Pastor’s Corner for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B, by Fr. Russell Pollitt SJ

Have you confessed your neglect of creation and asked for forgiveness?

We are invited to reflect on how we live and relate to all of God’s gift of creation in this Season of Creation.

The human community worldwide has grown in recent decades in its consciousness of the increasingly destructive threats from the earth’s changing climate. We see this close to home – severe drought in Southern Africa, which leads to food insecurity and threatens the very existence of people. In recent years, we have also seen the destruction wrought by floods. Yet, we still see the lack and inadequacy of national responses and commitments. More dramatic and far-reaching commitments to transformative change are urgent to avoid catastrophic environmental tipping points in as little as five years or so into the future.

Our environmental issues have become highly politicised, leading to deep divisions among nations and populations. Disinformation and denial are widespread, particularly in wealthy nations, as they seek to protect their interests. However, these global transformations are essential for the survival and common good of our planet and all its inhabitants. We must unite in our efforts to address these challenges.

The first reading this weekend picks up one of the key themes from last week: God’s presence and work among us are recognised in the opening of eyes and ears, the loosening of tongues to proclaim God’s prophetic Word. Today, Isaiah declares, “God has given me a well-trained tongue, that I might know how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them…. Morning after morning, God opens my ear so I may hear….”

In the second reading, James insists that faith not put into action is worthless. Faith without works is dead. In other words, in the context of our current planetary crises, we whose ears have been opened to God’s Word in the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth must use our “well-trained tongues” to speak out the prophetic Word we have received. By doing this, we are putting faith into action – lest our faith, as St. James says, is dead.

Jesus, in the Gospel, warns us that it will not be easy. There are consequences for those who choose to speak the prophetic Word and put their faith into action. People who will not always want to hear what we have to say or do as we invite them. Maybe, dare I suggest, even people in our parish community will not take up the challenge of caring for the earth – by changing their lifestyles. Yet, this should not deter us.

Put more succinctly: what might you have done that has contributed to the destruction of the earth? Have you confessed this and asked for forgiveness? What might you need to change in your daily life to become a good steward of creation? How might we, together,  take up the challenge God invites to by forwarding the healing and saving of the earth in our immediate surroundings?

Fr. Russell Pollitt SJ