We Pause to Celebrate Feasts

Life passes very quickly and we are happy to celebrate feasts like Thanksgiving and Christmas with family and friends. Some of us pray at a house of worship. The word Eucharist means giving thanks. We count our abundant blessings and try to be blessings for others. At home, food preparations are made. Tables are decorated. Delicious food is set before us, we pray grace, remember those present, those who cannot be at the table, those who are poor and then enjoy the food and community with words spoken and unspoken. At Christmas gifts are exchanged remembering God's gifts to us.

How many of us really reflect deeply on the sacred Table of Creation prepared and set before us and our responsibility to present and future generations? On our Journey into the Future we can draw a zest for life from not only our own spiritual treasures, but from wherever truth, wisdom and compassion can be found that respects the integrity of Creation and its Sacred Source. One such legacy can be found in the deep wisdom of Chief Seattle in 1854 in his reply to the United States, eager to buy land from the Indians. His words powerfully challenge us today:

"Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming insect. We know the sap which courses through our veins. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the juices in the meadow, the body heat of the pony, and man, all belong to the same family...Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth. This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself. One thing we know: our God is also your God. The earth is precious to him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator...We love this earth as a newborn loves its mother's heartbeat. So, if we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it. Care for it as we have cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you receive it. Preserve the land for all children and love it as God loves all."

Transition from Fall to Winter

We transition from the beauty of Fall to the majesty of Winter. They affirm something of our own beauty and dignity in both bright times and dark times when sometimes change is difficult. What helps us grow during these experiences?