We are familiar with the idea of the Stations of the Cross but this devotion, based on St. Francis’ Canticle of the Creatures, can be used either by individuals or groups, inside (accompanied by music and/or ‘visuals’) or outside in the natural world. The text owes a lot to Earthsongs by Wayne Simsic, St Mary’s Press, USA, and, as compiled by the late Br Colin Wilfred, was first published in the SSF European Province journal, franciscan, Volume 20.2 (May 2008).
Station 1
Most High, all powerful, good Lord
to you be the praises, the glory
and the honour, and all blessing.
To you alone, Most High, do they belong,
and no-one is worthy to call
upon your name.
Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your judgements are like the great deep;
you save humans and animals alike, O Lord.
How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
All people may take refuge
in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house,
and you give them drink
from the river of your delights.
For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.
O continue your steadfast love to those who know you,
and your salvation to the upright of heart!
Psalm 36.5-10
Reflection
Help me to grow in a consciousness which embraces the vastness of interstellar space and the minuteness of a drop of water or a snowflake and to realise it is my joy and responsibility to meet you at the centre of this beautiful world you have created, moving beyond self-interest to a new set of values to protect the environment that all may share it in peace and justice.
Silence
Prayer
Blessed are you, God of the universe; give us a vision that embraces earth and sky, constellations and galaxies, that we may know that the whole of creation is embraced in your enduring love made known to us in your son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Station 2— Brother Sun
Praised be you, my Lord,
with all your creatures,
especially Sir Brother Sun,
who is the day and through whom
you give us light.
And he is beautiful
and radiant with great splendour,
and bears a likeness to you,
Most High One.
The sun, when it appears, proclaims as it rises
what a marvellous instrument it is,
the work of the Most High.
At noon it parches the land,
and who can withstand its burning heat?
A man tending a furnace works in burning heat,
but three times as hot is the sun
scorching the mountains;
it breathes out fiery vapours,
and its bright rays blind the eyes.
Great is the Lord who made it;
at his orders it hurries on its course.
Ecclesiasticus 43.2-5
Reflection
Face to face with Sir Brother Sun, we know the immensity of his power surpassing anything on earth and yet sustaining all that lives. Help me to delight in sunrise and sunset and be grateful in acknowledging the source of my own life.
Silence
Prayer
Blessed are you, God of the universe; open our hearts to the light that proclaims your glory day after day. The sky resounds with a song that rings in the hills, rises from the fields and enlivens the rivers and the seas. In your light may we see light through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.
Station 3—Sister Moon and the Stars
Praised be you, my Lord,
through Sister Moon and the stars,
in heaven you formed them clear
and precious and beautiful.
It is the moon that marks the changing seasons,*
governing the times, their everlasting sign.
From the moon comes the sign for festal days,
a light that wanes when it completes its course.
The new moon, as its name suggests, renews itself;*
how marvellous it is in this change,
a beacon to the hosts on high,
shining in the vault of the heavens!
The glory of the stars is the beauty of heaven,
a glittering array in the heights of the Lord.
On the orders of the Holy One
they stand in their appointed places;
they never relax in their watches.
Ecclesiasticus 43.6 -10
Reflection
Holy God, thank you for the light in the darkness of Sister Moon and the stars. We thank you for the unfolding pattern of times and seasons. Help us to rediscover the natural rhythms of your creation that we may be more in tune with the universe both in the darkness and in the light of our human and earthly lives.
Silence
Prayer
Blessed are you, God of the universe; you are the light that opens our eyes to see the divine light that penetrates the world, revealing its endless possibilities. May my eyes be gentle and my heart expansive that I may know the radiance of your timeless and transcendent love made known to us in Jesus our Redeemer. Amen.
Station 4—Brother Wind
Praised be you, my Lord, through Brother Wind,
and through the air, cloudy and serene, and every kind of weather, through whom you give sustenance to your creatures.
