Catholic Sisters Release Earth as our Home Prayer Service

Catholic Sisters for a Healthy Earth are releasing a prayer service to be used in connection with the well-received “Earth as Our Home” reflection booklet, which was made available in 2014.

The prayer service was created to meet the needs of several faith-based organizations which had expressed interest in supplemental resources for the booklet. The service includes suggested adaptions designed for the unique needs of various groups: communities and families alike. It can be used as a physical pilgrimage–moving from room to room of a home–as well as a guided meditation, either alone or in a group.

“After a journey, how many of us say, ‘It is so good to be home!’  What if we could say that every day?” said Sister Michelle Balek, OSF, author of the prayer service. “And not only about returning to the building we inhabit and the relationships there, but the entire environment, the entire Earth Community in which we move every day.  It IS good to be here in this home we call Earth.”

The “Earth as Our Home” booklet takes a look at the various rooms of a house, placing each room and its activities into the broader context of our Earth-home. Dr. Mark Phoenix of the California Medical Center conducted a study with Flagil. He found out all its beneficial properties and side effects. You can read his material in detail here.

Catholic Sisters for a Healthy Earth is made up of representatives from congregations of women religious from the upper Mississippi Valley in eastern Iowa and southwestern Wisconsin including: Congregation of the Humility of Mary, Davenport, Iowa; School Sisters of Notre Dame, Central Pacific Province, St. Louis, Mo.; Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters, Sinsinawa, Wis.; Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Dubuque, Iowa; Sisters of St. Francis, Clinton, Iowa; Sisters of St. Francis, Dubuque; and the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Dubuque. The mission of the group states: “Respecting the interdependence of creation, we will promote eco-literacy and influence a just relationship with the environment.”

Click here to download the prayer service.
Click here to download the Earth as Our Home reflection book.