Laudato Si’ – Earth Day – Being Benedictine

Tree Huggers: The Circle of Care

The image and story behind the Chipko movement inspired us to do some of our own tree-hugging! The Chipko movement of the 1970s (chipko meaning ‘to cling to or hug ‘ in Hindi) led to tree-hugging movements throughout the Himalayan regions, forcing reforms and moratoriums in the forestry industry that saved thousands of trees. The peasant women of the Garhwal Hills of India, pictured below, literally threw their arms around trees to save them (Ecologically Conscious.) Their actions were inspired by events of 1730 when soldiers were ordered to fell trees in the Bishnois villages of India to build a palace. 294 men and 69 women, belonging to a branch of Hinduism, were massacred while they desperately clung to their trees. Eventually, their action led to a royal decree that prohibited the cutting down of trees, and their forests flourish today.

Across the centuries and throughout the world, the existence of trees has been threatened in the name of progress, to pad the pockets of the greedy, or, sadly, out of sheer ignorance, yet the original tree huggers continue to influence environmentalist efforts. Those Indigenous to the land see clearly that their existence is connected to the survival of trees. We can follow in their footsteps by recognizing our connection with and responsibility to the earth, which is so in need of our aid.

Singh, Pamela. *Chipko Tree Huggers of the Himalayas*. 1994. Photograph. *Sepia Eye*

Indigenous to Place

We have spent a few autumn weekends through the years at our friend Joyce’s family farm in the sandhills of Nebraska, near Loup City, but this year, on the heels of reading Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowlege, and the Teachings of Plants, we feel a longing to connect to the land that Joyce’s great grandparents had homesteaded, to return to the home her mother grew up in, to hear their stories, and to remember and honor the Indigenous who lived with the land, in humility, gratitude, and reciprocity.

Joyce extended the invitation to the weekend with these words: “We will walk upon the land in honor of those who have walked the land before us and in sacredness to our Mother Earth and all she has provided to us. For a weekend, we will become ‘Indigenous to place’”.

What does it mean to become Indigenous to a place? Robin Wall Kimmerer, a scientist, professor, citizen of the Potawatomi Nation, and author of Braiding Sweetgrass describes it as “living as if your children’s future mattered, to take care of the land as if our lives, both material and spiritual, depended on it…To become indigenous is to grow the circle of healing to include all of Creation.” This weighs heavily on our minds and in our spirits as we create a weekend getaway to honor our connection with each other and all of Creation.

Our weekend was a medley of adventure, gratitude, creativity, good conversation, and play. We took the Gator out into the pasture and hills, enjoyed incredible vistas, laughed a lot while swinging from an old oak tree, and, afterward, thanked it with a big group hug. We searched for sweetgrass, gathered nature artifacts, created nature mandalas, and discussed Braiding Sweetgrass—reading segments of it out loud and discussing its impact on our lives and on our world.

Being silly before breakfast, we played with morning shadows, losing all sense of time. On a tractor-pulled hayrack, we rode up the hill and into the pasture to play—blowing bubbles, flying kites, and watching the sunset and the rise of the Full Harvest Moon. We danced in the moonlight to moon songs (think Fly Me to the Moon and Blue Moon), gazed at the stars, shared stories, reflected on the past, and imagined the future. How blessed we are to enjoy time in nature, on land that is loved and shared so generously.

We are here as part of creation, not as consumers of it.
-Joan Chittister

“If the universe unfolds in God, who fills it completely… there is a mystical meaning to be found in a leaf, in a mountain trail, in a dewdrop, in a poor person’s face. The world sings of an infinite Love: how can we fail to care for it?” Pope Francis addresses our responsibility to care for our common home in his newest exhortation, Laudete Deum, an urgent follow-up message to Laudato Si (Papal Encyclical, “Care for Our Common Home”, 2015).

