In these times of stress and distress anticipating the arrival of Tropical Cyclone Alfred, we stand one with those in the path of the torrents of nature. We are One, and We are Many. When the tempests of nature confront us, we turn to prayer and supplication to the Divine. Here, we bring you prayers for stress and distress with nature, from the world’s religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Tao, Judaism, Christianity, St Francis, Bahá’í, The Quran, and Dadirri: the Indigenous Deep Listening. Herewith, Prayer in Times of Cyclone.
Interfaith Climate Prayer
We Hold the Earth
We hold brothers and sisters who suffer from storms and droughts intensified by climate change.
We hold all species that suffer.
We hold world leaders delegated to make decisions for life.
We pray that the web of life may be mended through courageous actions to limit carbon emissions.
We pray for right actions for adaptation and mitigation to help our already suffering earth community.
We pray that love and wisdom might inspire my actions and our actions as communities. . . so that we may, with integrity, look into the eyes of brothers and sisters and all beings and truthfullysay, we are doing our part to care for them and the future of the children.
May love transform us and our world with new steps toward life.
Buddhism
Metta Sutta
In safety and in bliss
May all creatures be of a blissful heart.
Whatever breathing beings there may be,
No matter whether they are frail or firm,
With none excepted, be they long or big
Or middle-sized, or be they short or small
Or thick, as well as those seen or unseen,
Or whether they are far or near,
Existing or yet seeking to exist,
May all creatures be of a blissful heart.
Let no one work another one’s undoing
Or even slight him at all anywhere;
And never let them wish each other ill
Through provocation or resentful thought.
And just as might a mother with her life
Protect the son that was her only child,
So let him then for every living thing
Maintain unbounded consciousness in being,
And let him too with love for all the world
Maintain unbounded consciousness in being
Above, below, and all round in between,
Untroubled, with no enemy or foe.
And while he stands or walks, or while he sits
Or while he lies down, free from drowsiness,
Let him resolve upon this mindfulness:
This is Divine Abiding here, they say.
Tao
Living in Harmony with the Tao: The Quiet Mind
Empty your mind of all thoughts.
Let your heart be at peace.
Watch the turmoil of beings,
but contemplate their return.
Each separate being in the universe
returns to the common source.
Returning to the source is serenity.
If you don’t realize the source,
you stumble in confusion and sorrow.
When you realize where you come from,
you naturally become tolerant,
disinterested, amused,
kind-hearted as a grandmother,
dignified as a king.
Immersed in the wonder of the Tao,
you can deal with Whatever life brings you,
and when loss comes, you are ready.
Judaism
The Hebrew Bible, Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
For everything its season, and for every activity under heaven its time:
a time to be born and a time to die;
a time to plant and a time to uproot;
a time to kill and a time to heal;
a time to pull down and a time to build up;
a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time for mourning and a time for dancing;
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them;
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek and a time to lose;
a time to keep and a time to throw away;
a time to tear and a time to mend;
a time for silence and a time for speech;
a time to love and a time to hate;
a time for war and a time for peace.
Christianity
Jesus Comforts His Disciples:
John 14:1-8 NIV
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
St Francis: The Canticle of The Sun
All praise be yours, my Lord, through all that you have made,
And first my lord Brother Sun,
Who brings the day; and light you give to us through him.
How beautiful he is, how radiant in all his splendour!
Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.
All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Moon and Stars;
In the heavens you have made them, bright
And precious and fair.
All praise be yours, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air,
And fair and stormy, all the weather’s moods,
By which you cherish all that you have made.
All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Water,
So useful, lowly, precious and pure.
All praise be yours, my Lord, through Brother Fire,
Through whom you brighten up the night.
How beautiful he is, how gay! Full of power and strength.
All praise be yours, my Lord, thought Sister Earth, our mother,
Who feeds us in her sovereignty and produces
Various fruits and coloured flowers and herbs.
All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Death,
From whose embrace no mortal can escape.
Orthodox Christian Prayer
O Lord our God, give rest to them that have fallen asleep before us, heal speedily them that are sick, for you the life of us all, the hope of us all, the deliverer of us all and the raiser of us all, and to you we lift up thanksgiving to the highest heaven, world without end. We give thanks to the doer of good things unto us, the merciful God, the Father of our Lord and our God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: for He has covered us and succoured us, He has kept us and brought us nigh and received us unto Himself, and undertaken our defence, and strengthened us, and brought us unto this hour. Let us therefore pray unto Him that the Almighty Lord our God keep us in this holy day and all the days of our life in all peace.
