Reflection
Connection with nature lies deep within us. Instinctively we feel our union with all that is. The recognition of the sacred in all creation fills us with peace. We understand that all originates in the same source and that all is connected. Whether or not we are members of a particular religious tradition we all find spiritual nourishment in nature. It awes us, refreshes us, and soothes us. The natural world opens us to the experience of the Holy. It provides moments of serenity and union. It is the primary revelation of God and its beauty turns us toward God in spontaneous praise.
Prayer
Sensitize my spirit to be attuned with the song of praise sung by creation.
Action
Become more active in opposing all unnecessary destruction of the species and riches of this planet. Support organizations that work to support the environment and control the causes of climate change.
Suggested Reading
Behold the lilies of the field. They do not labor or spin.Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
Matthew 6:28-29
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows God’s handywork.
Psalm 19:1
Creation is a gift, it is a wonderful gift that God has given us, so that we care for it and we use it for the benefit of all, always with great respect and gratitude.
Pope Francis
A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement.
It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct
for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring is dimmed and even lost before we
reach adulthood. If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each
child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an antidote the boredom and disenchantments of later
years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, and the alienation from the sources of our strength.
Rachel Carson, The Sense of Wonder
And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.
Khalil Gibran
Earth laughs in flowers.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Trees are the earth’s endless effort to speak to the listening heaven.
Rabindranath Tagore
Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.
John Lubbock
The good man is the friend of all living things.
Mahatma Gandhi
Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.
John Ruskin
In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.
Aristotle
Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher.
William Wordsworth
One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.
William Shakespeare