Our weekend is filled with gratitude for the “infinite Love” displayed in the rolling hills, big oak trees, waving seas of tall grass, and the yet-to-be-harvested corn. Indeed, how can we fail to care for it? We hear the warnings of climate change and reports of how much damage has already been done, the hundreds of years needed to reverse course IF we were to make necessary changes now. Both Braiding Sweetgrass and Laudete Deum, brilliantly researched and exquisitely written, are cries for help on behalf of Mother Earth, who is speaking to us in ways we refuse to hear. I encourage you to read these powerful texts contemplatively, in the spirit of Lectio Divina, and to consider our responsibilities, what Kimmerer refers to as our “moral covenant of reciprocity.”

“The moral covenant of reciprocity calls us to honor our responsibilities for all we have been given, for all that we have taken… Whatever our gift, we are called to give it and to dance for the renewal of the world. In return for the privilege of breath.”
–Braiding Sweetgrass: Indegenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants

In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer refers to the changing roles of women as they “spiral through the phases of life, like the changing phase of the moon.” As we grow older, we have an opportunity to widen our circle of care, to “walk the Way of the Teacher, becoming models for younger women to follow…The spiral widens, farther and farther, so that the sphere of a wise woman is beyond herself, beyond her family, beyond the human community, embracing the planet, mothering the earth.”

As Pope Francis writes, “Everything is connected, and no one is saved alone.” (LD, 19) We share this earth with everyone on it, with those who came before us and those who will follow. What kind of world, and appreciation for it, do we hope to leave behind for future generations? We must remain hopeful that there will be a world to leave behind, but we must also do something to ensure it.

Continue reading →

October 7, 2023 1

Planting Trees is a Big Deal: 150 Years of Arbor Day!

“If one tree fruits, they all fruit–there are no soloists. Not one tree in a grove, but the whole grove; not one grove in the forest, but every grove; all across the county and all across the state. The trees act not as individuals, but somehow as a collective….what we see is the power of unity.”
Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass

Planting trees is a big deal in Nebraska…so important that the planting and preservation of trees are celebrated with an actual holiday. Arbor Day, which started in my home state of Nebraska, has been celebrated for 150 years and is now observed in all fifty states and in several countries.

Each generation takes the earth as trustees.
—J. Sterling Morton

The founder of Arbor Day, J. Sterling Morton, was a transplant to the Nebraska Territory from Detroit in the mid-1850s. He was a journalist and newspaper editor, who later served as President Grover Cleveland’s Secretary of Agriculture. Morton understood the importance of trees to agriculture, for windbreaks to keep soil in place, for fuel and building materials, and for shade from the hot sun.

He believed in getting everyone, particularly students, involved in planting trees. An estimated one million trees were planted in Nebraska on April 10, 1872, encouraged by contests between counties and promotion in schools. “Students of different grades met at their respective school rooms in the morning for the purpose of planting at least one tree. Each tree that was planted was labeled with the grade, the time planted, and was to be specially cared for by that grade.” (The History of Arbor Day)

On the final Friday of April every year thereafter, Arbor Day has been celebrated, and this year for the 150th time! Throughout the year the Arbor Day Foundation works to “help others understand and use trees as a solution to many of the global issues we face today, including air quality, water quality, a changing climate, deforestation, poverty, and hunger” through conservation and education programs.

Desktop5 — Arbor Day Lodge is open for tours–we were just there a few months ago! Many activities and, of course, lots of trees in Nebraska City, Nebraska.

Celebrating Arbor Day is a reminder of our interconnectedness with all living things. In Laudato Si, Pope Francis encourages taking responsibility for the health of our planet by cooperating “as instruments of God for the care of creation, each according to his or her own culture, experience, involvements and talents” (Laudato Si, 14)

St. Benedict encourages us to “listen with the ear of the heart,” to see all of life as sacred, and to experience the connectedness we have with all of creation. Consider spending time listening to the trees. Perhaps we can be reminded that what happens to one, happens to all.

