While we wait let us visit the sick and imprisoned, shelter the homeless and feed the hungry, but let us also prepare a showcase for the Lord’s return. Begin with our own lives and then work to clean watersheds and soils; let us extirpate invasive species and restore landscapes with natives; let us know and glory in creatures that reside in our neighborhoods and those that pass through.
Looking for the 2023 Lenten series?
This coming year, Pope Francis will release a much anticipated encyclical on care for creation.
In preparation for the encyclical and Easter, we are offering a Lenten reflection series. Authors from around the world will offer short reflections from their experiences of caring for creation and the day’s readings. These daily reflections will examine our faith and how we practice environmental stewardship.
Today’s Reflection:
Nature is God’s first and primary revelation to us – constantly telling us of God, and inviting us into relationship with God.
If future generations are to understand these rich natural Biblical metaphors, then we must preserve both the language and the reality of nature’s beauty. God’s nourishing qualities are mirrored in the nourishing qualities of nature, in the live-giving capacity of our earth. And by nourishing the Earth, we help ensure that there will always be dawns that are certain like God’s coming.
Our abuse or sound use of God’s created goods will indeed determine the fate of our descendants and of the poor. Caring for Creation and caring for the poor (both the distant one and the unborn) has become one and the same task. We cannot have one, anymore, without the other.
Underlying cultures of waste is division. Wastefulness pollutes our hearts and impedes our ability to love God and others. In the words of today’s Gospel, we are a Kingdom divided.
In today’s first reading we’re asked to pay close attention; be wise; and think in generations. I’m reminded of a Spring Prayer Day we had at our motherhouse in preparation for the creation of a land ethic.
This parable invites us to consider God’s standards. God, with great generosity, opens the Kingdom and forgiveness to everyone who asks. We create our own hell when we cling to our petty-minded attitudes, passing judgments on others. When we fail to take up God’s offer of forgiveness, and learn to forgive like God does, we continue living together in this hell.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus acknowledges the difficulty of being a prophetic voice in your own home. This resonates deeply as I think about the changes we need to make in the way we live in the U.S. to preserve and share God’s Creation for all.
Who is the body of Christ in today’s world? We are the body of Christ, the Church. And yes we need to cleanse ourselves as Jesus told us.
Jackson’s work and voice are prophetic for two reasons. First, the institute’s work emulates nature’s ecosystems so that humans might promote diversity and reclamation of soil, water and nutrients. Second, his is a humble and courageous response to a long-term problem.
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The Ignatian Solidarity Network (ISN) is a national social justice network inspired by the spirituality of St. Ignatius of Loyola. ISN was founded in 2004 and is a lay-led 501(c)3 organization working in partnership with Jesuit universities, high schools, and parishes, along with many other Catholic institutions and social justice partners.