Listen Closely to the Earth Speaking

Dear Friends,

An anonymous friend left a cartoon for me this week that shows a young girl on a beach holding a Conch shell. She is looking up at an adult saying, “If you hold it to your ear, you can hear the Earth crying out for mercy.” It is most apt as we look out at our beautiful shoreline now covered with debris and waste carried by the Connecticut River into the Sound after days of pounding rain. The beach is closed until it can be cleaned, and the water is healthy again. 

So many have been severely impacted by flooding, losing crops, homes, businesses and tragically life. In many respects Mercy by the Sea is fortunate in that there was no flooding or loss of life. But the reality we are living with record heat, smoke filled skies and destructive rains make the cartoon’s words a prayer, a mantra. Earth is crying out for mercy. 

For years countless people have been healed and comforted and enlivened by the beauty of Mercy by the Sea. Perhaps this is a time to turn our attention, our spiritual attention to Earth, to acknowledge that Earth is a living being that has given us life. We are part of one living being we call Earth. Will we hear its cry, sense its suffering? Earth desperately needs our love and attention, our prayer.

With Mercy,

Sr. Anne Curtis, RSM
Executive Director