|
Greetings, SBT Readers:
With the arrival of Lent, many of us have embarked on a "spiritual overhaul" that involves assessing different areas of our lives where we may be "missing the mark." For some, this might mean using a traditional examination of conscience based on the Ten Commandments or on the Seven Deadly Sins (pride, envy, wrath, gluttony, lust, sloth, and greed); for others, a "Wheel of Life" approach encourages us to examine different components of life --
spiritual development, relationships, work, play, social activities, health, life's purpose...
While there is definitely a place for rigorous self-assessment not only during Lent but in every season of our lives, I believe we need to update our notion of "missing the mark." Given the state of the planet and the complex web of social and environmental problems facing all of us, we need to expand our notion of "sin" to include the harm we are inflicting on all life forms by choices ranging from what we eat to whether we recycle, from what we wear to where we donate, from the personal products we use to the chemicals we rely on. In Laudato Si', Pope Francis cites Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew:
"For human beings... to destroy the biological diversity of God's creation; for human beings to degrade the integrity of the Earth by causing changes in its climate, by stripping the Earth of its natural forests or destroying its wetlands; for human beings to contaminate Earth's waters, its land, its air, and its life --these are sins." (#8)
Yes, there is more to sin than a list of thoughts, words and deeds that harm ourselves or others. "Ecological sin" is sin against Creation itself; it harms the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the soil that sustains us. It also affects the whole chain of life, destroying plankton with microplastics and the bees needed to fertilize our crops with Round-Up. "Ecological sin" is therefore deadly, not just to the soul but to the planet we call our home.
Just food for thought....
Lenten Blessings!
Elizabeth
+++
SUNDAY REFLECTION
Link to Readings
The Spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness,
and he remained in the wilderness for forty days,
tempted by Satan. He was among the wild beasts,
and angels ministered to him.
After John had been arrested,
Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God:
"This is the time of fulfillment.
The kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent, and believe in the gospel."
Mk 1:12-15
Mark leaves out the details. His version of Jesus' temptations in the desert remind me of a story that begins with, "Once upon a time," ends with "And that's the end of the story," but has no middle. Even Aristotle maintained that stories should have a middle, and my now adult children, when very small, would cry out indignantly when I tried to abbreviate a story to get them to bed. "That's not a story!" they would object. As Clara Peller would demand in the 1980's ads promoting Wendy's burgers, "Where's the beef?"
If we want "the middle" or "the beef," then Luke's Gospel provides all the missing details, but perhaps we shouldn't be in too much of a rush to leave Mark's abbreviated version of Jesus' time in the desert. All we need do, in fact, is fill in some of the missing details. In the first place, we can only understand Jesus' sojourn in the desert if we add the missing words, "At once" (or "Immediately") to the Gospel. These words form the bridge between Jesus' Baptism and the desert. So extraordinary was Jesus' experience in the River Jordan that he could not simply return to his daily routine as if nothing had happened. Rising from the waters, "he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him" (Mk 1:10). Then came the heavenly voice: "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased" (Mk 1:11). In this most powerful of theophanies, Jesus not only heard God's love and affirmation but was also anointed for ministry. The desert, then, was a place of refuge, a sanctuary in which he could reflect on all he had seen and heard, together with its implications for the rest of his life. The Spirit "drove" Jesus into the desert precisely because he needed solitude.
So what about Jesus' temptations? Again, Mark's Gospel provides no details, but we can assume there was a confrontation between Jesus' mission and the forces that wanted to stop him. In the archetypal Hero Quest that we find represented in every culture and every religion, the "hero" receives a Call to Adventure-- in Jesus' case, this would be the mystical experience following his Baptism. Between The Call and The Response, however, lies the Threshold to Adventure, that place where many a would-be hero is deterred from saying "Yes!" to the quest. In myths and fairy tales, the Threshold is where external voices attempt to undermine the hero's self-confidence with such messages as "Who do you think that YOU are?"; "How do YOU know that your calling was not just a mirage?"; "Why would anyone listen to YOU?"; "How do YOU know that God is really with you?"; "Do YOU realize the price you will pay if you step over the Threshold?"
Even worse than these external messages, however, are the negative messages originating within. For Jesus, they might have sounded like this: "Who would listen the son of a Nazorean carpenter?"; "Am I going out of my mind?"; "Is God really with me?"; "Am I really the Son of God?"; "If I am the Son of God, isn't there an easier path?"; "If I have special powers, couldn't I throw out the Romans and topple Herod?"
Ultimately, the basic temptation Jesus faced was to decide what kind of a Messiah he really wanted to be-- would he surrender to God's calling or would he place power before obedience and self-preservation above surrender? The answer, of course, is apparent in Mk 1:14-15: the Galilean ministry begins with the arrest of John
the Baptist and Jesus' proclamation of the Good News-- "The Kingdom of God is at hand!"
Ministered to by angels and accompanied by wild beasts, Jesus used his time in the wilderness to ask the very questions God asks of each of us: "Where is God calling me?" ; "What does the world need of me?"; "How can I best live as a beloved child of God in whom God is well-pleased?"
May Lent offer us the space we need to reflect on our own Call to Adventure and may we find the courage to cross the Threshold to wherever God is inviting us!
| 
