Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community
Celebrating Earth Day 4/22/26
April 18, 2026
Liturgy team: Cheryl Brandi IT, Pat & Bob Ferkenhoff, Joan Meehan, Joan Pesce, Michael Rigdon, Andrea Seabaugh
Liturgy adapted from
Season of Creation Ecumenical Prayer Service by
International Laudato Si’ Movement 2025
Theme: Creation—The First Incarnation
Welcome. Michael
Welcome to Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community! We welcome everyone to participate with us.
We gather in the name of God, ✝️ Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer of the Earth and all creatures!
Whoever you are, wherever you are, just as you are,
you are welcome at this table!
Opening song. Hymn of Promise, Natalie Sleeth
https://youtu.be/8RHek8k5WoY?si=Cbv-1U4wlfXzj-lY
Greeting
Andrea: Greetings in the name of our God who is good:
whose love endures forever.
Greetings to you, sun and moon, you stars of the southern sky:
Sunrise and sunset, night and day:
give to our God your thanks and praise.
Greetings to you, mountains and valleys, grassland and scree,
glacier, avalanche, mist and snow:
All: Give to our God thanks and praise.
Prayer of Lament and Repentance
Bob: God of our vibrant world,
You have given humans the responsibility to care for each other. Indigenous people have historical, spiritual, and personal ties to these lands on which we inhabit. But many of us have failed to recognize the presence of God in these traditions, and their voices have been silenced. We are thankful to Indigenous Nations for their continuing care and presence on the Earth. We all value the resilience and strength they have shown through the generations and continue to show today.
We turn to the Spirit who dismantles borders and celebrates life- giving community.
Help us make a place where everyone is welcome and
we acknowledge your grace at work in the ways of one another. Together, may we learn the spiritual richness of our relationships in the web of life.
Holy One, in your mercy
All: Hear our prayer.
Pat: O God of the whole of creation.
You have created land and trees, animals and all living creatures on the earth. We are destroying the forests through poisons and logging, the voices of the birds, insects and forest dwellers are silenced.
You created the wonders of the ocean, the fish, shells, reefs, whales, waves, corals. The oceans are warming and as they drown in plastic, their voices are being stilled.
We turn to you in sorrow and repentance.
Please help us to care for the oceans, the land and the forest, and to recognize that it is your blessing for us. Creation is speaking to us, but their voices have been silenced by the roar of our greed.
Holy One, in your mercy
All: Hear our prayer.
Bob: Mothering Earth, our Sister, you sustain and govern us. We have silenced the voices of your people, especially the voices of women—protectors of the Earth who have been killed by land grabbers, mining companies and oil companies. Many are the voices of our sisters who have been silenced by flooding, hurricanes and drought as the earth’s warming brings destruction. May we listen to the voices of our mothers and sisters and learn to treasure and protect the web of life.
Holy One, in your mercy
All: Hear our prayer.
Pat: We turn to you in sorrow and repentance. Please, Creator God, forgive us for our human activities which have overpowered the weather and caused destruction of our environment.
Holy One, in your mercy
All: Hear our prayer.
Adapted from a Prayer of Lament written by members of the four Religious Orders in the Anglican Church of Melanesia: Melanesian Brotherhood, Society of St Francis, Community of the Sisters of the Church, Community of the Sisters of Melanesia
Opening Prayer. Michael
Holy One, as an eternal river of love and creativity, you flow through us and all creation. As we learn more every day about how everything in this universe is inter-related, may we come to appreciate more and more our connection with all that is. May we see you where you really are, deep within everything and everyone. Amen.
Liturgy of the Word
First Reading. Andrea The first reading is from The Universal Christ by Richard Rohr.
I want to suggest that the first Incarnation was the moment described in Genesis 1, when God joined in unity with the physical universe and became the light inside of everything. The Incarnation, then, is not only “God becoming Jesus.” It is a much broader event, which is why John first describes God’s presence in the general word “flesh” (John 1:14). John is speaking of the ubiquitous Christ, the Christ that the rest of us continue to encounter in other human beings, a mountain, a blade of grass, or a starling.
Everything visible, without exception, is the outpouring of God. What else could it really be? “Christ” is a word for the Primordial Template (“Logos”) through whom “all things came into being, and not one thing had its being except through him” (John 1:3). Seeing in this way has reframed, reenergized, and broadened my own religious belief, and I believe it could be Christianity’s unique contribution among the world religions.
Spirit Sophia inspired these words of Richard Rohr. And we respond: All: Amen. Let it be so!
Second Reading. Joan P. The second reading is also from The Universal Christ by Richard Rohr.
