Prayer from our opening session, given by Dr. Michael Lovette-Colyer

Praise be to you, Our Loving Creator.
We praise and thank you for the many blessings of our lives,
especially the magnificent gift of creation.

We ask you to help us slow down,
to resist the frenetic pull toward materialism and consumerism,
the temptation to always increasing productivity and efficiency,
so that we might instead see with new eyes and appreciate with greater depth
the immense beauty by which we are surrounded,
and, in so doing, that we might recognize our inherent connection to every creature with whom we share this precious planet earth.

Praise be to you, Our Loving Creator.
We praise and thank you for the example of St. Francis.
We ask you for the insight and imagination he had,
for the awe and wonder he experienced,
for his movement toward the excluded and suffering,
for his willingness to reorient his life in pursuit of what it means to be truly human.

Praise be to you, our Loving Creator.
We praise and thank you for the brilliance of scientists, researchers, teachers,
the wisdom of spiritual and religious leaders,
the prudence of elected officials and civil servants
the vision of business women and men striving to make their companies sustainable,
the necessary contributions of all those who are helping us understand what is happening to our common home,
and what each one of us can do to care for our earth.

Praise be to you, our Loving Creator.
We praise and thank you for the enthusiasm of our students,
for the passion of the young,
for their insistence that we address pollution, climate change, water scarcity, the loss of biodiversity, the decrease in quality of life and global inequality.
Help us be inspired by them,
to let their energy push us to overcome obstacles, resistance, denial,
to find creative ways to elude the defenders of the status quo,
to overturn the globalization of indifference,
to settle for nothing less than the future they deserve.

Praise be to you, Our Loving Creator.
During this season of Lent, help us examine our lives,
to identify the places in us which are unfree, unloving, ungenerous.
Open our ears so that we may hear clearly
the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor;
and open our hearts so that we may truly care more profoundly for the earth
and all those who share it,
especially the poor.

Praise be to you, our Loving Creator.

Amen!