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Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation
Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation
"Summary: Sunday, November 13-Friday, November 18, 2016"We either honor God in all things or we soon lose the basis for seeing God in anything. (Sunday)
Bonaventure saw all things as likenesses of God, fingerprints and footprints (vestigia Dei) that reveal the divine DNA underlying all living links in creation. (Monday)
Creation itself—not ritual or spaces constructed by human hands—was Francis’ primary cathedral. Good ritual, like art, merely imitates nature. (Tuesday)
Nature itself is the primary Bible. As Paul says in Romans 1:20, “What can be known about God is perfectly plain, for God has made it plain. Ever since God created the world, God’s everlasting power and deity is there for the mind to see in all the things that God has created.” (Wednesday)
From the beginning of the Bible to the end, it is clear that a loving God includes all of creation in God’s Kingdom. (Thursday)
“We are summoned to become fully human. We must mature into people who are, first and foremost, citizens of Earth and residents of the universe, and our identity and core values must be recast accordingly.”[Bill Plotkin] (Friday)
"Practice: Staying Grounded"
There are lists upon lists of things you can do to help the environment. I’m sure you’ve read and perhaps tried many of them: reducing, reusing, recycling; walking, biking, or taking public transportation; using less water and energy; eating less meat. I hope you’ll continue to find ways to live more simply as an individual and in community, and that you’ll encourage your church and government to protect the environment.
As you do this vital work, you may be discouraged and disheartened to see progress come slowly or seemingly not at all. You may be tempted to give up or to give in to easy excess. You may feel hate toward the “enemy” that is destroying creation.
I suggest three practices to keep you grounded, loving, and hopeful:
Stay close to nature. Reconnect with creatures and plants, whether in an animal shelter, your garden, a city park, or the wilderness. Actually touch the living soil with your bare hands and feet. Feel the breeze and listen to the birds.
Lament the suffering and loss you see. Let yourself truly grieve for extinct species, for people touched by hurricanes, famine, and disease. Cry and wail aloud. Beat a drum. Tear a piece of cloth. Create and bury a litany of loss.
Celebrate the beauty and mystery of our universe. Write a poem, chant a psalm, paint a picture. Say thanks for the abundance of air, water, food, and shelter you receive every day. Praise the Creator who is gradually bringing all of creation to fullness and wholeness, through your participation.
Gateway to Silence: Praised be You, my Lord, through all your creatures.[Francis of Assisi]
For Further Study:
Richard Rohr, A New Cosmology: Nature as the First Bible (2009), CD, MP3 download
Richard Rohr, In the Footsteps of Francis: Awakening to Creation (2010) CD, MP3 download
Richard Rohr and Bill Plotkin, Soul Centering through Nature: Becoming a True Human Adult (2012), CD, MP3 download
Richard Rohr, The Soul, the Natural World, and What Is (2009) MP3 download-------
Richard Rohr's "Our Only Home" Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States for Friday, 18 November 2016 Our world is a sacred whole in which we have a sacred mission.[Joanna Macy]
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Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation
Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation
"Our Only Home"
Friday, November 18, 2016Our world is a sacred whole in which we have a sacred mission.[Joanna Macy [1]]
We are summoned to become fully human. We must mature into people who are, first and foremost, citizens of Earth and residents of the universe, and our identity and core values must be recast accordingly.[Bill Plotkin [2]]
Joanna Macy, David Korten, and Bill Plotkin all speak of our era today as the time of the Great Turning. Joanna Macy and Molly Young Brown write: “[If] there is to be a livable world for those who come after us, it will be because we have managed to make the transition from the Industrial Growth Society to a Life-sustaining Society.” [3] In another place, they say this change “is germinating now, that sustainable society on which the future depends. Its seeds are sprouting in countless actions in defense of life, and in fresh perceptions of our mutual belonging in the living body of Earth—bold new perceptions deriving from both science and spirituality.” [4]
In his address to the United Nations General Assembly last year, Pope Francis said:
[It] must be stated that a true “right of the environment” does exist, for two reasons. First, because we human beings are part of the environment. We live in communion with it, since the environment itself entails ethical limits which human activity must acknowledge and respect. Man, for all his remarkable gifts, which “are signs of a uniqueness which transcends the spheres of physics and biology,” (Laudato Si’, 81) is at the same time a part of these spheres. He possesses a body shaped by physical, chemical and biological elements, and can only survive and develop if the ecological environment is favorable. Any harm done to the environment, therefore, is harm done to humanity. Second, because every creature, particularly a living creature, has an intrinsic value, in its existence, its life, its beauty and its interdependence with other creatures. We Christians, together with the other monotheistic religions, believe that the universe is the fruit of a loving decision by the Creator, who permits man respectfully to use creation for the good of his fellow men and for the glory of the Creator; he is not authorized to abuse it, much less to destroy it. In all religions, the environment is a fundamental good. [5]
I am grateful we have a pope who recognizes the immense responsibility we humans have to care for the earth. Unfortunately, there are still many who deny the clear scientific evidence of our devastating impact. Climate change and its effects—unpredictable, changing patterns of drought, flooding, and powerful storms—are upon us. We have no time to lose. So many people and creatures will suffer and face extinction if we do not quickly change our lifestyle. Let us work together to creatively find solutions, to reduce our carbon footprint, to live more simply and sustainably on this, our only home. Humanity and the earth really will live or die together. The health of the planet and our continued existence depend upon our choices and actions.Gateway to Silence: Praised be You, my Lord, through all your creatures.[Francis of Assisi]
References:
[1] Joanna Macy and Molly Young Brown, Coming Back to Life: Practices to Reconnect Our Lives, Our World (New Society Publishers: 1998), 21.
[2] Bill Plotkin, Nature and the Human Soul: Cultivating Wholeness and Community in a Fragmented World (New World Library: 2008), 7.
[3] Macy and Brown, Coming Back to Life, 17.
[4] Ibid., 6.
[5] Pope Francis, Address to U. N. General Assembly, New York, September 25, 2015, http://time.com/4049905/pope-francis-us-visit-united-nations-speech-transcript/.-------
“The Incarnation was already the Redemption, because in Jesus’ birth God was already saying that it was good to be human and God was on our side.”[Richard Rohr]
Father Richard reflects on Scripture each day of the Advent season in his small book, Preparing for Christmas. This is an excellent resource for personal devotions and small groups.
Available at store.cac.org.
Order by November 18 to receive shipments within the United States (or November 8 for shipments to other countries) by the beginning of Advent on November 27.
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Center for Action and Contemplation
1823 Five Points Road South West (physical)
PO Box 12464 (mailing)
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87195, United States
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1823 Five Points Road South West (physical)
PO Box 12464 (mailing)
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87195, United States
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