EARTH DAY 2007

EARTH DAY 2007 Just one day in the year? Or one week? All year long, are we just passive voyeurs of planet earth? Do we act as though this planet will just manage to go on rotating, sustaining, living? From time to time we hear of animals that are on the threatened list or have already suffered extinction. Since we as individuals cannot do anything about this, we shrug our shoulders or allow some kind of exasperation escape from our nervous reaction, but mostly to no avail. We have to wonder which is more demoralizing: enjoying the present comfort the earth offers us or taking this comfort for granted. Are we like the man in the gospel story? Building bigger and better barns to h0ard our earth-giving sustenance, pleasures, refreshments, beauty in while ignoring the rest of earth which lies like a beggar at our doorsteps? How long can we ignore what is going on, what is going wrong, what we are letting go wrong with our mother planet? Is one day enough? Or should this one day be prelude and preparation for a year-long, a lifelong care of what we so easily take for granted, our planet earth? Pope Benedict XVI in his inaugural Mass in 2005 made this incisive observation: “The external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast. Therefore the earth's treasures no longer serve to build God's garden for all to live in, but they have been made to serve the powers of exploitation and destruction.” What a vital insight! A treasure to be shared! Our internal deserts are our responsibility. Our internal deserts are the result of the lack of scriptural values in our lives, Our internal emptiness is reflected in the empty deserts of our earth. For example, What does the commandment "Thou shall not kill" mean when 20% of the world's population consumes resources at a rate that robs poorer nations and future generations of what they need to survive? What does it mean to respect life when 30,000 people die each day from poverty? What does it mean to be stewards of the earth when up to half of all living species are expected to become extinct in the next 200 years? To react by saying we won’t be around 200 years from now is a calloused disregard for our God-given mandate to care for our planet earth. For example, Science and technology have brought many blessings to human existence. Over the last 50 years those blessings have included a greater capacity to meet basic human needs. But the benefits of these advances have been spread unjustly, often with an adverse effect upon the world's most vulnerable populations. The existence of extreme poverty and environmental destruction in our world are not natural forces, nor acts of God, but result from human behavior. That behavior is driven by values, priorities and decisions which do not see human life as a paramount concern. Our world is facing an ecological crisis, which could equally be called an economic crisis, or a poverty crisis. Its public face is the suffering of the poor and the degradation of our environment, at a time when the accumulation of wealth and material goods has never occupied our attention and greed more. That is why we must see these crises primarily as spiritual and moral challenges. As always we the question comes down to, But what can I do? One work you can get involved in is helping our children, especially our little ones, come to a greater appreciation of all the wonders and sources of life our planet earth offers and asks us to preserve. For example, take the children into the yard and help them plant seeds. Help them to feel the dirt of earth pour through their fingers. Help them to watch and care for what they planted grow. Instill an enthusiasm in children emanating from your own dedication to the preservation of our planet earth. Allow your interior deserts to become oases of plush gospel values. Most of all, counteract taking for granted with a deep and dynamic attitude of gratitude.

3RD SUNDAY EASTER 2007

THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER C– JOHN 21:1-19 12:15 The farmer’s son was a lot more religious than his dad. He also worked a lot less than his dad. His dad simply farmed well, worked hard, and helped his neighbors - the ones close by and (through the church) those in other countries. One day the son, who did very little work but was very religious, was lying on the haystack and saw a sign in the clouds. He saw the letters, “PC.” He rushed off to dad. “Did you see those letters, dad? he exploded with fanatic fervor. PC! Preach Christ! God is calling me.” “Yes son,” said his dad. “God is calling you all right. But the letters PC stand for Pick Corn. Now get busy.” Jesus doesn’t tell you today to pick corn. But he is telling you to share your fish i.e. to share what you have with others. Bring some of the fish you have just caught, he tells you. And he is commanding you as certainly as a teacher demands a research paper to get busy, there is a lot of work to be done. Notice Jesus, with the cordial openness of selfless love, does not ask for all the fish – just enough for him to have something to eat. So too Jesus doesn’t demand that you share everything you have with others – just enough to help them in their need. What he wants from you is a kind of tame recklessness in your generosity. As Pope Paul VI stated in his encyclical A Call To Action, The more fortunate should renounce some of their rights so as to place their goods more generously at the service of others. You make a living by what you get; you make a life by what you give. And what should you give most of all? Kahil Gibran, the mystic author of the book, The Prophet, answers, You give little when you give your possessions; it is when you give yourself that you truly give. As far as your possessions are concerned, remember this: If you want to have it all, you’ll find all of it has you. Perhaps the question this gospel story confronts you with today is this: Do I give grudgingly, or only to a few, chosen ones? The one work Jesus calls you to and expects you to do with spendthrift generosity is that of continuing his resurrection by causing resurrections in others. You can cause a resurrection in someone who is depressed by offering honest words of encouragement but not flattery. You can find some good in that person and affirm that good. In this way you help that person to rise out of the death of depression into a new life of enthusiasm. You can cause resurrections in people by your acts of kindness, causing people to rise out of the death of the drudgery of everyday living into the new life of the unexplored joy of seeing each new day as a fresh adventure. You can cause a resurrection in someone who is self-righteous and judgmental by reminding that person that the judgment seat of God belongs to God alone and that those who condemn will be condemned, no matter how pious a pose they strike. In this way you cause that person to rise out of the death of judgmentalism into a new life of compassion. You can cause resurrections in those who habitually manipulate others in their relationships by confronting them with the need to be honest with themselves about themselves – perhaps even suggesting therapy. In this way you cause them to rise out of the death of superficial and self-centered relationships into the new life of loving and caring relationships. You can cause resurrections in others, sometimes by expressing honest and justified anger at those who attempt to control you. Those who try to manipulate you by being bullies. Those who constantly nit-pick or start frivolous arguments and you need to let them know that they just cannot dominate you by force. You can cause a resurrection by helping them to rise out of the death of brutal domination into a new life of gracious sensitivity. You can pray for the students of Virginia Tech by causing resurrections, helping them to rise out of the death of grief and sorrow into the new life of coping positively with the horrific tragedy that occurred on their campus this past week. Keep the image of the disciples sharing their fish with Jesus in your heart and ask yourself how much you are sharing Jesus’ resurrection power by causing resurrections in others but with all others, not just a chosen few. HUMOR A teacher gave her fifth grade class an assignment: Get their parents to tell them a story with a moral at the end of it. The next day the children came back and one by one began to share their stories. "Tony, do you have a story to share?""Yes ma'am. My daddy told a story about my Aunt Karen. She was a pilot in Desert Storm and her plane got hit. She had to bail out over enemy territory and all she had was a flask of whiskey, a pistol and a survival knife. She drank the whiskey on the way down so it wouldn't break and then her parachute landed right in the middle of twenty enemy troops. She shot fifteen of them with the gun until she ran out of bullets, killed four more with the knife, till the blade broke, and then she killed the last terrorist with her bare hands." "Good Heavens" said the horrified teacher. "What kind of moral did your daddy tell you from this horrible story?" Little Tony replied proudly, "Stay away from Aunt Karen when she's drinking" THOUGHT: Always cause resurrections in others.