Saturday morning September 30, Sr Mary Ann Barrett, Lisa Mitchell (Associate Life Director), and Mindy Hills (Director of Dominican Center Marywood and board trustee of St. Francis Sculpture Garden) welcomed the people to the banks of Coldbrook Creek in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Sister Mary Ann opened the Season of Creation prayer service with this message:
The prophet Amos calls us to join the river of justice and peace. To take up climate and ecological justice. To speak out with and for communities most impacted by climate injustice and the loss of biodiversity.
Pope Francis reminds us that “many are prevented from drinking from this vigorous river. Let us listen then to the call to stand with victims of environmental and climate injustice, and to put an end to this senseless war against creation.”
She urged those gathered: Sisters, Associates, friends of the congregation, and event co-hosts Dominican Center Marywood at Aquinas College and St. Francis Sculpture Gardens to PAUSE during this Season of Creation.
Let us dwell on these heartbeats:
Our own,
those of our mothers and grandmothers,
The heartbeat of the created heart
And that of God’s heart.
These hearts are not in harmony, they do not beat together in justice and peace.
Friends who gathered on this day listened…
May we take to heart this Word from the Prophet Amos (5:24)
Thus says our God:
Let justice flow like water,
And integrity like an ever-flowing stream.
Do you hear what I want?
I want justice – oceans of it.
I want fairness – rivers of it.
That’s what I want.
That’s all I want.
We blessed the waters and the Earth
Blessed are you, Creator God,
Who, in Christ, is the living water of salvation.
Grant that when we are sprinkled with this water from Coldbrook creek,
We will be refreshed by the power of your Holy Spirit.
In our thirst, we come to you, believing in your son, Jesus.
May we be transformed into rivers of living water
flowing upon Earth, our common home.
