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All of us are concerned about climate change. You just have to look out your window, or watch the news, to see and feel the effect of how weather has changed on earth. It is as if the earth itself is on the Cross.
To look for some hope, I wondered what Celeste says about nature and what it could mean for us today.
Bl. M. Celeste said to Jesus, ‘My Love, every breath that I take is breathed in and out with you on the Loving Cross.’ Colloquies IX Here, she is speaking of uniting her sufferings to that of Jesus. But we can think of it as being united to the sufferings of the planet today.
Our Jewish sisters and brothers believe the name of God
is so holy that they dare not speak it.
But the name God told Moses, YH-WH, if you say, it is like the sound of
our breathing: inhaling/YAH - exhaling/WEH. So, in early morning, when we first open our
eyes and take a deep breath, we begin our day of prayer and continue to do so
throughout the day. Our breathing fills us with God.
Christ told Celeste, ‘At the beginning of Lauds (Morning Prayer), all songs of praise are for all the benefits I bestowed on the world. Begin the day as a memorial of the hour of my Incarnation, because at that hour of sunrise the divine Son rose upon the world and warmed earth with the Dew of the Grace of the Holy Spirit on all my creatures.’ Daily Exercises 3
In this warmth, Celeste invites us to ‘gaze fixedly, as an eagle gazes on the sun without batting its eyelids, on the Eternal Sun of Justice, the First Cause of your love, from whom you derive strength.’ Rules, 42 Our very life and breath, therefore, is dedicated to the One who loved us into being. One way to respond to such great of gift is by caring for the earth which God created to sustain us.
Jesus told Celeste, ‘Everything that exists, exists for my Delight and my good pleasure. Thus, you shall delight in every created thing: the sun, the moon, the stars, the earth with its plants, flowers and fruits; in all my creatures, and even current events.’ Colloquies V
There is so much beauty that surrounds us. Forget about going to the Moon or Mars. We should put our money and energies into ensuring earth’s continuance; not only for our sake, but, as our Native Peoples say, for the Seventh Generation?
Celeste instructs us saying, ‘God placed the Sun of His Divinity within the human person so that the person might always walk along the right ways in the light of His Divine Presence.’ Autobiography There is a Navajo prayer that invites all to Walk in (such) Beauty.
‘Only those unwilling to receive the light shut their windows and remain deprived of that light through their own fault, simply because they don't want to look upon Christ’s splendor.’ Autobio Here Celeste is speaking of the Light of Christ. Today, there are some politicians and big business people who shut their eyes to the light of science regarding the climate and look only for profit instead of working together to come up with climate solutions.
Let us open the windows of our eyes and not ignore the situation around us: the polluted air we breathe, contaminated water, climate disasters across the globe, extinction of plants and animals, the threat of nuclear war. Let our prayers rise with the Sun of Justice and do what is possible in our own homes and neighborhoods to cherish and sustain nature that all may delight in every created thing for generations to come.
I think Celeste is encouraging us to join in the dance of the Trinity to protect and help in the recovery of our ailing planet when she says, ‘From the charity of the Trinity comes forth all the works of creation, of conservation and of redemption.’ Exercise of Love 26 It is a call to mercy and the humility needed to stop using all the natural resources for our own benefit only. Celeste urges us to be humble because, ‘Humility unites you to the life Jesus humanly lived on earth and that directs our every intention to seek God’s glory.’ Colloquies 3
This humility combined with mercy expresses itself in loving-goodness. At one-point Celeste states, ‘I am like a drop of water which falls unto you, a vast sea, and is changed. There, I lose my own being, and see myself become an ocean of every kind of good. I am like a force, a power of unlimited goodness.’ Colloquies IX
Let
us immerse ourselves in that ocean of God’s goodness and be a force for
unlimited good. If each of us become
like waves rolling in and out; a power and source of energy to set the balance
of nature aright, then we will have done our part for our home, the earth, for
generations to come. Most of all, let us
join Bl. Celeste and breathe in deeply the love of God and delight in all that
our Creator has given us.
What can we do to help carry the cross which ails our
beautiful home, the earth?
How can we be a force of unlimited goodness as we work
together for climate solutions?
