[Sundaycommunity] (no subject)

[Dean Riley]

Greetings to all on this Sunday afternoon…

At the end of Helena‘s reflection that was included in this week’s People Progress, she ended with an invitation:

I invite you to consider, ‘Who are our prophetic voices in our world for you today?’

After the homily we were given an opportunity to share with the group any person that we feel is a prophetic voice in our world today… I did have a thought, but it wasn’t about “a person”… it was more related to the precise phrasing on the last line of the shared reflection… For this reason, and also because of my own scattered thinking on the subject, I was reluctant to share out loud. And then, after Brian spoke during the prayers of the faithful about the massive typhoon threatening the Philippines and other nations in the South Pacific, I wish I had!

For me, “a prophetic voice in our world today” IS our world today… our earth: Mother Earth, Pachamama (Quechua and Aymara), Papatūānuku (Māori), and Akna (Maya). Other terms include Unci Maka for the Lakota and Nakota people, and the general concept of "Turtle Island" which some Indigenous peoples use for North America. 

I consider the Earth to be a modern-day prophet because I believe she is trying to tell us that we need to look closely at the ways we are treating our home.

Human activities are the primary causes of major global environmental problems, including climate change, rising sea levels, biodiversity loss, pollution, deforestation, and the depletion of natural resources. These issues are often driven by an expanding human population, industrialization, unsustainable consumption patterns and will all lead to more extreme weather, more food and water scarcity, eventually making parts of the world uninhabitable and increasing human suffering and conflict. 

The Earth cries out to us like Jonah cried out to the People of Nineveh. 

God spared the people of Nineveh because they repented after hearing Jonah's warning of impending judgment. Their genuine change of heart, expressed through fasting and mourning in sackcloth and ashes, led God to show mercy and relent from the disaster that had been planned. 

When will human kind be moved enough to listen to the Earth? When will our hearts be changed? How will we enflesh our repentance? Will it be enough to save us? Enough to save our children and our children’s children? Enough to save our Earth, and all the species that live upon her… flora and fauna alike?


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