“There is now compelling evidence that our elders were right–the trees are talking to one another. They communicate via pheromones, hormonelike compounds that are wafted on the breeze, laden with meaning…The trees in a forest are often interconnected by subterranan networks of mycorrhizae, fungal strands that inhabit tree roots…They weave a web of reciprocity, of giving and taking…Through unity, surivial. All flourishing is mutual.”
Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass

Trees fall with spectacular crashes. But planting is silent and growth is invisible.
-Richard Powers, The Overstory

The Overstory, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Richard Powers, is a reminder of how destructive humans have been and how significant non-human elements are to the survival of our planet. The novel weaves together the stories of nine characters, their relationship to trees, and their awareness of and desire to stop the destruction of forests. The characters, each with a short story of their own, are the backdrop of a narrative that is less about them and more about trees.

“There would be neither an economic crisis in the world today, nor an ecological threat, were it not for the evil done by greed. Monastic poverty means being content with the simple things that sustain human existence in its inherent goodness. This poverty allows man to live in harmony with field and forest, without feeling the need to brutally strip the earth of her resources in order to realize an immediate gain.”
(Brother Philip Anderson, Prior Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey )

In honor of Arbor Day, I share “Benediction of the Trees”, written and performed by Derek Dibben. This prayerful song is a recognition that Nature blesses us with trees for our healing, enjoyment, leisure, and protection. Our very breath is dependent on the Benediction of the Trees.

Benediction of the Trees

From the Heart to the Heavens
Rooted in the Earth
Branching out above us
Healing what was hurt

Reaching down to lift us
Swing us in the breeze
the air we breathe She gives us
Benediction of the Trees

Home before our houses
Cornered us inside
Gentle arms around us
Above the rising tide

Can you hear them calling?
Like music in a dream
The leaves are always falling
A Benediction from the Trees

A shout becomes a whisper
A Sermon into Song
It’s useless to resist her
She’s where we all belong

In our Sanctuary Forest
Beneath the Pleiades
Cicadas in the chorus
Benediction to the Trees

As the moon reflects the sunlight
From a million miles away
I’ll try to get the words right
So you can hear her say

In a melody familiar
That brings us to our knees
In Liturgy peculiar
Benediction to the Trees

April 29, 2022 0

The Birds Are Still My Prayer

Our favorite pandemic pastime has been sitting on the deck in our backyard. We enjoy the sights and sounds of nature regardless of the weather. Nature has been healing for us, even if it means bundling up with coats, hats and mittens and plugging in a few outdoor heaters. We enjoy home-cooked meals, whiskey tastings, long conversations, and an occasional cigar (for one of us.) As Covid cases decrease and more people are vaccinated, we are encouraged to return to life as usual, but I find that given the option, my favorite entertainment is still in my own backyard.

Let me seek, then, the gift of silence, and poverty, and solitude, where everything I touch is turned into prayer: where the sky is my prayer, the birds are my prayer, the wind in the trees is my prayer, for God is in all.
— Thomas Merton, Thoughts In Solitude

One year ago, I wrote, “Birds chirping, frogs croaking, raindrops meeting their “splat” on the flowerpots and patio chairs, wind rustling in the trees—the simple sounds suggest that all is well with the world.” I feel the exactly the same—all is MOST well when I am attentive to the sights and sounds of nature, when I witness creation unfolding in my own backyard.

A few weeks ago (April 29, 2021), we noticed the resourcefulness of this mama robin who had built a nest on the downspout of our neighbor’s house. A bird’s home is its castle, as seen from our deck.

A few weeks later (May 14, 2021), we see the first feeding of the baby birds.

Continue reading →

May 19, 2021 4

The Birds Are My Prayer

Let me seek, then, the gift of silence, and poverty, and solitude, where everything I touch is turned into prayer: where the sky is my prayer, the birds are my prayer, the wind in the trees is my prayer, for God is in all. — Thomas Merton, Thoughts In Solitude

A new favorite pandemic pastime is sitting on the deck in our backyard. We travel the long distance, a pilgrimage of sorts, from the living room to the outdoors several times a day to enjoy the sights and sounds of nature.

