Earth Day


 

 

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Magnolia blooming in Black Mountain, NC. Photograph and copyright by Barbara Mattio, 2010

Magnolia blooming in Black Mountain, NC. Photograph and copyright by Barbara Mattio, 2010

 

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The Atlantic Ocean at twilight. Photographed and copyrighted by Barbara Mattio 2009

The Atlantic Ocean at twilight. Photographed and copyrighted by Barbara Mattio 2009

This is a compilation of prayers about healing Mother Earth.

They are from many different spiritual paths. All prayers rise to heaven and all prayers are known to God. There is not just a certain religion whose members pray and receive answers or attention.

In this world, every prayer counts, and we are One Family living on One Mother Earth. Let us, all pray, whatever words come from your heart and soul. I hope you will see that the meaning of the different prayers is all the same.

 

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“Let us be united,

Let us speak in harmony,

Let our minds apprehend alike.

Common be our prayer,

Common be the end of our assembly,

Common be our deliberations.

Alike be our feelings,

Unified be our hearts;

Common be our intentions,

Perfect be our unity.”

— From the Rig Veda

 

 

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“It is up to us to receive and transmit our Torah.

It is up to us to see that the world still stands.

May the time be not distant

when nation will not lift up sword against nations,

neither shall they learn war any more.

They shall beat their swords into ploughshares,

for the earth will be filled with the wonder of life

Then shall we sit under our vine and our fig tree

and none shall be afraid.

—Rabbi Rami M. Shapiro

 

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“Cattle browse peacefully

Trees and plants are verdant,

Birds fly from their nests

And lift up their wings in your praise.

All animals frisk upon their feet

All winged things fly and alight once more—

They come to life with your rising.

Boats sail upstream and boats sail downstream,

At your coming every highway is opened

Before your face the fish leap up from the river.

Your rays reach the green ocean.

You it is who place the male seed in woman,

Who create the semen in man;

You quicken the sun in his mother’s belly,

Soothing him so that he shall not cry

Even in the womb you are his nurse.

You give breath to all your creation,

Opening the mouth of the newborn

And giving him nourishment.

——-From the Pharaoh Akhenaten’s ” Hymn to the Sun”

 

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“Water flows over these hands.

May I use them skillfully

to preserve our precious planet.”

—Thich Nhat Hanh

 

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“Be praised my lord because our sister

Mother Earth sustains and rules

us and because she raises

food to feed us : colored flowers

grass.

Be praised my lord for those who pardon by your love

and suffer illness and grief

Bless those who undergo in silence

the poor for whom you hold a crown

Be praised my lord for Sister Death-of-Body

whom no man living will escape

And pity those who die in mortal sin

and everyone she who minds you

bless: no second death

to bring them hurt.

Oh praise my lord and bless my lord and thank

and serve my lord with humbleness

Triumphant.”

—Saint Francis of Assisi

 

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“All living beings; all our relations.

We pray for ourselves and all persons;

for the ducks, loons, penguins, eagles and

sparrows:

for dogs, cats, monkeys, elk and earthworms;

fish, mussels, deep-diving whales;

eucalyptus and cactus, fir and roses; all our relations.

Guide us to true peace and security;

grant us protection and freedom from all

bondage;

help us to be free to be ourselves, with

respect for all.

Enfold us in the clear light of safety and

warmth and wholeness.”

—Hazrat Inayat Khan

 

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Bahama water garden. Photograph taken and copyrighted by Barbara Mattio 2013

Bahama water garden. Photograph taken and copyrighted by Barbara Mattio 2013

“The soul of the whole of creation is one, the life behind all those ever-moving phantoms is one. Meditation on this truth and the awakening to it will harmonize the condition of the world.”

—Hazrat Inayat Khan

 

 

 

 

 

We are all One Family in the eyes of the Beloved

We are all One Family in the eyes of the Beloved

 

 

O Great Spirit


The Native Americans Truly Honored our Planet

There are indigenous people around the world who have given us a heritage and inheritance for honoring Mother Earth and our planet. We have knowledge of their wisdom and it is available if we want it.

Many people in the world today do value and honor our planet. Some of the changes that are happening are part of the life cycle of the planet but many we have caused ourselves. Whether changes are man-made or part of the life cycle of the planet- such as the ice age- we can help to heal our planet and help her to heal herself.

Planning green areas in cities are a great help, planting trees, and not allowing big business to pollute the air and water are other important things we can do. Recycling is a help and helping to organize recycling where it is not now available is another idea.

There are so many poets and authors who remind us of how important the landscape around us is. It is healing and soothing. It lifts the spirits and lights up the soul. We are so lucky to have this source of beauty around us whenever we want or need to see beauty. Painters and photographers have immortalized the beauty they saw and it adds to our joy to see the world through their cameras and paint brushes. I am a great fan of the Impressionists. I love the way the used light to enhance their brush strokes and to make you feel as if you were there in their shoes standing at their easels. How grateful I am for that gift they left to all of us.

The Natural World

…If one looks long enough at almost anything, looks with absolute attention at a flower, a stone, the bark of a tree, grass, snow, a cloud, something like revelation takes place. Something is “given,” and perhaps that something is always a reality outside the self. We are aware of God only when we cease to be aware of ourselves, not in the negative sense of denying the self, but in the sense of losing self in admiration and joy.”
—Excerpted from “From May Sarton’s Well”, Compiled by Edith Royce Schade

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Blanket Flowers from my garden. Photo by Barbara Mattio

Metroparks Zoo, Photo by Barbara Mattio