On Retreat . . .


The HOLY GROUND, COMMON GROUND Blog
has been on extended retreat for quite some time
due to full-time work responsibilities
but will re-sprout with new life
in due time!

Thank you for your continued interest!

Pope Benedict XVI's 2010 World Day of Peace Message


Ten Commandments for the Environment
cover image

"IF YOU WANT TO
CULTIVATE PEACE,
PROTECT CREATION"

Excerpts:

Is it not true that
what we call “nature”
in a cosmic sense
has its origin in
“a plan of love and truth”?
The goods of creation belong to humanity as a whole.
Yet the current pace of environmental exploitation is seriously
endangering the supply of certain natural resources not only for the
present generation, but above all for generations yet to come.

A greater sense of intergenerational solidarity is
urgently needed. . . . The ecological crisis shows the
urgency of a solidarity which embraces time and space.

If you want to cultivate peace, protect creation.
The quest for peace by people of good will surely would
become easier if all acknowledge the indivisible relationship
between God, human beings and the whole of creation.

May this be clear to world leaders and to those at every level
who are concerned for the future of humanity:
the protection of creation and peacemaking
are profoundly linked!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"HOME" - A film about our story, the Earth's story


ADVENT. A time of waiting and wonder. A time to marvel at "the Word made flesh" who pitched his tent among us, whose footsteps fell upon the same holy ground we now walk upon. A time to reflect on the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

ADVENT. A time to awaken. To open our eyes and discover anew this treasure we call "home" -- the Earth -- made holy and sacred by the footsteps of Jesus, but now (in the image of Gerald Manley Hopkins' poem) "seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;" wearing our smudge, sharing our smell: "the soil ... bare now" no longer felt by our well-shod feet.
For a powerful Advent meditation, watch the film
HOME by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. At the outset the film challenges us:

"Listen carefully to this extraordinary story, which is yours,and decide what you want to do with it."
and at the end, the film exhorts us to be hopeful and act.

May ADVENT be a time of hope
for our home, the Earth!
AMEN
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