For those who suffer patiently we beseech, that God grant them to receive their rewards through patience. For the rulers and those in authority we beseech, that God may grant them of His wisdom and His fear. For the whole world we beseech, that God should hasten His purpose and put into the mind of all and each to desire that which is good and expedient. For the hungry and the thirsty we beseech, that God should grant them their daily food. For the sad and the sorrowful we beseech, that God may give them perfect consolation. For the captives we beseech, that God may restore them to their county in peace. For the sick and the diseased we beseech, that God should heal them speedily and send upon them mercy and compassion. For those who have sinned, our fathers and our brothers we beseech, that God cherish not anger against them, but grant them rest and relief from His wrath. For the rains we beseech, that God may send rain on the place that needs it. For the water of the rivers we beseech, that God should fill them unto their due measure and bounds. For the fruits of the earth we beseech, that God may grant to the earth her fruit for sowing and for harvest. And all of us who ask and beseech in prayer, may He cover us with the spirit of peace, and give us grace, and enlighten the eyes of our hearts.
Let us draw high and ask God to accept our prayers according to His will. Let us therefore rise in the Holy Spirit, growing in His grace, with understanding, glorying in His name and built upon the foundation of the prophets and the apostles. Let us draw high and ask Lord God to accept our prayers according to His will.
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us and rescue us from all evil; for Thine is the kindom, the power and the glory for ever and ever.
May the Lord’s peace be upon you all!
Melake Hiwot Qesis Tegen Eniyew
Bahá’í Prayer
O my Lord! Thou knowest that the people are encircled with pain and calamities and are environed with hardships and trouble. Every trial doth attack man and every dire adversity doth assail him like unto the assault of a serpent. There is no shelter and asylum for him except under the wing of Thy protection, preservation, guard and custody.
O Thou the Merciful One! O my Lord! Make Thy protection my armour, Thy preservation my shield, humbleness before the door of Thy oneness my guard, and Thy custody and defense my fortress and my abode. Preserve me from the suggestions of self and desire, and guard me from every sickness, trial, difficulty and ordeal.
Verily, Thou art the Protector, the Guardian, the Preserver, the Sufficer, and verily, Thou art the Merciful of the Most Merciful.
Islam
Holy Qu’ran
The Fatihah: (The Opening)
In the Name of God, the merciful Lord of mercy.
Praise be to God, the Lord of all being,
The merciful Lord of mercy,
Master of the Day of judgment.
You alone we serve and to You alone We come for aid
Guide us in the straight path,
The path of those whom You have blessed,
Not of those against whom there is displeasure,
Nor of those who have gone astray.
“If Someone Walks Toward Me, I Run Toward Him”
In certain hadith, called hadith qudsi, Allah speakes in the first person
outside the Quran. The following is from hadith qudsi:
God says: “I fulfill My servant’s expectation of Me, and I am with
him when he remembers Me. If he remembers Me in his heart, I
remember him in my heart; and if he remembers Me in public, I
remember him before a public [far] better than that. And if he
draws nearer to Me by a hands-breadth, I draw nearer to Him by an
arm’s-length; and if he draws nearer to me by an arms-length, I
draw nearer to him by a fathom; and if he comes to me walking,
I come to him running.”
Dadirri
Dadirri is the practice of deep listening. It allows you to be still and connect. Modern day deep listening is termed mindfulness. It allows you to notice and connect with your self or spirit and surroundings. Dadirri connects to the indigenous sense of belonging to the land.
“My people are not threatened by silence. They are completely at home in it. They have lived for thousands of years with Nature’s quietness. My people today recognise and experience in this quietness the great Life-Giving Spirit, the Father of us all. It is easy for me to experience God’s presence. When I am out hunting, when I am in the bush, among the trees, on a hill or by a billabong; these are the times when I can simply be in God’s presence. My people have been so aware of Nature. It is natural that we will feel close to the Creator. Our Aboriginal culture has taught us to be still and to wait. We do not try to hurry things up. We let them follow their natural course – like the seasons. We watch the moon in each of its phases. We wait for the rain to fill our rivers and water the thirsty earth …
When twilight comes, we prepare for the night. At dawn we rise with the sun.