God loves things by becoming them.
God loves things by uniting with them, not by excluding them.
Through the act of creation, God manifested the eternally outflowing Divine Presence into the physical and material world. Ordinary matter is the hiding place for Spirit, and thus the very Body of God. Honestly, what else could it be, if we believe—as orthodox Jews, Christians, and Muslims do—that “one God created all things”? Since the very beginning of time, God’s Spirit has been revealing its glory and goodness through the physical creation. So many of the psalms already assert this, speaking of “rivers clapping their hands” and “mountains singing for joy.” When Paul wrote, “There is only Christ. He is everything and he is in everything” (Colossians 3:11), was he a naïve pantheist, or did he really understand the full implication of the Gospel of Incarnation?
God seems to have chosen to manifest the invisible in what we call the “visible,” so that all things visible are the revelation of God’s endlessly diffusive spiritual energy. Once a person recognizes that, it is hard to ever be lonely in this world again. Spirit Sophia inspired these words of Richard Rohr. And we respond: All: Amen. Let it be so!
🎶 Alle, Alle, Alleluia Linda Lee and Rick Miller
https://youtu.be/gIHnZn3JjcM?si=aryXAqRivIZD6jpY
Third Reading. Joan M. The third reading is from What does it mean to believe in an ecological God? By Elizabeth Johnson
Death is deeply structured into the creative advance of life, which arises in the midst of perpetual perishing. In creating the world, God is present here and now to each creature, loving each into existence and future.
If we ask where God is in the midst of this trouble, bedrock biblical faith answers “here,” in solidarity with creatures crushed by pain and death. The Creator spirit is present amid suffering with the intent to heal, redeem and liberate. … Things fall apart. There is hope for the future. “I will be with you” is the proper name of the Creator of Heaven and Earth.” …
“(T)he final purpose of other creatures is not to be found in us. Rather, all creatures are moving forward, with us and through us, towards a common point of arrival, which is God” (Laudato Si’, No. 83).
Indeed, “eternal life will be a shared experience of wonder, in which each creature, resplendently transfigured, will take its rightful place” (No. 243). Will I see my dog in heaven? Here is the answer. We cannot imagine this, but Francis is drawing out the logic of belief in God the Creator.
🎶 Alle, Alle, Alleluia Linda Lee and Rick Miller
https://youtu.be/gIHnZn3JjcM?si=aryXAqRivIZD6jpY
Shared Homily Michael & All
Profession of Faith. Bob & All
We believe in God, who creates all things,
who embraces all things, who celebrates all things,
who is present in every part of the fabric of creation.
We believe in God as the source of all life,
who baptizes this planet with living water.
who is present in every part of the fabric of creation.
We believe in Jesus Christ, the suffering one,
the poor one, the malnourished one, the climate refugee,
who loves and cares for this world and who suffers with it.
And we believe in Jesus Christ, the seed of life,
who came to reconcile and renew this world and everything in it. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the breath of God,
who moves with God and who moves among and with us today. We believe in everlasting life in God.
And we believe in the hope that one day
God will put an end to death and all destructive forces.
Gurukul Theological college, India. Adapted by Keld B. Hansen 2009
Our Community Prayers. Joan M.
Loving God, even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she places her young near your altar. You are attentive to all you have made.
God, who listens to every living thing,
All: May we listen as you do.
Loving God, help us provide refuge to every animal and plant with whom we live. Help us be attentive to all you have made.
God, in whom all creation subsists,
All: May we listen as you do.
Loving God, when Jesus cried out and gave up his Spirit, the earth shook and the rocks split. You are known by the whole of creation that listens to you.
God, to whom all creation responds,
All: May we respond to you.
Loving God, help us hear and know you just as the earth and rocks do. Help us to learn from the way in which we see creation to recognize your glorious beauty.
God, to whom all creation responds,
All: May we respond to you.
Loving God, you are present in your creation and seek to heal her wounds. You can be found walking in the garden. Open our eyes to see you, the gardener.
God, who is present with your creation,
All: May we be present too.
Loving God, we often abandon your creation and cause its wounds. Help us to follow in your footsteps and learn to walk in the garden like you.
God, who is present with your creation,
All: May we be present too.
Joan M. (MMOJ Prayer book petitions. Response: Hear our prayer)
Joan P. Loving God, who hears every voice,
knows each cry of injustice,
and is attentive to the suffering of the earth:
teach us to listen.
Bring healing to our lives,
that we may protect the world and not prey on it,
that we may listen to the world you have created
and not close ourselves off from it.
