Earth Day
Reflection
Our care for this earth is a sacred act. We hold sacred the presence and power of God as Creator. We care for Earth our planet home with its beautiful depths and soaring heights, its abundance of life, and we honor God by treating God’s creation, and all creatures, as precious and holy. On this Earth Day we pause and consider this responsibility.
This year, the theme of Earth Day 2025 is Our Power, Our Planet asking everyone around the globe to unite behind renewable energy, and to triple the global generation of clean electricity by 2030.
Prayer
May we not think of Earth just today, but cooperate responsibly to restore its health every day of our lives.
Action
Do not delete this reflection as something which does not interest you. We all need a healthy Earth for our health, survival, and happiness. Whether we will live on a healthy planet is not a choice- it is a necessity if we are to live at all. It is our responsibility to our children and future generations ofd all Earth’s inhabitants.
As a commitment to the health of our planet support or join in one of these activities:
• Promoting renewable energy
• Protecting biodiversity
• Advocating for environmental policies
• Planting trees
• Participating in cleanups
• Educating others about climate change,
Suggested Reading
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.
Job 38:4
Everything is related, and we human beings are united as brothers and sisters on a
wonderful pilgrimage, woven together by the love God has for each of his creatures
and which also unites us in fond affection with brother sun, sister moon, brother river
and mother earth.
Pope Francis, Laudato Si, 92
Each community can take from the bounty of Earth whatever it needs for
subsistence, but it also has the duty to protect Earth and to ensure its fruitfulness
for coming generations.
Pope Francis, Laudato Si, 67
The Great Work, now as we move into a new millennium, is to carry out the transition from a period of human devastation of Earth to a period when humans would be present to the planet in a mutually beneficial manner. The deepest cause of the present devastation is found in a mode of consciousness that has established a radical discontinuity between the human and other modes of being and the bestowal of all rights on the humans.
Thomas Berry
This earth is what we all have in common.
Wendell Berry
He that plants trees loves others beside himself.
Thomas Fuller
We do not inherit Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.
Native American Proverb
If we are ever to halt climate change and conserve land, water and other resources, not to mention reduce animal suffering, we must celebrate Earth Day every day — at every meal.
Ingrid Newkirk
I had assumed that Earth, the spirit of the Earth, noticed exceptions — those who wantonly damage it and those who do not. But the Earth is wise. It has given itself into the keeping of all, and all are therefore accountable.
Alice Walker
To treat all parts of Earth as sacred and Earth’s beings as our neighbors to be respected and loved…
Land Ethic Statement, Sisters of Saint Joseph, Brentwood, NY