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Continually Turning to our Cosmic Story

April 22, 2014

Mercy Ecology is a start up non profit ministry with two locations, Mercy Farm in Benson, Vermont and New Dawn Earth Center in Cumberland, Rhode Island

'It’s 3:23 in the morning and I’m awake, because my great, great grandchildren won’t let me sleep. My great, great grandchildren ask me in dreams, what did you do while the planet was plundered? What did you do when the Earth was unraveling? Surely you did something when the seasons started failing, as the mammals, reptiles, birds were all dying. Did you fill the streets with protest when democracy was stolen? What did you do, once you knew?'
- Drew Dellinger Hieroglyphic Stairway

       

Right now, we all grope our way into the biggest context of existence. With the glimmer of an understanding of a cosmos in evolution and with the hint of knowing something about inner and outer transformation through our lives as women of Mercy, we at Mercy Ecology are taking steps to “reverence Earth and to work toward the sustainability of life by acting in harmony with all creation.” It is both a lofty goal and a gritty reality. It requires continually turning to our Cosmic Story, the great flaring forth of all that would ever be, and bowing in awe before the mystery of Love in which it all lives and moves and has being.

It changes one to recognize that the power flowing through the Universe is Love. It makes you ask in prayer, where today did I allow Love to flow? Why did I block it here or there? How did I reverence the Great Mystery today? Where did I see with a deeper vision? Where did I hear the cry and the call? What did I do with the most recent hours I had to be Universe in the form of a human?

We are aware of ice melting…what is it to grasp that we are melting? We are conscious of human practices that render water toxic to all living beings…what do we do to protect and clean the small ponds and streams that flow though Mercy land? How do we share the story of the sacredness of water? We have intellectual knowledge that we are living through the sixth great extinction of our fellow creatures… to what action does that pain impel us? What of the bees, the butterflies, the bats? What are we doing to challenge current insecticide practices? We experience the change in climate, the droughts, the storms, the fires… how does our lifestyle contribute to the pain of the poorest among us?

We know the great power of continuance of life through seed is being compromised and even poisoning the soil, the creatures, and our own species’ breast milk…how do we defend the right of nature to give the fruit of her very body to all? We know that so many people do not know the Cosmic Story or their worth…how do we educate for living a meaningful life? What hope can we impart even in these urgent times?
These are some of our daily contemplations. Our daily, physical, merciful response is to care for soil and water, pollinators and blossoms, chickens and bluebirds, children, guests and friends. May our awe and reverence lead us beyond sustainability to full flourishing of Earth Community!

It is now unthinkable that any women’s congregation should not be committed as a primary concern and purpose to the natural world. If the life systems are not saved then everything else is irrelevant.”
-Thomas Berry in Women Religious: Their Future Role.

References you might seek out:

Messages to: Mary Pendergast rsm - Vice Chair Mercy Ecology Board

www.mercyecology.org
facebook : Mercy Ecology at New Dawn ; Mercy Farm Eco Spiritual Center
Twitter: @MercyEcology