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Daily Reflections Earth Healing

Daily Reflections
by Al Fritsch, S.J.

A series of written meditations and reflections

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Table of Contents: Daily Reflections

February, 2012
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TODAY'S REFLECTION:


Copyright © 2012 by Al Fritsch

 

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Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) in Kentucky winter.
(photo: Sally Ramsdell)

Reflections February, 2012

Thank heavens, February is our shortest month!  That is something shared with all lovers of spring.  Eagerly, we look amid the snowy whiteness and naked grayness of the month to the first signs of a refreshing season.  We listen for the first stark call of the mourning dove -- and that makes our day.  We find dandelions sprouting among leaves, and welcome sprigs of wild garlic.  We discover new culinary creations to avoid cabin fever and change our reading and writing styles to conform to late winter challenges.

      February is when we look about and see nature barren but inviting.  We listen; the sap is rising!  We smell the season in the fresh air!  We feel hope springing eternally.  At first glance the countryside appears lifeless, but we imagine a natural renewal starting to occur.  Commercial shops brighten the environs with decorations and displays, with bright red hearts and bunting.   Valentine's Day points to warmer and gentler seasons ahead.  On the first warm day of the month we seize our spade and hoe, and dash out to turn soil for the first sowing of peas -- at least I follow my mother's tradition of doing so here in Kentucky.  Prime yourself, for spring is coming; survey the landscape; alert the neighbors.  Spring work is just around the corner.

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Muhlenberg Co., Paradise, Kentucky
Muhlenberg Co., KY coal-fired power plant.
 (*photo credit)
 

February 1, 2012   Fossil Fuel Still Favored over Renewable Energy

      We observe the lengthening days and the warmth of the solar rays beginning to penetrate our daylight hours.  The desire to use more renewable energy strikes us most deeply in mid-winter.  In saying this we ask, "What progress is being made in challenging global warming through favoring renewable energy (solar, wind, geothermal, hydro, tidal, and certain biofuels).  Certainly wind turbines are being built globally in unprecedented numbers.   

  Environmental awareness is fairly high.  Renewables are talked about, but naysayers highlight noise impact and birds killed due to wind turbines, minor habitat disturbances, and major bankruptcies within solar projects.  On closer inspection we discover that these difficulties are minor in comparison with the severe impacts of fossil fuels: elevated carbon dioxide levels, escape of natural gas (with methane at 23 times CO2 impacts), mountaintop removal, toxic substances loosed into the environment, unprotected fly-ash piles, gas and oil pipeline breaks, and oil spillage in deep water drilling and waterway transportation.  Unfortunately two facts constantly stare us in the face: global fossil fuel consumption is expanding, not contracting; current global assistance is six times more favorable to fossil fuels than to renewable energy.  

      In 2010 (the last year with complete statistics), fossil fuel use expanded by over 5%, with coal-fired powerplant construction in China and India setting the pace.  If continued unabated, this will lead to a projected seven degree F temperature rise by 2050 and a global climate change catastrophe with accelerated ice sheet melting, ocean current changes, and water level rises that cover highly-populated shorelines.  Japanese, European and even North American concerns will bring some declines, but not to compensate for the rapid rise in consumption by emerging economies.   

        The second disturbing fact (and one easier to correct) is that globally fossil fuel in 2010 got six times more subsidies than renewables (Reference: International Energy Agency, "World Energy Outlook").  Much of this is aid ($409 billion) to customers of gasoline, gas, and coal, reflecting rising energy prices.  This is in contrast to $66 billion for renewable energy sources and electricity supplies.  These immense differences result from fossil fuel subsidies and tax breaks dating back to the Second World War.  However, in 2009 the Group of 20 pledged to eliminate their own national assistance to coal, gas and oil.  These very same pledged nations spent $160 billion to assist in fossil fuel production and consumption -- with over one-quarter from Saudi Arabia alone.  The world is facing immense difficulties, and word is out even though deniers consider human causes to be insignificant with regard to climate change.  Social addiction exacerbates the picture.

