The Passion of the Earth is a painting by Br. Michael Moran, CP, of the Passionist province of St. Paul of the Cross (Eastern U.S.A.) He created it during the time he was living at the Passionist retreat house in Riverdale, NY, and had the opportunity to spend time in dialogue with Fr. Thomas Berry, CP. Those conversations, in part, inspired the creation of this powerful work. Michael invites us to interact with the painting as with any work of art, to let it speak to us, to touch us at our depths, and to bring who and where we are to the painting as much as we bring the painting to whom and where we are.
May this powerful work of art inspire in us a new consciousness, a new creativity, and a new energy to know we are as integral to Earth as Earth is to us. We are one. May we see and experience the Divine Presence in all Creation, and may our renewal bring Earth healing and peace.
For further information about Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si', and the Passionist study guides that accompany it, please follow this link: www.passiochristi.org/laudato-si/
How does the painting "The Passion of the Earth" raise your consciousness about the sufferings of Earth? What does this new awareness call you to do?
Prayer of Pope Francis from Laudato Si':
"All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe and in the smallest of your creatures.
You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.
Pour out upon us the power of your love, that we may protect life and beauty.
Fill us with peace, that we may live as brothers and sisters, harming no one.
O God of the poor, help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth, so precious in your eyes.
Bring healing to our lives, that we may protect the world and not prey on it, that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.
Touch the hearts of those who look only for gain at the expense of the poor and the earth.
Teach us to discover the worth of each thing, to be filled with awe and contemplation, to recognize that we are profoundly united with every creature as we journey towards your infinite light.
We thank you for being with us each day. Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle for justice, love and peace." Amen.
An Earth Prayer
"We call upon the spirit of evolution, the miraculous force that inspires rocks and dust to weave themselves into biology.
You have stood by us for millions and billions of years - do not forsake us now.
Empower us and awaken in us pure and dazzling creativity.
You that can turn scales into feathers, seawater to blood, caterpillars to butterflies, metamorphose our species,
awaken in us the powers that we need to survive the present crisis and evolve into more aeons of our solar journey.
===
May we shine with a pure inner passion that will spread rapidly through these leaden times.
===
We call upon the power which sustains the planets in their orbits, that wheels our Milky Way in its 2000-million-year spiral,
to imbue our personalities and our relationships with harmony, endurance and joy.
Fill us with a sense of immense time so that our brief, flickering lives may truly reflect the work of vast ages past and also the millions of years of evolution whose potential lies in our trembling hands." Amen.
===
John Seed (excerpts) Earth Prayers, pp. 34-35, Ed. Elizabeth Roberts & Elias Amidon
In honour of the Fourteenth Anniversary of the Passing of Thomas Berry, CP
“The Gravitation” By Thomas Berry (November 9, 1914 – June 1, 2009)
The gravitation
that pervades the universe,
holds it together, and causes
each tiniest particle to attract
and be attracted to every other particle,
involves an awareness,
an inner communication,
an intercommunion. This is why
the attraction of gravitation that
brings about the concentration
of atoms which causes such
enormous heat within the
various celestial bodies
is a remarkable symbol of love
in the human order.
Only such love
can sustain the human effort
and call forth those vast
energies needed to create
the world
of the future.
May this powerful work of art inspire in us a new consciousness, a new creativity, and a new energy to know we are as integral to Earth as Earth is to us. We are one. May we see and experience the Divine Presence in all Creation, and may our renewal bring Earth healing and peace.
For further information about Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si', and the Passionist study guides that accompany it, please follow this link: www.passiochristi.org/laudato-si/
How does the painting "The Passion of the Earth" raise your consciousness about the sufferings of Earth? What does this new awareness call you to do?
Prayer of Pope Francis from Laudato Si':
"All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe and in the smallest of your creatures.
You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.
Pour out upon us the power of your love, that we may protect life and beauty.
Fill us with peace, that we may live as brothers and sisters, harming no one.
O God of the poor, help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth, so precious in your eyes.
Bring healing to our lives, that we may protect the world and not prey on it, that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.
Touch the hearts of those who look only for gain at the expense of the poor and the earth.
Teach us to discover the worth of each thing, to be filled with awe and contemplation, to recognize that we are profoundly united with every creature as we journey towards your infinite light.
We thank you for being with us each day. Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle for justice, love and peace." Amen.
An Earth Prayer
"We call upon the spirit of evolution, the miraculous force that inspires rocks and dust to weave themselves into biology.
You have stood by us for millions and billions of years - do not forsake us now.
Empower us and awaken in us pure and dazzling creativity.
You that can turn scales into feathers, seawater to blood, caterpillars to butterflies, metamorphose our species,
awaken in us the powers that we need to survive the present crisis and evolve into more aeons of our solar journey.
===
May we shine with a pure inner passion that will spread rapidly through these leaden times.
===
We call upon the power which sustains the planets in their orbits, that wheels our Milky Way in its 2000-million-year spiral,
to imbue our personalities and our relationships with harmony, endurance and joy.
Fill us with a sense of immense time so that our brief, flickering lives may truly reflect the work of vast ages past and also the millions of years of evolution whose potential lies in our trembling hands." Amen.
===
John Seed (excerpts) Earth Prayers, pp. 34-35, Ed. Elizabeth Roberts & Elias Amidon
In honour of the Fourteenth Anniversary of the Passing of Thomas Berry, CP
“The Gravitation” By Thomas Berry (November 9, 1914 – June 1, 2009)
The gravitation
that pervades the universe,
holds it together, and causes
each tiniest particle to attract
and be attracted to every other particle,
involves an awareness,
an inner communication,
an intercommunion. This is why
the attraction of gravitation that
brings about the concentration
of atoms which causes such
enormous heat within the
various celestial bodies
is a remarkable symbol of love
in the human order.
Only such love
can sustain the human effort
and call forth those vast
energies needed to create
the world
of the future.