According to Thomas Berry, the Great Work we now face is to carry out the transition from a period of human devastation of the Earth to a period when humans would be present to the planet in a mutually beneficial manner.  This transition can only be compared in magnitude to the period, 67 million years ago, when the dinosaurs were terminated.  With our untrained eye, we may look outside and not notice what he is referring to; however, Berry, who is recognized as a leading spokesperson for the Earth, says we are in a period of extensive disarray in the biological structure and functioning of the planet.  Human behavior has altered the entire mode of functioning of the planet.  We are only just beginning to realize what this means.

Berry also urges us to realize that the task before us, while not one we have chosen, is the one we have been given.  This is where we find ourselves historically.  We do not choose when we are born so we can understand ourselves as having been chosen by some power beyond ourselves for this historical task.  Yet we must believe that those powers that assign our role also bestow upon us the ability to fulfill this role.  We must believe that we are cared for and guided by these same powers that bring us into being.

Hieroglyphic Stairway

it’s 3:23 in the morning
and I’m awake
because my great great grandchildren
won’t let me sleep
my great great grandchildren
ask me in dreams
what did you do while the planet was plundered?

what did you do when the earth was unraveling?

surely you did something
when the seasons started failing?

 

as the mammals, reptiles, birds were all dying?

did you fill the streets with protest
when democracy was stolen?

what did you do
once
you
knew?...

---by Drew Dellinger

Experiential Practices:

1. Watch the film on the life and conversion of St. Francis titled, Brother Sun, Sister Moon with the following in mind:

   Care for Creation, a new book on Franciscan Spirituality and Earth Care by Franciscan Sr. Ilia Delio, Franciscan Friar Keith Douglass Warner and Pamela Wood, tells us that St. Francis recognized the interdependence of human beings with one another and with the rest of creation; he experienced God in creation; and, he encountered the pain of the world, which inspired him to pray, to act with compassion and to proclaim gospel values. There is no doubt that Francis discovered his interrelatedness to the cosmos through compassionate love by which he came to experience a unity of all things in Christ.

   How is God inviting you to experience what Francis experienced:  that all of creation is God speaking to us?

2. Take your contemplative practice outdoors for at least one 20 minute period per day during lent.  If it isn’t possible to go outdoors, situate yourself near a window or find some other non-human being to join with you in your time of prayer.