Saturday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 346

Limited days of life he gives him,
with power over all things else on earth.
He puts the fear of (man) in all flesh,
and gives him rule over beasts and birds….

With wisdom he fills their heart;

good and evil he shows them.
He put the fear of himself upon their hearts,
and showed them his mighty works,
That they might glory in the wonder of his deeds
and praise his holy name.

18th century sailors often found South Pacific islands where the creatures had no fear of them whatsoever. Hunters could walk right into nesting areas killing birds and gathering their eggs. There were places like that in North America during the 17th century until the few surviving animals learned fear of man.

Sirach was not familiar with these wild places. He took it for granted that creatures fear man as man fears God. Only in Paradise had there been a brief moment of natural concord.But Sirach also knew the human creature is responsible for all the earth, for God has given us “rule over beasts and birds.” If he could not imagine an earth-spanning blanket of fossil-fueled pollution, he knew that sin has its consequences; and they often include drought, floods, earthquakes, fires and war. 

Until recently we scoffed at such naiveté. How could sin cause forest fires or drought? Global consequences seemed absurd, especially when we defined sin as a personal thought, word or deed and not the work of a nation, city or church. 


Unfortunately, we now know that we have deeply harmed our Earth and its life-sustaining systems, and failure to respond to this crisis is collectively sinful. True, much of the damage was done without harmful intent, when no one imagined such catastrophic consequence. In the 1920's, who could suppose that Henry Ford's flivver might pollute the atmosphere? But it doesn't matter whether the damage was done by malice or ignorance, it was done. And it must be undone. 


Apparently we supposed the Earth has God's capacity for inexhaustible mercy. We supposed our rivers, streams and oceans were beyond our capacity to pollute; our sky was too vast to harm; our soil, too pure to be tainted. 

But worse, we regarded the Earth as man’s domain and disdained the Fear of the Lord who created it. We parceled the Earth into nations and nations into tracts of "private property" and forgot the Lord who entrusted His Earth to us for our husbandry.

This particular stage might be described as the interim when most of us know that all are responsible; and some of us know we can do something about it; and a few of us are trying to convince the rest of us to do the right thing. But what should we do and how soon must we decide? If democracy is like making sausage, this particular stage is especially unappetizing.

The religious contribution – from Christians, Jews, Muslims and virtually all legitimate religions – will be “the Fear of the Lord.” "The Lord's is the earth and its fullness."

No one will listen to the wild-eyed Christian prophet who says, "God told me to tell you..." But they will respect our preference for long-term consequences over short-term benefits. They will acknowledge that the Earth is our home and our descendants must live here for millennia. They must share our pleasure in nature's beauty even as we worship the God who is Beauty. 

Failure to respond is not an option because the Earth can outwait our misguided behavior. She will become increasingly inhospitable to us until we come to our senses. 

In 1982, I could not imagine what sign the whole world might see, the sign predicted by the seers in Medjugorge. But the prophecy fascinated me. Given the possibilities of rapid communication and transportation, might the whole world see an astonishing demonstration of God's life-giving, energizing goodness? And then the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain disintegrated, and the Soviet Union fell apart. A nation that had fewer weapons than the United States but nevertheless could destroy every living creature on it -- chose not to use its weapons to save itself. Surely that is God's work. 

Can anyone say the whole world will never recognize our universal peril and take effective action? Don't discount the Holy Spirit. Stand up, pray, watch and wait!