Birds chirping, frogs croaking, raindrops meeting their “splat” on the flowerpots and patio chairs, wind rustling in the trees—the simple sounds suggest that all is well with the world. Yellow finches dart from one tree to another and then to a neighbor’s bird feeder and back again; perhaps a brief landing in the new tallest tree in the neighbor’s yard to the other side of us. It is as if there is a new piece of equipment in the aviary playground of our connected backyards. Birds swoop down to meet each other in a shared tree, chirp a few sentiments, and then take flight again. I wonder what makes them gather together, or what makes them fly solo.

I am not alone in my amateur birdwatching pandemic pastime. One afternoon, I shared text messages with the neighbors on both sides about our backyard bird show. Beth texted first and then I texted Julie. We feel the same: no one should miss out on the escapades of our yellow finches.

Our slower pace is a time to be present to the moment, to notice the simple things that may have been overlooked in the hurry of a pre-pandemic schedule. The Benedictine life is contemplative, “one capable of deep enjoyment free of the obsession with consumption (Laudato Si’, 222).” There has been some talk these past weeks about whether physically distancing and/or staying at home is living in fear or if our freedom is being taken away.

For me, true freedom is to be fully who I am, right where I am, in this moment, and in these circumstances. It is not necessary to go shopping or to a restaurant or on vacation (as much as I was looking forward toJessica’s graduation, to visit New York City with friends, and to host my cousin from Germany on his first trip to Nebraska), I can find contentment and enjoyment in my own backyard. If we cannot find contentment at home, I am not certain that it can be found anywhere. Continue reading “The Birds Are My Prayer” →

May 26, 2020 2

Arbor Day: Planting Trees is a Big Deal in Nebraska

Planting trees is a big deal in Nebraska…so important that the planting and preservation of trees are celebrated with an actual holiday, Arbor Day, started right here in Nebraska and now observed in all fifty states and in several countries.

The founder of Arbor Day, J. Sterling Morton, was a transplant to the Nebraska Territory from Detroit in the mid-1850s. He was a journalist, newspaper editor and served as President Grover Cleveland’s Secretary of Agriculture. Morton understood the importance of trees to agriculture, for windbreaks to keep soil in place, for fuel and building materials, and for shade from the hot sun.

On the final Friday of April every year thereafter, Arbor Day has been celebrated. Throughout the year the Arbor Day Foundation works to “help others understand and use trees as a solution to many of the global issues we face today, including air quality, water quality, a changing climate, deforestation, poverty, and hunger” through conservation and education programs.

Each generation takes the earth as trustees. —J. Sterling Morton

I recently finished reading The Overstory, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Richard Powers and I have not stopped thinking about trees since. I think about climate change, our responsibility to creation and to future generations, the beauty of trees, the importance of nature in our spiritual lives, about knowing our place in the world, about Arbor Day and Earth Day and all the things that conscientious people do to make a difference.

Trees fall with spectacular crashes. But planting is silent and growth is invisible. –Richard Powers, The Overstory

The Overstory weaves together the stories of nine characters, their relationship to trees, and their awareness of and desire to stop the destruction of forests. The characters, each with a short story of their own, are the backdrop of a narrative that is less about them and more about trees. The Overstory was a reminder of how destructive humans have been and how significant non-human elements are to the survival of our planet.

“There would be neither an economic crisis in the world today, nor an ecological threat, were it not for the evil done by greed. Monastic poverty means being content with the simple things that sustain human existence in its inherent goodness. This poverty allows man to live in harmony with field and forest, without feeling the need to brutally strip the earth of her resources in order to realize an immediate gain. (Brother Philip Anderson, Prior Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey )

Abbot John Klassen, OSB of St. John’s Abbey in Minnesota writes about our responsibility to the environment in The Rule of Benedict and Environmental Stewardship (highly recommended!) St. Benedict wrote about humility, stability, and frugality in The Rule he used for his monastic communities…there is much we can learn from his wisdom even 1500 years later.