Whoever observes the wind will not sow;
and whoever regards the clouds will not reap.
Just as you do not know how the breath
comes to the bones in the mother’s womb,
so you do not know the work of God,
who makes everything.
Ecclesiastes 11.4-5
Reflection
Brother Wind is invisible and yet so powerful in its effect: he makes the tall grass sway on a summer’s day, he whips up the lake into a dangerous frenzy, he causes an autumn leaf to jump and dance. The weather is ever changing, ever full of possibilities for new life or terrible destruction. Give me a compassionate heart for those affected by natural disasters: storm or tsunami, drought or famine, and to work for a human community that protects both people and our environment.
Silence
Prayer
Blessed are you, God of the universe; your Spirit like the wind, sweeps through my life. Give me the strength to accept her gifts of freedom and change that my life may be constantly transformed in and through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Station 5—Sister Water
Praised be you, my Lord, through Sister Water
who is very useful and humble and precious and chaste.
Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’
John 4. 13-14
Reflection
Sister Water, you are so useful and yet you are so humble that I’m constantly tempted to ignore you and not treat you reverently as source of both life and beauty. Help me to delight in this sweet liquid that flows from the hills and springs out of the depths of the earth. May we all work together that your human children may share plentifully in this precious gift for our sustenance, cleansing and delight.
Silence
Prayer
Blessed are you, God of the universe; your gift of water refreshes our spirit and delights our imagination. In it you offer us both hope and rebirth and its gentle force is both our way and our life. Help us to share this gift generously in the spirit of him who is the living water, Jesus our Saviour. Amen.
Station 6—Brother Fire
Praised be you, my Lord, through Brother Fire,
Through whom you light up the night,
and he is beautiful and playful and robust and strong.
The work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. If the work is burned, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire.
I Corinthians 3.13, 15
Reflection
Brother Fire, on a winter’s night, with your dancing flames I see your beauty and your playfulness. Down the ages, men, women and children have gathered around you for warmth and comfort, to tell stories and to prepare for rest in the struggle for life. In places like the Australian bush we witness to your incredible power for destruction yet this is necessary to regenerate trees and shrubs and plants for the next season of life. Help us to treat you with love and respect.
Silence
Prayer
Blessed are you, God of the universe, for fire is a symbol of your life-giving and challenging Spirit – ever dancing in the light, destroying our deadness and bringing renewal to our lives in Jesus Christ our Redeemer. Amen.
Station 7—Sister Earth
Praised be you, my Lord, through our Sister Mother Earth,
who sustains and governs us.
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:
‘Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone
when the morning stars sang together
and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?
Job 38. 1, 4-7
Reflection
Creator God, “this fragile earth, our island home” is truly both our Sister and our Mother. Maternally, she is both the source and the sustainer of my life and the life of all animals and birds, insects and reptiles. She is the sister with whom all our human brothers and sisters are members of one family. Help us to delight in our life-giving earth which is alive and dynamic ever singing its praises to you. May we guard her life with love and tender care that we may always walk gently upon her.
Silence
Prayer
Blessed are you, God of the universe; teach me to see your earth not as property but as a bearer of your revelation of love. Deepen my sense of the interdependence of my life and that of our Sister Mother Earth. Help us all to sense the music of sky and sea, mountains and deserts which is the eternal song of the divine Word, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Station 8—Fruits, Flowers and Herbs
Our Sister, Mother Earth, who produces
various fruits with coloured flowers and herbs
For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you may mine copper. You shall eat your fill and bless the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you.
Deuteronomy 8.7-10
Reflection
You promised your people a fertile land, a land of promise that would flourish under your care-giving eye. We rejoice in the never-ending kaleidoscope of flowers and trees, the harvest of the fruits of the earth and the herbs which flavour our lives. Help us to grow in respect and appreciation of the land you have entrusted to us particularly by what we buy and what we consume, that all may be truly enriched.
