with thanks to Sr. Tess RGS for editing the orginal text
A place of very deep intimacy is our awareness of being a creature, made by God, like all the other creatures. Speak in your prayer to God our Creator, to Jesus who knows this place so deeply, and to the Holy Spirit, the creative power of God. Experience God’s tenderness.
Praying with and for Creation. Find words for this newly awakened mode of relating with Mother Earth. Ask for the guidance of the Spirit that you might be given the gift of prayer, of Earth prayer. “All the trees of the forest will sing for joy; they will sing before the Lord” (Ps 96: 13). We do not know how to pray constantly, but in oneness with all that is, we will find the way.
Listening. All has sound. Each star, the sun, the moon, every being has its own sound. Listen to the sounds. Through our very own sound we are known by the Earth. She knows us, we are part of her. Hear her words from within. She will tell you what you need to do today in order to reconnect…feel the original oneness of all.
Seeing radiance. All has radiance from within. In the intimacy with our Creator we become radiant. See how everything in creation is radiant. The soil is radiant in its ways of giving all it has to the plants we put there and the soil nourishes and sustains. See the radiance and be touched by the immense care of our Creator for everything that is created. See the capacity you have for radiance.
Feeling the softness of the body of Earth. Feel her strength. She carries us … you can lean on the Earth, you can be strengthened by her. Be aware of the energies she constantly gives by each step we take, each time we touch the Earth.
Respecting and honoring. The Ancients in their ceremonies always pay their respect to even the tiniest blade of grass, worm, insects. This is an attitude we can learn. Grow deeper into this. Out of the respect comes the true care. You will not be able anymore to waste anything, let something die through lack of attention and care. Each little plant has right to a life in fullness, also the animals we take care of. See where you can grow in respect for all life and how to practice honoring. It is about knowing our place in the circle of life. It also means that we constantly ask ourselves: This behavior, this way of using my time and energy, does this fit in the circle of all life?
In connecting with the Earth in a deeper way, we have to be prepared from inside. We need to heal, to let go of negativity, let go of old ways of living and doing things. Otherwise we are not open to the sources of wisdom of Earth. We need to forgive ourselves for our alienation from our Mother, the ways we have developed to ignore her, to deny the life of creation and the needs of all other creatures too. We have to know our own deep pain and unfinished business, our woundedness. The ways in which we are wounded, not seen, neglected, not listened to, are reflected in the ways we dominate other creatures.
To know our deep desire for intimacy with the Earth and come home. The human of today has lost this deep connection with the Earth. The human is no longer embedded in the life of the Earth, has broken away from the circle of all life. This causes deep pain, loss of identity for outside the circle of life we do not know who we are and what we are about as humans. Then we look for security and something to still the hunger and satisfy our deep unmet needs by consumption or power, or by living an unreal life, not willing to look straight into the situation of our devastated Earth. Then we have indeed a second, virtual life, far beyond the reality of an Earth in need of healing. We are the ones needing this healing and when we heal, the Earth heals.
Letting go of our arrogance. Mother Earth is waiting for us to come home to intimacy with the life community, and be healed in that intimacy. Then we will find beauty, rest, sense of identity, self worth, sense of enough and abundance. In this new intimacy with the whole life community we will grow in our understanding of what we can do and how we can help Mother Earth to regenerate. Then we begin to accept ourselves in a new way, because we are accepted and we do no longer need to spend energy on finding security in a false sense of being. An enormous energy will break through in us. Earth connectedness will bring strength, creativity, passion and a great warmth and love.
The need for meditation, body awareness as the instruments to practice Earth connectedness. This is a time of paradigm shift – we need to learn so many new ways of seeing, acting, understanding. How can this be revealed to us if we do not listen carefully to the inner guidance given to us? We are called to grow in attentiveness. To care more for ourselves is a step in healing the Earth. We are to cleanse ourselves constantly of negativity, anger, greed. When we meditate daily, alone and together we heal the Earth of negativity, because we are in inner peace. In us Gaia is searching for her balance again. We can help her by meditating. In meditation, ecological imbalances in the world are addressed. Earth and humanity are but one body. What we do to ourselves, we do to the whole. We humans are the Earth that feels, loves, honors, thinks. If we want the Earth to find back her balance, it has to start in each one of us, by doing everything with less stress, with more calm and alertness, attentiveness and love. This means that we go counter culture. We are going to breath together with the Earth and our heartbeat has to beat in harmony with the heartbeat of the Earth.
Elly Verrijt