Who is the landowner, the one who planted the vineyard? For a believer, the answer is obvious: God, the Creator, who made us stewards of His vineyard. And what about all those messengers trying to tell us, the tenants, something? Let me guess: they are the ones telling us who we are: stewards of the vineyard, not owners.
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:
We do not realize we belong to creation; just as the rich man never experienced belonging to his brother at the gate.
So, you want to be a prophet? No? Well, you can’t claim age as an excuse—Jeremiah told God he was too young. Of course, you’ll run into opposition, just like Jeremiah in today’s verses.
The original audiences in today’s readings are admonished for hypocrisy of various kinds. The leaders of Sodom and Gomorrah are instructed to put their house in order, especially in terms of their treatment of the poor. The Psalmist targets ‘talkers’ who proclaim God only with their mouths. Jesus sets his sights on religious experts who impose burdens without doing anything to help others.
Who are our prophets today? It’s easy to identify them in hindsight, voices that stirred and empowered the collective conscience of a people to act for change. But in the present, prophetic voices are uncomfortable. We don’t want to grant them the title “prophet” because then we’d be obligated to listen, to heed, to change!
What prophetic voices on the environment are needed today, and how can we best listen to the messages those voices carry?
If these are blameless, who is to blame? Topping the list is myself and the ways I have squandered and brandished an entitlement attitude in terms of my carbon appetite. Yet, slowly with God’s grace and the help of others, I am awakening to join the struggle to confront fossil fuel status quo, diminish my carbon appetite and promote cleaner alternatives.
Future predictions on the effects of anthropogenic climate change are often bleak, but as today’s readings reveal, if we change our ways, if we change our destructive practices in relation to the Earth, we may be reconciled with it and live.
With hearts filled with love for the earth, those of us with environmental hearts seek to create a world in which God’s creation is reverenced, not destroyed, where it is honored and not desecrated.
A major portion of the Lenten tradition is almsgiving. This means not just giving to the poor but holding the poor in our hearts and prayers.
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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.