We watch the bush foods and wait for them to ripen before we gather them. We wait for our young people as they grow, stage by stage, through their initiation ceremonies. When a relation dies, we wait a long time with the sorrow. We own our grief and allow it to heal slowly.
We wait for the right time for our ceremonies and our meetings. The right people must be present. Everything must be done in the proper way. Careful preparations must be made. We don’t mind waiting, because we want things to be done with care.
We don’t like to hurry. There is nothing more important than what we are attending to. There is nothing more urgent that we must hurry away for.
We wait on God, too. His time is the right time. We wait for him to make his word clear to us. We don’t worry. We know that in time and in the spirit of dadirri (that deep listening and quiet stillness) his way will be clear.
We are river people. We cannot hurry the river. We have to move with its current and understand its ways.
We hope that the people of Australia will wait. Not so much waiting for us – to catch up – but waiting with us, as we find our pace in this world.
If you stay closely united, you are like a tree, standing in the middle of a bushfire sweeping through the timber. The leaves are scorched and the tough bark is scarred and burnt; but inside the tree the sap is still flowing, and under the ground the roots are still strong. Like that tree, you have endured the flames, and you still have the power to be reborn.
Our culture is different. We are asking our fellow Australians to take time to know us; to be still and to listen to us.” ~ Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann (Aboriginal activist, educator, artist and 2021 Senior Australian of the year)
Hinduism:
Eternal Brahman: Unmanifest Source of All That Is
As fire, though one, takes new forms in all things that burn, the Spirit, though one, takes new forms in all things that live. He is within all, and is also outside.
As the wind, though one, takes new forms in whatever it enters, the Spirit, though one, takes new forms in all things that live. He is within all, and is also outside.
As the sun that beholds the world is untouched by earthly impurities, so the Spirit that is in all things is untouched by external sufferings.
There is one Ruler, the Spirit that is in all things, who transforms his own form into many. Only the wise who see him in their souls attain the joy eternal.
He is the Eternal among things that pass away, pure Consciousness of conscious beings, the ONE who fulfills the prayers of the many. Only the wise who see him in their souls attain the peace eternal. Katha Upanishad
Bhu Suktam (invocation of Bhudevi – Goddess of Earth) is found in the twelfth chapter of Atharvana Veda. It is the first ever invocation, reverence and gratitude towards Sri Bhudevi – Mother Earth – by human beings.
Salutations to Mother Earth! the truth (satyam), the cosmic divine law (ritam), the spiritual passion manifested in mighty initiations, penances and self dedications to the search of brahman (by the sages); these have sustained the mother earth for ages (who in turn have supported these in her bosom), she, who is to us the consort of the past and the future (being its witness), may she expand our inner life in this world towards the cosmic life (through her purity and vastness).
Salutations to Mother Earth! who extends unimpeded freedom (both outer and inner) to human beings through her mountains, slopes and plains, she bears many plants and medicinal herbs of various potencies; may she extend her riches to us (and make us healthy)
Salutations to Mother Earth! in her is woven together ocean and river waters; in her is contained food which she manifests when ploughed, in her indeed is alive all lives; may she bestow us with that life.
Salutations to Mother Earth! in her resides the four directions of the world; in her is contained food which she manifests when ploughed, she sustains the various lives living in her; may she, the mother earth, bestow on us the ray of life present even in food.
Salutations to Mother Earth! in her our forefathers lived and performed (their activities) in earlier times; in her the devas (the good forces) overturned the asuras (the evil forces) (since earlier times), in her lived the cows, horses, birds (and other animals in earlier times); may she, the mother earth, bestow on us prosperity and splendour.
Salutations to Mother Earth! she is Vishwambhara (all-bearing), she is Vasudhaa (producer of all wealth), she is Pratishtha (foundation on which we live), she is Hiranyavaksha (of golden bosom) and the dwelling place of the world,
she holds the Vaishvanara (the universal fire) within her, the fire which empowers Indra and Rishabha; may the mother earth bestow on us (the splendour of that fire and make us strong).
