Reflection
. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.
Exodus 3:5
This bible passage tells us that Moses was tending his flocks when he saw an amazing sight -a flaming bush that seemed to burn but was not consumed. As he drew closer he heard the voice of God speaking to him. “Take off your shoes for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” God was present there and self-revealed through the burning bush. The burning bush is the logo chosen for this year’s Season of Creation. It serves as a symbol calling us to hear God speaking through creation as Moses did. We are reminded that Earth is holy ground. God is present and revealed here through creation. The burning bush represents how extreme heat, wildfires and other impacts of climate change are devastating God’s sacred ground. Moses heard God’s voice speaking from the bush and calling him to a life-changing mission. What do we hear?
Prayer
This is holy ground.
We’re standing on holy ground.
For God is present.
And where God is is holy.
Action
Join or plan a Season of Creation event. Events include tree plantings, trash cleanups, community gardens, nature walks and rosary prayer services. The Vatican’s integral human development dicastery plans to use the season to encourage more Catholic institutions to join the 4,000–plus that have enrolled in its Laudato Si’ Action Platform initiative to implement the pope’s encyclical more fully.
Suggested Reading
O Lord, how many are Your works!
In wisdom You have made them all;
The earth is full of Your possessions.
Psalm 104:24
For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude.
1 Timothy 4:4
If we learn how to listen, we can hear in the voice of creation a kind of dissonance, On the one hand, we can hear a sweet song in praise of our beloved Creator; on the other, an anguished plea, lamenting our mistreatment of this our common home.
Pope Francis
A cry for survival comes from the planet itself. A cry that can’t be any more desperate or any more clear.
Joseph R. Biden
What we most need to do is to hear within us the sound of the earth crying.
Thich Nhat Hanh
We only get one planet. Humankind must become accountable on a massive scale for the wanton destruction of our collective home. Protecting our future on this planet depends on the conscious evolution of our species.
Leonardo DiCaprio
The world needs to listen to the cry of the earth, which is asking for help.
David Kopenawa Yanomami
We have forgotten how to be good guests, how to walk lightly on the earth as its other creatures do.
Barbara Ward
Our leaders’ intentional lack of action is a betrayal. The people in power cannot claim that they are trying because they are clearly not.
Greta Thunberg
The Earth’s cry for rescue from the punishing weight of the industrial system we have created is our own cry for a scale and quality of life that will free each of us to become the complete person that we were meant to be.
Theodore Roszak