Apparently it was from a considerably high story, because when they spoke of it, the aunts and cousins always said it was a miracle and that his last name certainly fit him. Jimmy continued to work on major urban construction projects and provided well for his family. The only other thing I know about him is that he was a churchgoer and, like the rest of the German-American branch of the family, a drinker of beer.

Many of the sisters in my religious community had fathers, siblings and cousins who worked in anthracite “hard coal” mines, steel mills and on farms. Their female relatives were homemakers, seamstresses and factory workers. I often muse over the fact that what we see today in terms of conveniences, homes, stores, factories and corporate headquarters exist only because of people like our ancestors and relatives, who worked long hours for low wages and were simply grateful to have jobs.

We can surmise that they thought little about the environmental impact of their labor and lifestyles and the projects they worked on. They were people of faith who met obligations to God and country while focusing on day-to-day survival. No matter how hard-scrabble their lives, they were partaking of the American dream and securing better futures for their families.

Accidents and injuries and black lung came later. Children died, as did some women giving birth. They could relate to Mary and St. John at the foot of the cross.

In April we celebrate the Christian Triduum and Easter. We also mark Earth Day and Earth Month. We observe Good Friday’s fast and abstinence, and many of us try to be sensitive to the impact of our food choices, our purchases and our use of material goods. We don’t deliberately pollute, and we try not to waste. Children remind us to recycle. But most of us, like my cousin Jimmy, are more taken up with keeping our jobs (or ministries) and tending to our families and homes.

This month offers us opportunities to step back and look at the big picture. Christ healed, preached, taught, suffered, died and rose in order that we might live his promise of “life and [having] it more abundantly” (Jn 10:10). The Jewish tradition invites us not only to live with gratitude for the gifts we have received but to “choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live” (Dt 30:19).

This month we celebrate life — spiritual and temporal. As we tend to our souls amid the beauty of the Easter season, may we also tune into the gifts of creation and be attentive to the call to care more conscientiously for our earthly home. We will find ourselves filled with wonder.