Salutations to Mother Earth! her, the devas protect sleeplessly with vigilence, she who is the all-giving mother earth, may she milk for us that delightful honey which gives the great splendour (of divinity).
Salutations to Mother Earth! sitting above sea as well as lying immersed in its waters (in meditation), the sages pursued her by supernatural powers (i.e. tried to understand her real nature by yogic powers), (they found that) the heart of mother earth lies in the highest vyoman (spiritual sky) enveloped by truth and immortality, may she, the mother earth, bestow her splendorous vigour on us and our great kingdom.
Salutations to Mother Earth! in her the waters flow on all sides day and night with vigilence (i.e. unceasingly), may she, the mother earth give us the milk of her abundant streams, and moisten us with its splendour (present in water).
Salutations to Mother Earth! her, the aswins (divine physicians) have measured out (i.e. filled her with herbs and healing qualities), in her Vishnu strode (imparting her with divine qualities), Indra, the husband of Shachi, made her soul free from enemies (i.e. made her soul the friend of all like a mother to a son), may she pour forth her milk (with kindness) as a mother does to her son.
Salutations to Mother Earth! O mother earth, may your hills and snow-clad mountains (spread its coolness within us); may your forests spread its delight within us, you present a vishwarupa with your many colours – Babhru (brown) (of mountains), Krishna (blue) (of rivers), Rohini (red) (of flowers); (but behind all these enchanting appearances) O mother earth, you are like Dhruva – firm and immovable; and you are protected by Indra, (on your firm foundation) which is unconquered, unslayed and unbroken whole, I stand firm (and whole, O mother).
Salutations to Mother Earth! in your center, O mother earth, is your navel from which the vital power emanates and spreads out, absorb us in that power and purify us, O bhoomi mata, i am the son of mother earth, parjanya (rain god) is my father, may he fill us (with the vital power in water).
Salutations to Mother Earth! in her, bhoomi (ground) has spread herself as the sacrificial altar; in her, all the activities of the world has spread themselves as yagya, in her, from the beginning, the sounds (of activities) of the world (resembling the chants of yagya) during oblations rises up and disappears in the purifying upper layers (symbolically purifying the workers), may the expansion (expanding space) provided by the earth, expand (our inner selves also).
Salutations to Mother Earth! he who hates us, O earth, he who attacks us or mentally considers us as enemies, or he who strikes us, him, O mother earth, subdue, as you have done since earliest times.
Salutations to Mother Earth! (first those) produced by you, (second) those moving about in you, (third) those two-footed and (fourth) those four-footed ones; (all of) whom you bear in the land of mortality, fifth is the manava, from whom the light of immortality emanates (even) from the land of mortality, which O mother earth, you diffuse with the rays of the rising sun (i.e. the essence of immortality pervades in you).
Salutations to Mother Earth! (the essence of immortality pervades in you) may we, your children (be able to) together milk the ritam (divine order) present everywhere in you, O mother earth, by absorbing (i.e. understanding) the great honeyed speech (vedic mantras).
Salutations to Mother Earth! the herbs (plants) which are like mothers of the world (who sustains us) grows on the immovable earth (bhoomi); the earth which is held by dharma, and in which auspiciousness gently pervades throughout the world.
Salutations to Mother Earth! great is this place where we stand together (i.e. live together); mighty is the force present in it, which controls its great speed of movement and shaking, great is the god indra who protects her with vigilence (day and night), (in this great meeting place enveloped by divine powers) may she the bhoomi (earth), make us lustrous like gold so that we do not see anyone with the attitude of hatred.
American Native Nations Prayer
Earth Teach Me to Remember (Ute, North America)
Earth teach me stillness
as the grasses are stilled with light.
Earth teach me suffering
as old stones suffer with memory.
Earth teach me humility
as blossoms are humble with beginning.
Earth teach me caring
as the mother who secures her young.
Earth teach me courage
as the tree which stands all alone.
Earth teach me limitation
as the ant which crawls on the ground.
Earth teach me freedom
as the eagle which soars in the sky.
Earth teach me resignation
as the leaves which die in the fall.
Earth teach me regeneration
as the seed which rises in the spring
Earth teach me to forget myself
as melted snow forgets its life.
Earth teach me to remember kindness
as dry fields Weep with rain.
