Reflection
The concept of a deeply spiritual earth may seem strange to our western culture. We are used to identifying the sacred with our places of worship. The rest of the earth is often considered a resource or simply real estate. Yet, deep within us there is an awe and a sense of mystery in response to the natural world. Our imagination and our sense of the divine reflect our experience of earth’s extravagant beauty. The cathedral of the forest, the song of birds, the power of the ocean call us to praise their Creator. No matter where we are we can find the spiritual source in the revelation of nature.
Prayer
How magnificent are your works, O God.
Psalm 95:2
Action
Allow yourself time to be in touch with the natural world. Reflect on the amazing creation of which we are a part. Let this awareness shape your actions. Become aware of the signs that earth is giving in response to human destructive actions. Be willing to change and support changes.
Suggested Reading
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Matt 6:28-29
A Christian who doesn’t safeguard creation, who doesn’t make it flourish, is a Christian who isn’t concerned with God’s work, that work born of God’s love for us.
Pope Francis
If we lived on the moon, our mind and emotions, our speech, our imagination , our sense of the divine would all reflect the desolation of the lunar landscape.
Thomas Berry
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
Albert Einstein
If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things of nature have a message that you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive.
Eleonora Duse
We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence… We need silence to be able to touch souls.
Mother Teresa
In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.
Aristotle
Nature is the one song of praise that never stops singing.
Richard Rohr
Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.
John Muir
All my life through, the new sights of Nature made me rejoice like a child.
Marie Curie
The divine communicates to us primarily through the language of the natural world. Not to hear the natural world is not to hear the divine.
Thomas Berry