Jean-Francois Millet, The Sower - 1850
“For creation awaits with eager
expectation the revelation of the children of God…We know that all creation is
groaning in labor pains even until now; and not only that, but we ourselves…we
also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our
bodies.”(Romans 8:19, 22-23)
I have two quotes. “The first act of
divine revelation is creation itself. The first Bible is the Bible of nature.”
(Rohr) “In his…thesis on The Theology of History in Saint Bonaventure,
Joseph Ratzinger (before he became Pope Benedict XVI) observed a striking
parallel between the revelation of God in Scripture and that which is found in
creation. Ratzinger [suggests]
two errors: modern man’s deafness to God’s word and blindness to God’s will
written in creation.” (Matuzak)
How do we see “God’s will written in
creation?” I think we have ample opportunities if we take time to look in the
natural world around us, and we consider the profound wisdom found in Pope
Francis’s encyclical letter On Care for
Our Common Home. It begins:
“Laudato si’, mi’
Signore” – “Praise be to you, my Lord”. In the words of this beautiful
canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a
sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to
embrace us. “Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who
sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with colored flowers
and herbs”.1 This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we
have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with
which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and
masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts,
wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the
soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the earth
herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of
our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22). We have forgotten that we
ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very bodies are made up of
her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her
waters. 1Canticle of the Creatures, in Francis of Assisi: Early Documents,
vol. 1, New York-London-Manila, 1999, 113-114.
We certainly cannot be deaf to the
warnings of scientists than the earth is undergoing a period of accelerated
global climate change. I was musing back in February as Covid-19 was beginning
to sweep through the world that the Earth itself has a fever and is trying to
fight the infection. The point is nothing happens on this Earth that does not
have an effect on anything else.
I’d like to share with you a
reflection I read this week:
“In these
challenging, difficult times, we are discovering a wisdom that we needed all
along, and that wisdom is that we are all connected. We are not separate. We
used to think that we caught diseases as individuals: "I'm sick; you're
not." But now we realize, no, we catch diseases as individuals, who are
part of families, and families who are part of cities, and cities that are part
of states and nations. We realize now that our whole species can become
infected, and that our whole globe can be changed because of our
interconnectedness. . .
“Maybe this is
also an opportunity for us to become enlightened about some other viruses that
have been spreading and causing even greater damage, without being
acknowledged: social and spiritual viruses that spread among us from individual
to individual, from generation to generation, and are not named. We don’t
organize against them, and so they continue to spread and cause all kinds of
sickness [and death]. Social and spiritual viruses like racism, white
supremacy, human supremacy, Christian supremacy, any kind of hostility that is
spread, based on prejudice and fear.
“What would
happen if we said, as passionate as we are about being tested for coronavirus,
we all wanted to test ourselves for these social and spiritual viruses that
could be lurking inside of us? And then, when I come into your presence,
I, in some way, inflict this virus on you. I make you suffer. What an
awesome opportunity for us to say and begin to pray that we would be healed and
cleansed, not just of a physical virus, but of these other invisible viruses
that are such a huge and devastating part of human history. . . .
“In this
pandemic, many of us are nostalgic for the old normal. We want to get back to
our favorite coffee shop, our favorite restaurant, our church service. And
of course, there’s nothing wrong with so many of those desires for the old
normal. But I’d like to make a proposal. If we are wise in this time, we will
not go back unthinkingly to the old normal. There were problems with that old
normal many of us weren’t aware of.
“The old normal, when you look at it
from today’s perspective, was not so great, not something to be nostalgic
about, without also being deeply critical of it. As we experience discomfort in
this time, let’s begin to dream of a new normal, a new normal that addresses
the weaknesses and problems that were going unaddressed in the old normal. If
we’re wise, we won’t go back; we’ll go forward.” (McLaren)
In today’s Gospel Jesus challenges us:
“But
blessed are your eyes, because they see,
and your ears, because they hear.
Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people
longed to see what you see but did not see it,
and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” MT 13:17
and your ears, because they hear.
Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people
longed to see what you see but did not see it,
and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” MT 13:17
Lord, let your wisdom lead us today, that we
may walk in the newness of life.
Stephen
M. Matuszak, S.T.D., Mining the Tradition for the Recovery of Wisdom, St.
Bonaventure on Creation, Virtue and Divine Love, file:///C:/Users/Michael/Downloads/St._Bonaventure_on_Creation_Virtue_and_D.pdf
Today’s Readings: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/071220.cfm
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