“Laudato Si, mi Signore,” – “Praise be to you, my Lord.” In his beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. “Praise be to  you, my Lord, through out Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with colored flowers and herbs.”

In his wondrous Encyclical, Laudato Si, Pope Francis writes:

“This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitle to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life.

This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail.” We have forgotten that our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters.”

Happy Mothers Day to the wonderful and life-giving women who are honored today. My mother is gone,  hopefully find a measure of peace at last in her difficult life.

Today, I honor, our shared and beautiful mother who cries out to us for mercy and care, she is our universal mother, life itself, and when we turn a way from her, and worship only money and greed,  our very souls and spirits will wither, for she is life itself, the most precious thing we can protect and leave behind.

Today, we will walk in the deep woods and sing her name. Happy Mother’s Day, Mother.