Reveal to us the ways in which we have failed
to hear your voice in how we treat the earth.
God, who listens to every living thing,
All: May we listen as you do. Amen
Offering (Have bread and wine/juice on your table)
Andrea & All. O Holy One, we bring you our gifts from creation,
bread 🥖of the grain and wine 🍷 of the grapes.
We recognize that they are holy in you their creator.
And we know that they will make us holy,
one with you,
one with each other and
one with all creation.
Eucharistic Prayer
Joan P. & All. We commit ourselves to live the ministry of the Gospel as we speak with respect and love, and as we challenge the contradictions within our society, especially during these times of division and fear. Weare called to the inner life, our spiritual life, to be open to the new beginnings in our lives. We walk with Jesus seeking wisdom and peace.
(Hold your hand over bread and wine)
Pat & All. Jesus, we remember the last meal you had with your followers. We call upon Sacred Spirit, ever and always with us, to bring blessing on this bread and wine as they are made sacred through our faith in the presence of Christ with us.
During Jesus’s life on earth, he lived and died loving the poor, healing the sick and challenging the injustices within society.
Because of his ministry, Jesus was feared by the authorities of his day, and they sought out ways to bring him to his death.
Bob & All. On the night before he faced his own death, Jesus sat at the Seder supper with his companions and friends. He reminded them of all that he taught them, and to fix that memory clearly with them, he bent down and washed their feet.
All lift 🥖 and pray:
Pat & All. When he returned to his place at the table, he lifted the bread, spoke the blessing, broke the bread and offered it to them saying:
Take and eat, this is my very self.
Pause, then lift the 🍷 and pray:
Andrea & All. Jesus took the cup, spoke the grace, and offered it to them saying: Take and drink. This is the new covenant. Whenever you remember me like this, I am among you. (pause)
Joan M. & All. What we have heard with our ears,
we will live with our lives.
As we share communion,
we will become communion
both love's nourishment and love's challenge.
Let us share this bread and cup
to proclaim and live the gospel of justice.
We listen to the groaning of creation,
remembering that we are bearers of light and hope
We are Christ alive today.
Joan P. We now share the bread and wine, saying,
“We see the Holy One in everyone we meet” and
“We see the Holy One in all creation.”
🎶 Communion Song The Water of Life by Kerani
https://youtu.be/FvcedDyMqUU?si=sAWp4peAYsGWikfe (Stop at 2:05)
Bob. We pray our common prayer that Christ taught us:
All: Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name echoes through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
May your beloved community of peace and freedom
sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today,
feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another,
forgive us.
In times of temptation and test,
strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure,
spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil,
free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,
now and forever. Amen.
Adapted from The New Zealand Book of Prayer | He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa.
This version of the Lord’s prayer was influenced by Maori theologians
A Prayer for Our Earth. Pat Pope Francis in Laudato Si’
All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe
And in the smallest of your creatures.
You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.
Pour out upon us the power of your love,
that we may protect life and beauty.
Fill us with peace,
that we may live as brothers and sisters,
harming no one.
O God of the poor,
help us to rescue the abandoned and
forgotten of this earth, so precious in your eyes.
Bring healing to our lives,
that we may protect the world and not prey on it,
that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.
Touch the hearts of those who look only for gain
At the expense of the poor and the earth.
Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,
to be filled with awe and contemplation,
to recognize that we are profoundly united
with every creature as we journey towards
your infinite light.
We thank you for being with us each day.
Encourage us, we pray,
in our struggle for justice, love and peace.All: Amen
Sharing of Peace. Michael
If we are in Christ, we are becoming a new creation.
We see the Holy One around us.
We see the Holy One within us.
We give thanks to you, our Creator.
Let us show the caring nature
you have instilled within us
by greeting each other
as a sign of your peace, love, forgiveness and grace.
May your peace, O Holy One, be with usalways!
All: Namaste 🙏🏿 Namaste 🙏🏼 Namaste 🙏🏻
Adapted from Celebrating Creation: Honoring Indigenous People, Kelly Sherman-Conroy, ELCA
Thanksgiving and Announcements. Michael
Final Blessing with hands raised. Andrea & All:
May God who established the dance of creation,
Who marveled at the lilies of the field,
Who transforms chaos to order,
Lead us to protect creation,
To listen to the voice of all creatures that reflect God’s glory.
Amen! Alleluia!
Adapted from the CTBI Eco-Congregation Programme
Final 🎵
When the Saints Go Marching In. Rick & Linda Lee MillerG
https://youtu.be/1VbqoJ3Yxo4?si=WepHnPTbytaFgo-q
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