Earth Day – 22nd April 2021 | Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy

Each year more than a billion people from 192 countries all over the world celebrate Earth Day on April 22nd. It is a day to rejoice in the giftedness of our created world, a world that nurtures, a world that gives delight in the beauty around us and one that kindles in us a renewed appreciation for our undoubted connectedness with the earth.

An Amazing Day

I thank you God for this most amazing day
For leaping greenly spirits of trees
And a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
Which is natural which is infinite which is yes.
(E.E. Cummings.)

Look at the simplicity of children when surrounded with the natural world. Watch them as they instinctively feel at home with animals.

Chatting to Misty

It is very interesting to watch how children use natural elements as toys and jump with delight in puddles of water, or seem so at home with stones, or sand to find amusement.

The technological world seems to have removed us from this childlike connection so it is not surprising that this year’s theme “Restore Our Earth” is a cry for us to go back to our simple childlike relationship with our Mother Earth and try to repair some of the damage we are doing.

Prayer:
God, grant us the grace to grow deeper in our care and respect of creation.
Help us to recognise the sacredness of all your creatures as signs of your wondrous love.

Pressing issues such as our climate crisis, air pollution, biodiversity threats and deforestation – all so interconnected, are the focus for some form of action for Earth Day 2021. World organisers are asking that three days from 20th to 22nd April be set aside particularly for climate action. We are doing much damage to our Earth, individually and collectively. Kathleen Rogers, president of EarthDay.org says “We are at the edge of a cliff – if we don’t act now to reduce carbon emissions, there will be no way back.”

Carbon emissions do untold damage to our weather patterns, igniting forest fires, causing unexplained flooding, and seasonal disruption with The Global South, with the least emissions, feeling the worst of this.

How can we simply fall in love with our planet again? Can we renew our commitment to take more positive steps to “Restore Our Earth” this Earth Day 2021?

Prayer:

Let us pray for an end to the
Waste and desecration of God’s creation
For access to the fruits of creation
To be shared equally among all people
And for communities and nations to find sustenance
In the fruits of the earth and the water God has given us.
(Prayers adapted from JesuitResource.org)

There are simple ways we can nurture our local earth resources as means of restoring nature’s balance.

Home grown plants