September 14 (Holy Cross)

Ps 104:24 How many are your works, O LORD!

In wisdom you have made them all.

The earth is full of your creatures.

 

Morning Midday and Evening Sacrifice (Hopkins)

The dappled die-away
Cheek and wimpled lip,
The gold-wisp, the airy-grey
Eye, all in fellowship—
This, all this beauty blooming,
This, all this freshness fuming,
Give God while worth consuming.

Both thought and thew now bolder
And told by Nature: Tower;
Head, heart, hand, heel, and shoulder
That beat and breathe in power—
This pride of prime's enjoyment
Take as for tool, not toy meant
And hold at Christ's employment.

The vault and scope and schooling
And mastery in the mind,
In silk-ash kept from cooling,
And ripest under rind—
What life half lifts the latch of,
What hell stalks towards the snatch of,
Your offering, with despatch, of!

Meditation

With infinite love, God has created all things and given them life. That is why Saint Francis of Assisi could call every creature his brother, his sister and his mother. Only a contemplative gaze can change our relationship with creation and bring us out of the ecological crisis brought on by the breakdown of our relationship with God, with our neighbors and with the earth that is the effect of sin (cf. Laudato Si' ,66).

Musical Selection (Doxecology)

We are the tenants of the King,
we are the workers in his garden,
so we will live and love and care
for this the planet that we share.

We bear the image of our God
and we are sharing in his mission,
so we will follow as we serve,
to see the healing of the Earth.

As we wait for the dawning of the day
when the King is coming,
we will live for his glory
and his praise.

For in the victory of the cross
we have a hope of restoration,
all things together under Christ,
a world of flourishing and life.

So fill us up and lead us on
to see the coming of your kingdom,
and we will labour as we sing
for we’re the tenants of the King.

Prayer