Wednesday, August 16, 2017

we are all in this together


St Theodoret tells us today in A Year with the Church Fathers that we are given the opportunity to take care of the poor when God gives us riches.

And it brings to mind the loving philosophy of the amazing St Francis of Assisi. He not only considered all of us humans as part of one big family, but he even called the sun his brother and the moon his sister. He saw how God had made all of the cosmos in the generosity of creative genius, and put all of us here together to love one another and take care of each other.

We can't ignore the poor without hurting ourselves. When dogs and cats are treated unkindly, it hurts all of us, not just the poor animals. When we don't take care of the rivers and meadows and oceans, it all comes back around to hurt us in return. We have to take care of one another, as humans, for any of us to be whole and healthy. We must be good tenders of the animals and plants and the earth itself, or we will be hurt along with it.

Love goes a long way. It not only heals the sad divisions that fear and hate and racism try to cause in the human body, but it gives us the real reasons we need to take good care of our world, without the threat of climate change.

Beloved, let us love one another.

God, thanks for teaching us how intricately we are all related. Please love us through one another.

No comments: