This was written as my reflection following the lecture by Wendy M. Wright and her reading of Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poem God’s Grandeur. As I pondered these things, the Canticle of the Sun came to mind, as did the book my Companion group People of the Earth is reading, Ilia Delio’s Care for Creation: a Franciscan spirituality of the earth.
Realizing the glorious beauty of the world is almost beyond comprehension
Coming to terms with the ways we have trod, have trod, have trod
is our greatest hope to regain our awe
for the grandest of God’s work on our behalf.
There are shards of light in people rising up (Standing Rock, Flint; Michigan; Paris Accord)
standing up for this grandeur that is your work, O God,
getting in touch with the shining beauty.
We cannot and must not keep trodding, trodding,
trodding on this shook foil.
We cannot and must not tarnish any further the creation or her creatures great and small. They are as brother and sister to us—
Brother Sun, Sister Moon
Brother Wind and Air, Sister Water
Brother Fire, Sister, Mother Earth
And yet we trod, we pillage, we burn
we plow fence row to fence row—oh my, we
even remove the fences and take down the
habitat that houses brother and sister creatures
leaving them without shelter.
Forgive us, Holy One, Holy Three,
for our consumption, for lack of courage
to join in standing alongside our Brothers and Sisters,
human and creaturely and even the plants and minerals that
give beauty to your world.
May you, Holy Spirit, bend over us
with warm breast and ah! bright wings
to teach us anew the connections you
invite us to see—to taste—to smell
—hear and touch in all your creation—
Your Glorious Grandeur we call home. May it be so—
—Rose M. Blank, Prairiewoods friend
Posted June 6, 2017