Do you struggle with the question of what one individual or family can do to care for Earth? What do you tell the children in your life about the planet and the damage it is suffering? How do you deepen your own understanding of your responsibility to Mother Earth?
Just in time for Earth Day on April 22, 2015, Catholic Sisters for a Healthy Earth released a prayer service to be used with their Earth as Our Home reflection booklet. Together, these pieces can help you and your family honor Earth and deepen your commitment to caring for it.
The Earth as Our Home booklet, released last year, helps you connect each room of your home with the broader context of your Earth-home. The newly-released A Pilgrimage of Blessing prayer service takes the reflection booklet a step further by guiding you through a physical pilgrimage from one room of your home to the next. (Both pieces can be downloaded for free by clicking on their titles above.)
“After a journey, how many of us say, ‘It is so good to be home!’ What if we could say that every day?” reflects Sister Michelle Balek, author of the prayer service. “And not only about returning to the building we inhabit and the relationships there, but the entire environment, the entire Earth Community in which we move every day. It IS good to be here in this home we call Earth.”
The Prairiewoods staff recently used this prayer service to bless the spaces at Prairiewoods, which serves as a home of sorts for many staff, volunteers, guests and creatures. Now it’s your turn: What will you do to care for Earth, our home?