Silence
Prayer
Blessed are you, God of the universe; you give us the seasons, the planting and the harvesting as we share in your work of creation. May we listen attentively to the earth’s demands and love the land as we love ourselves, as we share its bounty in the name of Jesus Christ our Redeemer. Amen.
Station 9—Those who Forgive
Praised be you, my Lord,
through those who forgive for love of you,
and bear weakness and tribulation.
Blessed are those who endure in peace
for by you, Most High, shall they be crowned.
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name.
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
as far as the east is from the west,
so far he removes our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion for his children,
so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him.
But the steadfast love of the Lord
is from everlasting to everlasting
on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children’s children.
Psalm 103. 1,3,12,13,17
Reflection
We need the forgiveness of God for all the ways in which we have misused the creation: our selfishness and greed, our exploitation and money-grabbing, our use of power to destroy the weak and fragile, our thoughtlessness of the needs of others, the needs of our earth which is God’s earth. In our weakness and tribulation help us not to lose heart but to endure in peace that our world and the whole human family may be crowned with all-embracing love and deep humility.
Silence
Prayer
Blessed are you, God of the universe, giver of harmony and interweaving love; help us to see and to live in interdependence with all your creatures, to appreciate them in their own right, to learn from them all that will help us to live in peace with your creation in the spirit of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Station 10—Sister Death
Praised be you, my Lord, through our Sister Bodily Death,
from whom no one living can escape.
Woe to those who die in mortal sin.
O death, how bitter is the thought of you
to one at peace among possessions,
who has nothing to worry about
and is prosperous in everything,
and still is vigorous enough to enjoy food!
O death, how welcome is your sentence
to one who is needy and failing in strength,
worn down by age and anxious about everything;
to one who is contrary, and has lost all patience!
Do not fear death’s decree for you;
remember those who went before you
and those who will come after.
This is the Lord’s decree for all flesh;
why then should you reject the will of the Most High?
Whether life lasts for ten years
or a hundred or a thousand,
there are no questions asked in Hades.
Ecclesiasticus 41.1-4
Reflection
Everything in the world, including me, dies. If I stand on a hillside almost everything, if I look carefully, is in the process of dying, mostly before me. But without this marvel of nature which is constantly renewed we would be surrounded by stones and deserts. Help me to see the new life which is your gift each morning.
Silence
Prayer
Blessed are you, God of the universe, for you renew this lovely earth through the universal rhythm of life and death. Help us to trace all forms of life back to you, the creator and source of all things. May we live in a harmony of hope with all that exists in Jesus our Saviour. Amen.
Station 11—Life beyond Death
Blessed are those whom death
will find doing your most holy will,
for the second death will do them no harm.
Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth, and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all day long.
All the paths of the Lord
are steadfast love and faithfulness,
for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.
Psalm 25.4,5,10
Reflection
Loving God, in my better moments I know that a heart which is open and full of love is the truest compass pointing the way to you. May your holy wisdom guide me to trust that path rather than the one paved only with my own interests and concerns. Give me the strength to follow that open road which leads to you beyond all forms of death.
Silence
Prayer
Blessed are you, God of the universe, you are our companion; help us to find the path which is humility, love and joy, in ways that are both rough and smooth, guides us to treasure the earth and each other so that we may know we are travelling to you with your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Station 12
Praise and bless my Lord and give him thanks
and serve him with great humility.
Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and for ever. Amen.
Jude 24, 25
Reflection
I realise that the transformation of heaven and earth will not happen only at the end of time but that the universe, this earth and all things visible and invisible, are being drawn with cords of love to find their fulfilment in the Christ of the whole cosmos. Help us to serve you with humility that is profound and with love that is boundless.
Silence
Prayer
Blessed are you, God of the universe, maker of heaven and earth; you draw all of creation to yourself, according to your plan and purpose. Help us to uncover a vision of hope for the whole earth, when all things shall be made new in Jesus Christ our Redeemer, who is alive and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen!
Alleluia!
