Prayer17

Never at Enmity
—When Full of Energy

Eternal Spirit,
may we become all that we were meant to be,
blessed by a consciousness of your presence
and your concerns,
and in harmony with the earth
and its entire living family of creatures.

May we never find ourselves at enmity
with the creation to which we belong,
never insensitive to the injuries
done to our generous earth,
or isolated from human pain and anguish,
finding our personal meaning also
in collective cosmic goals:
complexification and diversity, cooperation, communion.

Give us energy for the demands of life
from your infinite store, Holy One,
from your own spiritual ocean of compassion
and intelligence.

So be it.

posted 4/16/2008
from    Prayers to an Evolutionary God   (page 25)
by    William Cleary
publisher    Skylight Paths Publishing

William Cleary's Reflection on Never at Enmity (page 24) An evolutionary faith constantly makes new demands on us. We once imagined ourselves simply as individuals finding our spiritual way forward, or as members of a family or human circle, walking together as a faith community. The new requirement is to see ourselves not only as part of our earthly bio-region but as part of the entire earth, and even as citizens of the universe. "We need to become members not only of a locale and not only of the human community," says Thomas Berry. "We need to become members of the wonderful community of all the living and nonliving beings of the world about us. There is no human community in any manner separate from the larger community that surrounds us and on which we are totally dependent for our very breath. O'Murchu adds: "As a planetary, cosmic species, we belong to a reality greater than ourselves. It is our congruence with our planetary identity and our cosmic potential that bestows genuine power upon us.... As long as we continue to set ourselves against or above the creation in which we are embedded ...., we set ourselves at enmity with the creation to which we belong."

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