"See, I am now establishing my covenant with you and
your descendants after you and with every living creature
that was with you: all the birds, and the various tame and
wild animals that were with you and came out of the ark."
Genesis 9:9-10 New American Bible
"Creation therefore remains a kind of first revelation
which speaks to us clearly of the Creator and which can
lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of God's love for us."
Pope John Paul II, General Audience Address, Vatican City
January 30, 2002
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My husband and I have held - in our heart and hand - each of our five newborn children and grand-daughter. God in that crowning glory of His creation truly gifted and blessed us.
In gaining knowledge about the gifts of life we are given,and the gifts that we are to one another, across the thirty-one years of our marriage, I have learned the power of words -
words that we speak to one another. As a reminder of their power to "nurture and build up"
another, a plaque in our kitchen gives a message of which we must always be mindful:
"Be gentle. Feelings are everywhere."
February 7, 2008, Mrs Bud Stevens
I made the Spiritual Exercises in Narragansett the January of my senior year. It had been poor sunrise weather all week, but I continued to get up, bundle up, and walk down to the rocky coast. The last morning, I found myself a bit disappointed because it was so overcast. But I sat, and listened to the waves, the birds, the rustling of the wind. The wind had become a great reminder of the Holy Spirit for me. So much so, that even now I find myself smiling when it gusts, and I say a silent \"hello\" in return. When I left the coast to return for morning prayer, I turned around one last time, and the sun peaked through the clouds to give me quite the morning greeting, in rich colors of reds and oranges. How can we not feel loved by God in these moments?!
February 7, 2008, Meg G
I have a terrace apartment now after many years of living in a studio facing nowhere. I sit outside in the warmth of the morning with a cup of coffee or nearing twilight reading and I experience creation by the beauty of the birds chirping, a warm breeze and the beauty of a promenade filled with trees and flowers. Most of all, I experience all this in the Love he has shown me by giving me this apartment as His Gift.
February 7, 2008, Penny
God had to nudge me approximately 21 years ago. At that time I had two babies and life was hectic. I was rushing around doing everything almost robotically. One night we took the children out for a ride in the wagon and I was walking and thinking of everything I had to do, not being in the moment at all, when my son cried out with so much joy and amazement in his voice, “Mommy, look at the stars!” I looked up shocked and felt as if I was seeing stars for the first time. They were so beautiful! It was a very powerful moment for me. Since then I’ve tried to experienced the world through the eyes of a child seeing the wonder and beauty of it all with all of my senses and see God’s love for us.
February 6, 2008, Patricia Christensen
God parts the veil and reveals a playfulness in his creation that is only rarely glimpsed. Sunflowers that tower, and turn toward the sun, those silly dinosaurs, speckles on robin's eggs, the red winter berries crowning our pricker bush in the backyard, earth worms, shooting stars, sunsets that resound a symphonic triumph, all this while we scurry in our cars to our jobs, late, stuck in traffic and off to another meeting. Hurry, make dinner, check the homework and feel infinitely busy. It's the flourish and the whimsy that is so admirable. There's a pause and a chuckle that falls silently as fog on each spider web. I want to laugh with the creator.
February 6, 2008, Kate Campion
A few years back, I went hiking with a friend in Idaho, in an area called the Great Burn. We trekked up ridges and through paths for about 4 hours, until our muscles were aching and our hearts were thumping through our chests. When we were both about ready to collapse, we broke through the tree cover into a clearing, and stopped stone still. As far as we could see in any direction, there was no sign of humankind. (The Great Burn is comprised of more than 250,000 of roadless land, so no vehicles were anywhere to be found.) It was easily the most beautiful, incredible, complex, miraculous view I've ever seen, and I'm pretty sure I started crying. I'm completely sure that I uttered an immediate, fervent prayer of thanks, and felt closer to God than ever before or ever since.
February 6, 2008, Meg Devine
I’ve experienced creation as revealing God’s love for me in thinking of the vastness of this universe created for man. This loving excess of God in His creation is meant to point me to the gift of the Creator Himself on the cross. I quote Cardinal Ratzinger “The purely calculating mind will always find it absurd that for man God himself should be expended. Only the lover can understand the folly of a love to which prodigality is a law and excess alone is sufficient. Yet if it is true that the creation lives from excess or superfluity, that man is a being for whom excess is necessity, how can we wonder that revelation is the superfluous and for that very reason the necessary, the divine, the love in which the meaning of the universe is fulfilled?”
February 6, 2008, Tim Cronin
Today - Ash Wednesday - the ashes burned from palms remind me of god's love - always emerging, always a sign of death and re-birth.
February 6, 2008, Monica Alvarez
My children love to collect caterpillars, create a cozy home for them, and watch them cocoon. When the caterpillars emerge as butterflies, we see them dry their wings and flit quietly about until they are able to fly. Setting the butterflies free to take their delicate, deliberate flight against the blue skies of summer, inspires both awe and heartbreak in my children, and reveals to me the beauty of God's creation, and the rightness of my place within it.
February 6, 2008, Patty (Williams) Barry
The warmth of the sun frequently reminds me to bask in God's glory. I like to close my eyes and think about how strong and universal God's love for us really is.
February 6, 2008, Kristine Cyr Goodwin
I experience God's beautiful creation whenever I drive through our town and view the beautiful reservoir and greenery. I do need to remember to take the time more often. It never ceases to amaze me. I'm sure God wants us to have this experience in order to find peace in this world.
February 6, 2008, Catherine Doyle
While driving through rural towns through hilly valleys, looking at the animals eating, grazing and being in tune with their environment.
February 6, 2008, Scott Pensco