Jesus Meets His Mother
Sister Mother Earth suffers, too
Meditation
God created the Heavens and the Earth, the cradle for every life form known to us, doing so God made us kin to all life; the biosphere is therefore our sister. As mothers hold their babies, Earth also holds every life. Consider how our choices harm this great Sister Mother Earth of ours (as St. Francis called her). How would you feel to see your sister or mother humiliated and bruised? Consider our contributions to environmental degradation. Are we like the jeering crowds who made Mary’s heart feel the pain of her Son? Today’s cumulative effects of climate change cause many mothers and fathers to face the stress of providing food for their children when there is so little to find.
We Pray
Loving Jesus, by the sorrow you felt in meeting your Mother, Mary, give me a heart of compassion for our Sister-Mother Earth that holds me, provides my food, water, and air. May I resist choices that devalue the home you’ve given us. Help me protect Earth as I would my own Sister or Mother. Help us to act in love to ease the pain of the millions of parents who watch their children needlessly suffer. Amen.
♫ HYMN
Were you there when His Mother saw His face?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble;
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
The above is excerpted from a booklet prepared by the Franciscan Friars Conventual JPIC commission and a combined adaptation from a Catholic Climate Covenant (CCC) parish resource (from the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis’s 2022 ACCT) and a Jesuit Refugee Service resource (JRS Renew the Earth—Stations 2022).
The Stations will be posted individually over the next weeks of Lent. Check out our Resources page if you would like to view the entire document.
