Sunday Mass Readings for September 24 2023, 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Nature into Life
Into the river of nature,
teeming with life –
we did come;
to be carried through life
with gifts most generous.
From an abundance we are fed
We’re part of each other
as we journey together
There’s beauty too:
In the flowers, in birds & bees
With farm stock and animals wild.
While not forgetting the fish below
Changed as we are by human greed,
polluting nature
and ruining our only home,
as we impose our will,
ignoring a healthy pace
for all our human race.
On fertile lands in Ukraine
Where once was plenty,
now bombs we sow.
Instead of healthy seed
With harvests for the needy
News of humans drowning
in a sea of indifference
Touches our hearts; we hear their cry
We take them in
for there’s more room in our boat
Careful people are mending their clothes
as a stitch in time avoids the landfill.
There’ll be a million bikes
in our cities soon.
While an Irish church wishing to be wild –
begins on its lawns to feed the bees.
Wash us all of our guilt
for we have taken too much.
Heat waves speak if we can hear,
Mother earth is under pressure
But it’s never late to learn.
For we’re all in the same boat;
we must not sink.
So let us set a new course
To reach new targets
Caring for our earth
Our Common Home,
Bringing fairness to all
Where justice flows like a river.
Vincent McDevitt C.S.Sp.
