Yet there is hope for a peaceful Earth.

Isaiah 32:14-18 envisions a peaceful Creation where God’s people live only when justice is achieved. "The Lord’s justice will dwell in the desert, God’s righteousness lives in the fertile field." (Isaiah 32:16). In the words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu: “Hope is being able to see that there is light - despite all the darkness.”

Last week, the staff of Shepherd’s Corner and some other Sisters went on a Pilgrimage to Octagon Earthworks in Newark, OH, part of Ohio's Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks UNESCO World Heritage site. Formerly part of the Licking County Fairgrounds, this 2,000-year-old Indigenous wonder of the world had been shrouded by a golf course for more than a century.  The Great Circle and the Octagon Earthworks were named a National Heritage Center in 1964, and in 2023, the sites were added to the World Heritage List. Learn more here.

The former golf course was ceded to the Heritage Center in January 2025, making full restoration possible.

Just 9 months after the closing of the golf course, the land has begun to return to nature. Communities of rabbits, birds, foxes, groundhogs, opossums, skunks, insects, butterflies, bees, and hawks have found a home.  Nature is healing itself!

To celebrate this beautiful Season of Creation, you may want to take your own pilgrimage and praise our Creator. Come, let us move with the Holy Spirit, the breath of life, who is poured out upon us, bringing renewal to the earth and restoring the harmony of Creation.