Tuesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Please see the next post below for my thoughts about Pope Benedict's announcement, and pray with all your Church! 

Lectionary: 330

Below the Spillway
at Lake Mount Saint Francis

... and so it happened.
God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good.
Evening came, and morning followed–the sixth day.

Every American surely knows the scripture, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son….” Usually, when we hear that verse, our attention is directed to the latter part, “…so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

Recently, I noticed “the world” and I recalled that the saving grace of Jesus is directed not only to human souls. It is toward all creation:

…for creation was made subject to futility, not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it, in hope that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now; (Romans 8:20-22)

Today’s first reading, which many churches will read again during the Easter Vigil, celebrates the essential goodness and beauty of God’s world. It is “very good.” The Universe and our part in it command our admiration, respect and love.

In the last few years North America -- historically the most dangerous continent -- has witnessed the groaning of creation. Under the burden of human activity the Earth seems to grow more restless, violent and dangerous. Recently Beijing, the capital of China, was shrouded in killing smog, as London was in the forties, Cleveland in the fifties and Los Angeles in the sixties. Not even undemocratic governments can ignore threats like that. 

The day must come when we – meaning the vast majority of nations and corporations – amend our ways and begin to care for our planet. We can put it off, even indefinitely, and the Earth will certainly recover from our mistreatment. But the longer we put it off, the longer the recovery will take, and it’s already projected for a long, long time. Meanwhile human misery will be enormous and worsening, like that of a boar caught by a huge anaconda.

Many nations and companies have already begun; and more are getting started. My hunch is we will make the adjustments. There will always be crimes against the earth by stupid individuals and rogue organizations; they can be offset by severe penalties, just laws and persistence.

But this change of heart also requires a spiritual conversion. We already know the Earth, like all creation, is limited. She can absorb only so much abuse. 

Now we must know the Earth as our mother. She is not the enemy. Attitudes of suspicion, hostility and exploitation toward the Earth suffocate the atmosphere. We cannot breathe that kind of air. As Saint Paul, "Let your attitude be that of God.... For God loves the world so much he gave his only Son."