Lent 4.5

Tonight I enjoyed a fantastic Lenten Mission talk by Fr. Joe Mitchell of the Passionist Earth and Spirit Center in Louisville. He spoke about how we can encounter God in three different senses. God is within our ourselves in our own hearts (1st person), in "the other" as "You, my Lord and God" (2nd person), and in the he-she-its of the world, in other people and creation (3rd person). He said in private prayer we tend to get in touch with God in the 1st and 2nd person senses, and we even tend to serve God in our neighbor as the "he's and she's" of the world. But a lot of us need to work on getting in touch with God in the "it," in creation, the earth. God is manifested to us in creation, and how we care for the earth reflects something of our love of God.

Check out the Passionist Earth and Spirit Center's Lent 4.5 program. The premise is that if we were to divide up the whole earth among the total population of the earth, each person would get 4.5 acres with which to provide for all of one's needs. In the U.S. right now, the average consumption level is closer to 22.3 acres per person. We only have one earth to provide everything we need. If I'm using more than my share, that means someone else is getting less than their fair share. Taking care of the earth isn't just a political agenda- it's a social justice issue.