The readings this Fifth Sunday of Easter include an evocative hymn to a new creation, where the witness, John, sees “a new heaven and a new earth . . . the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven” and hears a “voice from the throne saying ‘Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human race.’ ” 

War contributes greatly to global warming . . . it pollutes the air and water of this very fragile and interconnected planet.

Earth Day was renamed officially by the UN in 2009 as International Mother Earth Day.