For the first time since its founding on April 22,1970, Earth Day falls on Good Friday. While Earth Day activities in Cincinnati kicked off at Sawyer Point from noon to 5:30 on Saturday, April 16, Good Friday is only a few hours ahead.
"Praying the Steps" is a uniquely Cincinnati tradition which will mark its 150th anniversary this year. People from around the world walk the hour and a half climb up the steps to the Holy Cross- Immaculata church on Mt. Adams. People gather from 12 midnight and in the course of 24 hours between 8,000 and 10,000 will walk their version of Via Dolorosa.
Most churches of course will have one form or another of recalling the Passion of Jesus. In a small island in the Philippines, some Christians will chose to be nailed to crosses!
Whether extreme or mild, Christians strife to understand the meaning suffering which goes hand in hand with redemption. Jesus vanquished suffering for every believer. There is victory in His suffering.
The merging of Good Friday and Earth Day this year should help us to see in a clearer perspective the suffering of creation because of human competitiveness, consumerism, selfishness, exploitation and greed. Ironically this year's Earth Day is on the anniversary of the greatest ecological disaster in the US history just as its founding was motivated by the Santa Barbara oil spill a year earlier.
Creation is the best teacher if we are willing to learn. As St.Paul says: "We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in pains of childbirth right up to the present time" (Rom.8: 22)
On this Good Friday, Christians reflect on redemption from sin and suffering, and creation too is pleading for redemption from human exploitation and greed.
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