Earth Day – April 22, 2022
Ever hear a mother ask her child, “Where on earth were you?” This year Earth Day falls the week after the world celebrated Jesus’ conquest over death through his resurrection. Where are we every earth day? How have we treated our planet earth this past year? What has changed? So much.
Here in the monastery’s sacred environment we breathe in the fragrance of Easter lilies, freshly baked bread, and alas, we know the taste of worldly reality. Much has intensified since last Earth Day. Our belief in Jesus’ presence in everyday personal situations which contrasts with an awareness of world polarities on our mother earth as the amount of prayer requests on our website increases.
On the opposite side of the globe, souls scream for change as ice glaciers continue to warm and break off, as satanic evil power destroys our neighbor and land –similar to the Roman Empire era of Jesus’ day. Caring persons work tirelessly doing good to eradicate mounting desperation, poverty, ignorance, violence, war and greed. So much reform needs to happen to save our earth. None of us lives in isolation. All events impact us because all are our neighbors.
If daily news overwhelms us, it’s mandatory to get back to garden therapy to pray with and for the earth’s peoples, uproot a weed, rearrange a shelf, reseed a crop, prune a blueberry branch, harvest a squash, and bring a yield to the kitchen. As developers invade the land causing fewer organisms to exist, our sacred monastery space becomes all the more special. Some Sisters faithfully walk our prayer path seeking strength, relief, comfort or peace for others on their earthly journey just as Jesus breathed the same air we breathe and walked this earth.
Our souls are eager for bits of good news – a friend who will finally get her green card, a new grandpa-to-be, Easter e-cards from friends, an innocent child singing her grace before meal prayer, kind donors who faithfully support us, a pension application in process, several volunteers who help to carry the load. The greatest Good News is proclaimed and heard each morning as we continually relive the death and resurrection of Christ and of ourselves. May these thoughts give hope to your Earth Day.
~by Sister Miriam Cosgrove
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