Earth Day

We continue to recognize Earth Day this week with our actions and our prayers.

A gift from God and the common home of humanity, the earth is threatened by man's abuse of his freedom. In his encyclical Praise Be to You (Laudato Si'), Pope Francis challenges all people to praise and thank God for his glorious creation and to work together to safeguard her.

Other popes have addressed key themes regarding stewardship of God's creation, but Pope Francis is the first to devote an entire encyclical to the subject. The encyclical takes its name from Saint Francis of Assisi's Canticle of the Creatures, which depicts cre­ation as "a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us". Pope Francis declares, "This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her."

And so we pray…

O GOD,
we thank you for this earth, our home; for the wide sky and the blessed sun, for the ocean and streams, for the towering hills and the whispering wind, for the trees and green grass.

We thank you for our senses by which we hear the songs of birds, and see the splendor of fields of golden wheat, and taste autumn's fruit, and rejoice in the feel of snow, and smell the breath of spring flowers.

GRANT US a heart opened wide to all this beauty; and save us from being so blind that we pass unseeing when even the common thornbush is aflame with your glory.

For each new dawn is filled with infinite possibilities for new beginnings and new discoveries. Life is constantly changing and renewing itself. In this new day of new beginnings with God, all things are possible. We are restored and renewed in a joyous awakening to the wonder that our lives are and, yet, can be.  Amen.


Good St. Anne Pray For Us.