Celebrating Earth Day: Inside and Out
April 25, 2024 12:05 PM - This week, we celebrate Earth Day and Arbor Day at SSM Health. This is the third MyNews article in a week-long series of prayers, reflections and ideas dedicated to preserving God’s creation and our common home.
Buddhist monk and Zen master Thich Nhat Hahn touched many people in his lifetime through his books and recordings – especially with his love for our planet. In his book Love Letter to the Earth, he asks us to view our world differently – and grow our relationship with it.
“You may be used to thinking of the earth as only the ground beneath your feet. But the water, the sea, the sky, and everything around us comes from the earth. Everything outside us and everything inside us come from the earth.
We often forget that the planet we are living on has given us all the elements that make up our bodies. The water in our flesh, our bones, and all the microscopic cells inside our bodies all come from the earth and are part of the earth. The earth is not just the environment we live in. We are the earth and we are always carrying her within us.
Realizing this, we can see that the earth is truly alive. We are a living, breathing manifestation of this beautiful and generous planet. Knowing this, we can begin to transform our relationship to the earth. We can begin to walk differently and to care for her differently.
We will fall completely in love with the earth. When we are in love with someone or something, there is no separation between ourselves and the person or thing we love. We do whatever we can for them and this brings us great joy and nourishment. That is the relationship each of us can have with the earth. That is the relationship each of us must have with the earth if the earth is to survive, and if we are to survive as well.”
His prayer speaks to our concerns during this week of celebration:
'Let us be aware of the source of being, common to us all and to all living beings.
Evoking the presence of the Great Compassion of the Divine, let us fill our hearts with our own compassion – towards ourselves and all living beings.
Let us pray that we ourselves cease to be the cause of suffering to each other.
Let us plead with ourselves to live in a way which will not deprive other living beings of air, water, food, shelter, or the chance to live.
With humility, with awareness of the existence of life, and of the sufferings that are going on around us, let us pray for the establishment of peace in our hearts and on earth.”
Did you know?
SSM Health diverted 141.4 tons of waste from landfills in 2023, including 93.9 tons of recycled electronic waste and 47 tons of reprocessed single-use medical devices.
Buddhist monk and Zen master Thich Nhat Hahn touched many people in his lifetime through his books and recordings – especially with his love for our planet. In his book Love Letter to the Earth, he asks us to view our world differently – and grow our relationship with it.
“You may be used to thinking of the earth as only the ground beneath your feet. But the water, the sea, the sky, and everything around us comes from the earth. Everything outside us and everything inside us come from the earth.
We often forget that the planet we are living on has given us all the elements that make up our bodies. The water in our flesh, our bones, and all the microscopic cells inside our bodies all come from the earth and are part of the earth. The earth is not just the environment we live in. We are the earth and we are always carrying her within us.
Realizing this, we can see that the earth is truly alive. We are a living, breathing manifestation of this beautiful and generous planet. Knowing this, we can begin to transform our relationship to the earth. We can begin to walk differently and to care for her differently.
We will fall completely in love with the earth. When we are in love with someone or something, there is no separation between ourselves and the person or thing we love. We do whatever we can for them and this brings us great joy and nourishment. That is the relationship each of us can have with the earth. That is the relationship each of us must have with the earth if the earth is to survive, and if we are to survive as well.”
His prayer speaks to our concerns during this week of celebration:
'Let us be aware of the source of being, common to us all and to all living beings.
Evoking the presence of the Great Compassion of the Divine, let us fill our hearts with our own compassion – towards ourselves and all living beings.
Let us pray that we ourselves cease to be the cause of suffering to each other.
Let us plead with ourselves to live in a way which will not deprive other living beings of air, water, food, shelter, or the chance to live.
With humility, with awareness of the existence of life, and of the sufferings that are going on around us, let us pray for the establishment of peace in our hearts and on earth.”
Did you know?SSM Health diverted 141.4 tons of waste from landfills in 2023, including 93.9 tons of recycled electronic waste and 47 tons of reprocessed single-use medical devices.
