Book Deepens Appreciation of God’s Nurturing Love for All of Creation
Photo of Sister Elizabeth Johnson’s latest book.
Come Have Breakfast: Meditations on God and the Earth, a book by Elizabeth A. Johnson, a Sister of St. Joseph from Brentwood, NY, and a retired professor of Fordham University, was published in 2024 by Orbis Books. It is described on the back outer jacket as falling into three categories - Religion/Spirituality, Religion/Meditations, and Nature/Ecology. With 227 pages divided into 30 chapters, none longer than eight pages, it includes footnotes and Scripture references in the back.
In the introduction the author says “…the meditations in this book try to decipher the heart of God toward creation in order to widen our minds and hearts for ecological care.” (ix) She further states, “The large-scale change of human minds and hearts known as ecological conversion, so necessary in our day, requires in part a transformation of images deep within the psyche, and in particular images of the divine.” (xv)
Christmas cactus in full bloom on Motherhouse porch now.
One of the strengths I found in Johnson’s book was its format of short reflections/meditations. Each chapter highlighted something that deepened my appreciation of God’s creation, and God’s love for creation. She provides examples from nature such as whales and birds that I was not aware of, and she cites sources such as St. Augustine of Hippo who encouraged people to learn from the “book” of creation, in addition to the book of Scriptures. Reading and reflecting on the book as spiritual reading rather than informational reading was fruitful for me. In learning more about creation, which can often inspire us by its beauty, we cannot help but care more deeply about it, and be more motivated to help save the creation we love.
As the Laudato Si’ Action Plan coordinator for the Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Augustine, Florida, I can easily see this book as a rich resource in fostering ecological conversion, showing God’s nurturing relationship of love with all of us and all of creation. We are called as Sisters of St. Joseph to unifying love of God and the Dear Neighbor.
In our initial commitment to the Laudato Si’ Action Plan in 2021 our Congregation wrote, “Through on-going spiritual formation and discernment, we seek to foster among ourselves and our Dear Neighbors the ecological conversion needed to build a mutually beneficial relationship between humans and our fragile planet, in order to meet the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future. We make this commitment in faith, hope and love, knowing that we are participating in God’s work of transformation, “for we know that things can change. (Laudato Si’,13)