REFLECTIONS ON THE WAY OF THE

SUFFERING EARTH

Home/Land Committee Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, Albany, NY

Images: Sister Clare Pelkey, CSJ

As we meditate on the physical abuse and mental agony suffered by our Savior Jesus Christ, let us include reflections on how we abuse Mother Earth and how she has suffered at the hands of the human race.

Help us to live compatibly with our Earth.

Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Hosts heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Jesus is condemned to death.

Here then, I have today set before you life and prosperity, death and doom… Choose life, that you and your descendants may live. Dt 15:19

“Once a creature of earthly providence, we are now extensively in control of Providence. We now have extensive power over the ultimate…

…destinies of the planet, the power of life and death, over many of its life systems.”

-Thomas Berry

For our misuse of power over Earth’s life systems and creatures,

Lord have mercy.

Jesus accepts his cross

Every person has been given a great deal of work to do A heavy burden on all of us from the day of our birth until the day we go back to earth, the mother of us all. Sirach 40:1

“We carry the awareness of life’s precious and fragile beauty; but our awareness is our gift to the universe.” -Brian Swimme

We carry responsibility on our own shoulders.

For the times that we have been unaware of the gifts of creation,

Lord have mercy.

Jesus falls the first time.

From the four winds come O Spirit, and breathe into these slain that they may come to life. Ezekiel 37:9

Where would we be without the air we breathe? We have, through our mechanized society, poured fumes and poisons into the lungs of Earth. Help us to inhale your Spirit; help us to develop ways to salvage the purity that once was part of our heritage.

For the times that we have abused the gifts of clean air,

Lord have mercy.

Jesus meets his sorrowful mother.

It is your own face that you see reflected

in the water and it is your own self that you see in your heart. -Proverbs 27:19

“It is God whom human beings know in every creature, the Divine mirror that glistens and glitters in every creature.”-Hildegard of Bingen

Lord, help us to see your face in all creation.

Simon helps Jesus carry the cross.

Do not harm the earth

or the sea or the trees…

-Revelation 7:3

“The Earth’s vegetation is part of a web of life in which there are intimate and

essential relations between plants and the earth, between plants and other plants…

…between plants and animals.”

-Rachel Carson

For the times we have wasted the resources of Earth, Lord have mercy.

Veronica wipes the face of Jesus

But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amos 5:24

Our bodies are mostly composed of water. We were supported by water in our mother’s womb.

Yet have we poured our untreated wastes indiscriminately into our rivers and oceans.

Open our hearts, Oh God, help us cleanse the face of Mother Earth

with our compassion.

Jesus falls the second time.

Unless a grain of wheat

falls into the earth and dies,

it remains just a grain, but if it dies

it bears much fruit.

-John 12:24

“As I kneel to put the seeds in, careful as stitching, I am in love. You are the bed we all sleep on. You are the food we eat, the food we ate, the food we become. We are walking trees rooted in you. My garden is a chapel.” -Marge Piercy

Creator, help us to live in

reverent connection with Earth.

Jesus speaks to the weeping women.

The heavens proclaim the glory of God, the sky proclaims God’s handiwork. PS 19:10

“Sometimes the poorest leave their children with the richest inheritance.” -Ruth Renkel

“This is salvation: when we marvel at the beauty of created things and praise the beautiful providence of their Creator or when we purchase heavenly goods by our compassion for the works of creation.” –Meister Eckhart

Creator God, Help us to live in awe of the marvels of creation

Jesus falls the third time.

For we know that up to

the present time all of creation

groans with pain, like the

pain of childbirth. But it is not

just creation… We also groan

as we wait for God.

Romans 8:22-23

Planet Earth is all that we have in common. It is impossible to damage, exploit or care for each other more or differently than we do Earth. – W. Berry

Lord, lift up our consciousness and restore our sensitivity to our responsibilities for stewardship.

Jesus is stripped of his garments.

At the sight of the crowds his heart was moved with pity. They were lying prostrate from exhaustion, like sheep without a shepherd. Matthew 9:36

“The universe is the primary revelation of the Divine, the primary scripture, the primary locus of Divine-human communion.” –Thomas Berry

May you, O God, strip from our eyes the scales that prevent us

from recognizing this primary relationship with you

Jesus is nailed to the cross.

…the compassion of the Lord is for every living thing… Sirach 18:13

“…and in this God showed me something small, no bigger than a hazel nut, lying in the palm of my hand. I feared it would suddenly have fallen into nothing and I was answered in my understanding; it lasts and always will, because God loves it and thus everything has being through the love of God” -Julian of Norwich

Lord, help us to love creation as you do.

Jesus dies on the cross.

But the Earth will be desolate because of its inhabitants, for the fruit of their doing. Micah 7:13

“This is us -- Earth. We realize it sooner or later, but there is no getting around it. If we do not learn to live in harmony with the food chains, with ecosystems, then gradually they will come out of balance, and they will die. It is a circle and we are in it…” -Baden Powel

When we forget that we are part of the web of life, Lord have mercy.

Jesus is taken down from the cross.

When I look at the sky which you have made, at the moon and the stars you set in place, what are we that you think of us, mere mortals that you care for us? - Psalm 8:3

If we are alone in the universe, we have an irreplaceable jewel

Creator God, fill us with gratitude for this gift.

Jesus is

laid in the

tomb.

Bloom like the sweet-smelling lily and send your fragrance into the air like incense. – Sir. 39:14

“Our faith imposes on us a right

and duty to throw ourselves into

the things of the Earth.”

-Teilhard de Chardin

Gracious God, help us to be co-creators of

Earth.

Jesus is raised from the dead.

I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made; wonderful are your works. Psalm 139:14

“Wonderful how completely everything in wild nature fits into us, as if truly part and parent of us. The rivers flow not past, but through us, thrilling, tingling, vibrating every fiber and cell of the substance of our bodies, making them glide and sing.” –John Muir

Loving Lord, grant our own resurrection from apathy and neglect.

Amen.