CREATION SUNDAY
I had a
dream last night in which I was travelling in a truck. The driver was a bit
distracted and did not notice, until it was too late, that the bridge ahead had
been washed away. I shouted at him to stop but it was too late. His front
wheels went over the edge and we were stuck with only our rear wheels to get us
out of the mess. Then I woke up!
The dream
was a metaphor, a parable, for me of our environmental crisis which people are
more and more aware of today. Francis is the first pope to devote an entire
encyclical or letter to the whole world, on the subject. He writes;
When we speak
of ‘environment’, what we really mean is a relationship existing between nature
and the society which lives in it. Nature cannot be regarded as something
separate from ourselves or as a mere setting in which we live. We are part of
nature, included in it and thus in constant interaction with it, (Laudato
Si’ # 139).
People are responding and the Jesuits,
for example, have made it a priority:
to
collaborate in the care of our common home.
A simply stated aspiration; one that
means we want to work with others to respond to the huge threat to our survival
posed by climate change. There is overwhelming evidence today that human
decisions - which lead to emissions of carbon, deforestation, pollution of seas
and rivers and other forms of destruction of the environment – are threatening
our existence on the planet. As one in his eighties, I can say this doesn’t
concern me. It will happen after my time. But that would be horribly
irresponsible. It concerns all of us and our grandchildren will not thank us if
we do not act now.
One of the oldest texts in our
patrimony will be read this Sunday in our churches:
Now, Israel,
take notice of the laws and customs that I (Moses) teach you today, and observe
them that you may have life and may enter and take possession of the land that
the Lord, the God of your fathers is giving you, (Deuteronomy 4:1).
It does not take much imagination to
transpose these words into modern terms. ‘Laws and customs’, ‘possession of the
land’ and ‘that you may have life’, all can easily be applied to our situation.
We are called by Moses, by Francis and by our own better selves to pay
attention to the relationship between the environment and our survival and
growth as people. A new type of ‘fasting’ is called for where we abstain from
exploiting and destroying ‘our common home.’ We still have time - and our rear
wheels - to get us out of the mess. 1 September 2024 Sunday 22B World Day of Prayer
for the Care of Creation. Deut
4:1…8 James 1:17…27 Mk 7:1…23
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