THE CRY OF THE EARTH

Here’s how this week’s arts and culture column begins:

From the Pope’s monthly intentions for 2024:

“September: For the cry of the Earth. We pray that each one of us will hear and take to heart the cry of the Earth and of victims of natural disasters and climate change, and that all will undertake to personally care for the world in which we live.”

Earlier this month, I made a silent retreat at a Franciscan friary in Ireland’s County Donegal.

The natural beauty is stunning almost beyond belief. Photos can’t begin to do the area justice, partly because the beauty in large part consists in the panorama of sea, coves, shore, and sky. To walk, to smell the rich, sweet, damp, ferny bog and salt air, and to hear the cows lowing and the sheep bleating in the pastures above were rare treats.

READ THE WHOLE PIECE HERE.