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Focus On.... Season of Creation

Season of Creation

This month we celebrate the Season of Creation, which runs from 1st September (World Day of Prayer for Creation) to 4th October (the Feast of St Francis of Assisi).
It is a time when Christians across the world pray for the whole of creation, and especially for the protection of this fragile and beautiful planet.
Reverence and love for God’s gift of creation are at the heart of Ignatian spirituality, which encourages us to seek God in all things.
As St Ignatius wrote: 

“All the things in this world are created because of God’s love, and they become a context of gifts, presented to us so that we can know God more easily and make a return of love more readily.”

In this Season of Creation we are reminded of Pope Francis' encyclical on caring for our common home, planet earth - Laudato Si'

The letter is addressed to "every person living on this planet" and calls for a global dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet through our daily actions and decisions.

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The seven goals of Laudato Si are: 

  • the Cry of Earth,

  • the Cry of the Poor,

  • Ecological Economics,

  • Simple Lifestyles,

  • Ecological Education,

  • Ecological Spirituality, and

  • Community Involvement and Participation.

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A Reflection for the Season of Creation

 

God said, ‘See, I have given you every plant-yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.’ And it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.

(Genesis 1: 29-31)

 

Take a moment to ponder ....

How do you respond to all that the Lord has given us?  Are you overwhelmed, grateful, indifferent ...?

All around us are examples of the interdependence of humanity, plants and animals. In what way does this interdependence affect the way you live?

Might you sometimes be more attentive towards your own surroundings?

Turning to the Lord, and conscious that he is always with us, speak to him as one friend to another. 

 

“Thank you for the world you have made for us, Lord. Indeed, it is very good!”

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Healing of the Blind Man

In many commentaries on this passage in the gospel of John the writers  focus on the themes of light and dark, seeing and not seeing. It is easy to understand why. Those are two major themes throughout the book of John, and it’s seen so clearly here. And they’re beautiful metaphors. They have their place and time.

But there’s more to this story than just a brilliant use of metaphor and some dramatic irony. Instead, there’s also an important message here about listening and stories.

In this story, Jesus gives sight to a man who was born blind. At the beginning of the story, when Jesus and his disciples meet the blind man, they ask Jesus why this man was born blind. They want to know: What were the reasons—the causes—behind this man’s impairment? Who is to blame? The disciples want to know whether it was the sin of the man himself or his parents, or someone else in his family that led to his blindness. While that may seem like an odd question to us today, In first-century Palestine, it actually made a lot of sense. It was understood that impairment was a punishment from God because of a person’s sins.

Jesus, though, is uninterested in fully answering their questions. He barely gives those questions the time of day. Jesus is uninterested in finding fault and pointing fingers. It’s hard to see that in our Bibles, but in the Greek, it’s much clearer.  Our English translations say that he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.  But it doesn’t actually say that in Greek: that little phrase—the “so that” was added  later into translations.

 

According to scholars, it could actually be translated as something like this:

As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth.  His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned. [FULLSTOP] In order that God’s works might be revealed in him, we must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work.”

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As we can see here, Jesus isn’t concerned with the “Why?” of the situation. Instead, Jesus is concerned with the reality of the situation. He’s concerned with the person standing in front of him. In his refusal to go into the details of how and why this man is blind, Jesus is actually doing something else. He is sneakily asking a better question. Instead of “Why” or “How come?” Jesus asks, “what now?” He asks, “In the face of this reality, what now? What can I do in the here and now to support and love the person before me?”

 

The technicalities of the disciples’ nitty gritty theological questions are not, at this moment, important. Following down that line of questioning will only get us lost in the weeds and cause us to ignore those in our midst who demand our attention. Jesus’ response, while not a question itself, helps point us to what’s really important—to our neighbours—and nudges us towards asking questions about who they are instead of what they are.

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But after Jesus cures the man, those who had known him just as the “blind beggar” are only interested in the “Why?” and the “How?” They started hounding him with all sorts of questions. Are you that same guy we’ve known for so long? What happened to you? How did this happen?? Do your parents know about this? Is this real, or are you just messing with us? And question after question, he tells them the same thing. He says, “The man named Jesus cured me; I was blind, but now I see. And that’s all there is to say!” He must have been exasperated by answering the same question over and over and over again. Verse 27 is the best example of this. You can just hear his frustration coming off the page. Verse 27 says:

They asked him how it happened, and “He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?”

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In this season of Lent, in this season of spiritual spring cleaning, we are called to ask ourselves those same questions posed to those Pharisees. So , let us ask ourselves: Who’s story are we not listening to? Who’s witness are we ignoring? What are the questions we should be asking? Do we have the vision—the imagination—to see the unexpected ways God is working in the world in and through our neighbours?

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Let us pray that during this Lenten season, may we tend to our own stories and the stories of others. Because God has given each of us a story—each of us is a witness—may we listen as Jesus listened. May we ask better questions. May we listen with empathy and compassion to the stories of our neighbours. May we recognize the preciousness of those stories.  And may we be sensitive to how God has worked and is currently working in the lives of our neighbours.

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Adapted from Sarah R. Mayer, Calvary Baptist Church in Hopewell, NJ.

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