Season of Creation Daily 16: The world is calling to you

earth photographed from space

Photo taken by Apollo 13 crew in 1970 | NASA public domain image

by Peter McLoughlin

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Take a moment to reflect on the photo.


You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things. 

— Mary Oliver (1935-2019), Prized American poet from Wild Geese


Treat yourself to watching the first episode of "Our Planet" the 2019 BBC documentary on Netflix, narrated by David Attenborough. Breathtaking. Arresting. Wondrous. Eye-opening. We hear calls, from wild geese, from our planet, announcing our place in the family of things.


Season of Creation Daily
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Editor's note: Season of Creation Daily is inspired by the Care for Our Common Home Ministry, Paulist Center Boston. To receive daily reflections by email, sign up here.  

This story appears in the Season of Creation Daily feature series. View the full series.

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