Earth Mother receive in your great bounty all the blood that has poured over me, the sorrow that has mired me down. Let me be free, so flowers and trees may sprout from me to the heavens, so birds may come and perch on my wings and sing their eternal song of gratitude. Dear Earth Mother, may your bounty feed the downtrodden, may you comfort each knee and forehead pressed into your layers, may la Virgen de Guadalupe’s roses...
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It is not far-fetched to say that our health, our very lives, depend on the sprouting of seeds. The planting of seeds and nurturing through harvest, we receive God’s choicest blessings when we break from our labors and enjoy a simple meal. Saving some of the new seeds allows us to continue this miraculous cycle of nature. Besides planting in the good earth, seeds cannot grow without fresh water. The cycle of rain blesses us, and water...
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Loving Father and Creator of all, we come to you today deeply grateful for your creation. As we look around us we are amazed at the greatness and majesty of all that you have made. Nature around us speaks of your greatness—the vast expanse of the sky, the mountains, trees, lakes, and streams speak of your great design. You have given us such beauty in the colors of the rainbow, the beauty of flowers and fields. Words cannot adequately...
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Pine needles pray, nestling down. Their scent rises. The Forest breathes and exhales prayer. Its wind moves into fissures. Granite takes it in and firmly issues a prayer to a mushroom lifted by its bold touch and sends it down to the juicy soil-cracked seeds whose prayer makes the Forest tingle down into the roots of the Great Oak embracing them all and touching the Great River of Light only those who pray can enter. Join in praying...
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Grandfather, Great Spirit, once more behold me on Earth and lean to hear my feeble voice. You lived first, and you are older than all need, older than all prayer. All things belong to you – the two-legged, the four-legged, the wings of the air, and all green things that live. You have set the powers of the four quarters of the Earth to cross each other. You have made me cross the good road and road of difficulties, and where they...
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We thank you, our Father, for the beauty that lies about us: this Earth, lovely in springtime, with its bursting buds and the riot of color in flowering gardens; the cool relief of the first heavy shower after a parched summer; the golden fruitfulness of autumn; and the bracing cold of the winter months. We thank you for the symphony of sight and sound in nature – deep blue skies and green, grassy lawns; moonlit nights and the first...
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As we are called to see ourselves and each other as earthen vessels that hold God’s presence and bring God’s gifts to the world, so too, this very world and all that is above, around, and within it are earthen vessels — just as easily shattered, just as much in need of our loving attentiveness and support. May our hands align with God’s in caressing and shaping these. Together we proclaim: We, and all creation are...
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The Earth is at the same time mother, She is mother of all that is natural, mother of all that is human. She is the mother of all, for contained in her are the seeds of all. The Earth of humankind contains all moistness, all verdancy, all germinating power. It is in so many ways fruitful. All creation comes from it. Yet it forms not only the basic raw material for humankind, but also the substance of the incarnation of God’s...
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I arise today; in vast might, invocation of the Trinity, belief in a Threeness confession of Oneness meeting in the Creator. I arise today: might of Heaven brightness of Sun whiteness of Snow splendour of Fire speed of Light swiftness of Wind depth of Sea stability of Earth firmness of Rock. Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ under me, Christ over me, Christ to right of me, Christ to left of me,...
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United with our Orthodox brothers and sisters, and with the support of other Churches and Christian communities, the Catholic Church today marks the “World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation.” This Day offers “individual believers and communities a fitting opportunity to reaffirm their personal vocation to be stewards of creation, to thank God for the wonderful handiwork which he has entrusted to our care, and to implore his help...
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Father, we praise you with all your creatures. They came forth from your all-powerful hand; they are yours, filled with your presence and your tender love. Praise be to you! Son of God, Jesus,through you all things were made. You were formed in the womb of Mary our Mother, you became part of this Earth, and you gazed upon this world with human eyes. Today you are alive in every creature in your risen glory. Praise be to you! Holy...
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We who have lost our sense and our senses—our touch, our smell, our vision of who we are; we who frantically force and press all things, without rest for body or spirit, hurting our Earth and injuring ourselves: we call a halt. We want to rest. We need to rest and allow the Earth to rest. We need to reflect and to rediscover the mystery that lives in us, that is the ground of every unique expression of life, the source of the...
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I am the one whose praise echoes on high. I adorn all the Earth. I am the breeze that nurtures all things green. I encourage blossoms to flourish with ripening fruits. I am led by the spirit to feed the purest streams. I am the rain coming from the dew that causes the grasses to laugh with the joy of life. I am the yearning for good. (Hildegard of...
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O most High, almighty, good Lord God, to you belong praise, glory, honor, and all blessing! Praised be my Lord God with all creatures; and especially our brother the sun, which brings us the day, and the light; fair is he, and shining with a very great splendor: O Lord, he signifies you to us! Praised be my Lord for our sister the moon, and for the stars, which God has set clear and lovely in heaven. Praised be my Lord for our brother...
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