Meditation on Creation

We, the Sisters of Providence, are inviting you to join us in our commitment to be participants in sustaining life in the care of each other and the Earth. The life of humans is interconnected with the healthy life of the environment and all creation.

You may enter into this meditative prayer as an individual or as a community of people with a facilitator. If done in community, the facilitator gives the instructions and invitations that are in bold print. If individually, simply follow the prompts in bold.

There is one meditation with three reflections and one poem. You may, however, desire to pray only the reflections or only the poem.

Let us join in pray and care

Meditation on Creation

Preparation and Focus

Position: Find a comfortable position/place for this meditation.

Breath: Take three deep breaths, filling your lungs thoroughly, holding your breath momentarily and exhaling through your mouth.

Heart: Quiet your inner self – embracing the gift of life with breath and heartbeat.

First reflection:

Reflect on creation about you: The air, water, land under your feet (or under the cement or floor under your feet), sun, water of life in you, in plants, animals, climate, humans, organisms all about.

Being consciously aware of your unity with this place of creation, open yourself to experience this place as a relative or friend. St. Francis of Assisi felt so connected to creation that he called different elements brothers or sisters.

Second reflection:

Let yourself reflect on the amazing balance of earth’s components and how this balance impacts your thriving and energy. Use these words of St. Hildegard of Bingen about the union of human beings with all of Creation to deepen your connection: “Human beings are the thinking heart, called to be Co-creators with God in shaping the world.”

Express your gratitude for such wonders of creation’s rhythm of interconnection.

Third reflection:

Having come in touch with the beauty of creation and your part in it, reflect on the interconnection of life being broken through pollutants of all kinds emitted into the atmosphere. How do you feel that this most beautiful place, Earth, is threatened by destruction and dying?

Ponder the call to be good stewards and not dominators and oppressors of this web of life for now and future generations.

Resolutions:

Come in touch with the passion/energy you feel to protect this most beautiful place, Earth, in what way(s) might you be a good steward to help sustain the gift exchange of Earth’s life?

Ending Prayer Poem

Sea and stone and sky and earth

Tied together with dew and rain

Every facet of creation is precious

This world will be our home

No matter where we may go

Its very existence a beacon of Providence

Our fates are so tightly entwined

That we each share its perils

Every injury against creation injures us

Though the task is great and the road is steep

We know that through harmony, unity, and peace

The children of the world can save the world

We focus our spirits, our words and our thoughts,

And our wills, our aims, and our deeds

On sustaining this gift, which, in turn, sustains us