In this season when we thank God for an abundant harvest, we invite you to join us in this prayer. Written by Sr. Vivienne Joyce, SC, it celebrates two facets of God’s abundant outpouring of love: the charism of Charity and our unfolding awareness of God’s creation.

Please remember especially the millions of our sisters and brothers who suffer because of poverty, injustice, violence, greed, and exploitation of earth’s resources.

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 In a spirit of communion with all that is,
we seek to learn together
how to learn from the earth and the entire cosmos
Who You are, O Creator of all life’s Wonders.

 We hold in living memory
our Soul Friend of another generation, Vincent de Paul.
Seeing the suffering of the poor,
he fell on his knees in prayer:
“My God, I did not know.”

 In our time we too cry out,
as we see with the eyes of our times
what we did not know:
that the patterns of human exploitation of the earth,
which increase the suffering of the poor,
are the result of personal and communal failure
to understand our place in the universe.

 Lead us in helping one another
to learn new ways to be inspired by Your Inventive Love
as it is manifest in all created things.

Refrain:
Weaver of Life, Receiver of Death,
you teach us Time and Eternity and the blessing of change.
May our hearts open to a deepening realization
of the interdependence of all that is.
May our reverence for creation
energize deeds of affective and effective loving.

 In the deep silence of your courageous heart,
Elizabeth Seton, Soul Sister and Friend,
the Magnificat bubbled up from the depths of your soul
as you fed on the bread of Eucharist for the first time.

 May this melody of Justice, of righting wrong relationships,
become the Song of the Universe,
as we move ever further away
from silent agreement with patterns of domination
to cherish the earth and celebrate our kinship with all creatures.

 Refrain:
Weaver of Life, Receiver of Death,
you teach us Time and Eternity and the blessing of change.
May our hearts open to a deepening realization
of the interdependence of all that is.
May our reverence for creation
energize deeds of affective and effective loving.

Vincent, you remind us that the poor
will only forgive us the bread we give, for the love in our hearts.
Elizabeth, as you changed your understanding of Eucharist
you changed your life.

 Sacred Bread and Wine are fruits of the Sacred Earth
to be given and received in a spirit of solidarity and gratitude.
May our Eucharistic celebrations embolden us to work
for relationships of real equality and mutuality.

Believing in the communion of saints and the communion of all creation,
we recall the words of our dying Foundress and Friend:
“Be grateful. Be grateful.”
We look to the generosity of the cosmos
to teach us the ways of grateful loving.

 Refrain:
Weaver of Life, Receiver of Death,
you teach us Time and Eternity and the blessing of change.
May our hearts open to a deepening realization
of the interdependence of all that is.
May our reverence for creation
energize deeds of affective and effective loving.

(Part of the Refrain is taken from the Celtic Devotional by Caitlin Matthews.)