Water’s Lament
By Sister Pat Benson, OP

Oh God, Creator of the Universe, 
You who energized the flowing forth of all that we know,
Giver of the waters of life, 
hear the silent cry of your water through this voice.

Thank you for the process of evolution that emerged water on Earth.
Thank you for the emergence of life in the waters and its crawling onto land.
Thank you for emerging human consciousness and creativity.
Thank you for millennia of mutually enhancing relationship 
with the rest of creation, our sister and brother creatures.

Now, we, your people, use our intelligence creatively but often blindly.
We cause all bodies of water to cry out in anguish.
We deprive people and animals of clean life-giving water.
Because of our disconnected lifestyle we are complicit in this agony.

Aquifers, underground seas of pure water,
once deep and full, now suffering from human plunder,
become shallow.
Their empty voices cry out due to our technological expertise.

Rivers and the tumbling streams that feed them,
flowing clean and sparkling clear for eons,
carving incredibly deep gorges or meandering in meadows,
bring hydration to all creatures living near.
Rivers now drained for human use along the way, 
raise their dry voice before they reach the sea.

Lakes, expanses of water shimmering in the sun,
Frozen in the cold, sooth the spirit in a gaze.
Watching civilization grow cities on their shores,
and providing millions with water, 
lakes now raise their crusty voices 
polluted with chemicals, drugs, and waste debris.

Lakes, our agricultural endeavors drinking their water for growth,
pay the price of our unthinking practices 
as excess fertilizer and pathogens flow back.  
Their bountiful capacity overdrawn for our wants, 
lakes speak with cracked voices from their dry beds, 
a fraction of their former selves.

Glaciers, shimmering sheer cliffs of blue-white ice, frozen for centuries,
(with ice caps, 98% of Earth’s fresh water)
now victims of anthropogenic global warming, calve or melt. 
Their voices roar as they crack and fall, or slip silently into oblivion.

Seas, salty water encircling the globe, 
house abundant ecosystems of life.
Seas suffer as human beings deplete them of their bounty,
Employ practices that harm their inhabitants, 
And pollute their waters with waste. 
Their rolling cry brushes all shores.

Creator God, help us!
Help your human children emerge into new awareness 
of our responsibility for our “home”.  
Foster in us the “reverence for all” that Jesus modeled. 
Help us to raise our voices to protect our waters, 
and all who depend on them, especially those who are poor,
for their own sake and for future generations.

God, 
Self-giving Love, 
Holy Mystery, 
You are the Source of all that is.  
Your creative Spirit is ever-present with us, desiring to lead and guide us.  
Help us open our hearts and minds to your invitations 
always trusting that You will show us the way.