      Prayer: Lord, teach us to know the signs of the times, to see how we have damaged our fragile Earth, and must now repair it. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_3491
Preparing for the coming Spring.

February 2, 2012      Give Light to All in Many Ways 

      Yes, with you is the fountain of life;

          by your light we see the light. (Psalm 36:9)

      On Candlemas Day, it is fitting that we review the many ways we can do more than receive light from sources; this is an exercise in ways we can give and share light with all around us: 

      1. Encourage others to use their talents better and thus benefit from the many opportunities at hand; 

      2. Teach someone or a group about an area in which they need to be educated such as how to garden or how to handle drugs; 

      3. Lighten up the meeting with a sense of humor when the mood of many in the room is more or less depressed; 

      4. Show how energy conservation and choice of proper lighting (fluorescent or LEDs) can easily brighten a house; 

      5. Go outdoors with others and participate in full spectrum sunlight (if shining today), thus improving our disposition; 

      6. Enliven the gathering by some music or singing.  Make this a pre-Lenten Marti Gras celebration;  

      7. Give a light touch to meals or the house by rearrangement of stacked up materials and furnishings;   

      8. Tell a story to lighten the spirits of those around you; it is a perfect time to listen to something new; 

      9. Relate the potential of solar PV panels to offer luminescence at no or very low cost to the domestic environment;   

      10. Read an informational book and become personally enlightened so that the light can be shared with others;  

      11. Use a social media outlet to share insights; 

      12. Note times of inspiration and record them, for the lights of our insight shine with ever greater intensity; 

      13. Pray for the light to see good and avoid evil; 

      14. Let some house lights burn as a welcome to the wayward; 

      15. Light a candle and do not curse the darkness; and  

     16. Keep extra candles in case the electricity fails. 

      Prayer: Lord, you are the light showing the way, inspiring our spiritual growth, and helping us burn with desire to come to you.  
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


The Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura).
(*photo by Sally Ramsdell)

February 3, 2012     Harbinger of Spring: The Mourning Dove 

           They call you Zenaida macroura, how sad.

        They brand your song mourning, that's bad.

      Little is it known by the naming folks

           That you, gray bird, have other strokes. 
 

      First you're a dove, global sign of peace

            Bringing back olive branches on release,

      But few olives grow here you understand,

             You're not nesting in a peaceable land. 
 

            Instead, you're hunted game by my macho cousin,

            Who loves to bag you by the dozen.

            Astounding, since cooked you're hardly a bite,

          It's body counts that bring delight. 
 

            I'd settle that mourning describes your coo

             Except that you have another service too.

            You break bitter winter's endless sting,

            Great and glorious harbinger of spring. 
 

            When I heard that sound on February second,

        How glorious it broke the silence, I reckon.

            Witch hazel, groundhog, wooly worm, others?

           Mourning doves, if I had my druthers. 
 

      See February 8, 2007 for the first poem entitled by the same name, "Harbinger of Spring." 

      Prayer: Lord, Give us the grace to observe nature in its fullness and to learn from all.  Give us the courage of the mourning dove, a creature willing to announce the spring in a public way.   May we be encouraged to proclaim the coming of the Lord.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore, near Keystone, SD.  

 (*photo credit)
 

February 4, 2012  Honor Our Constitution by Initiating a Second One 

      The U.S. Constitution is the oldest one in continuous use.  We can best honor this document by making it more relevant in the age of globalization.  A constitution is the special place where we can address disparity of wealth, the greatest danger today to our democratic structure.  Consider these ten points in preparation for a Second Constitutional Convention: 

     1. Express the basic right of all people to life from birth to death.  This includes the basic right of individuals to health facility access.  All species have a right to corporate life.  

     2. Promote a realistic dream that all our sisters and brothers on this planet will go to bed tonight with a full belly, under a decent roof, and with basic security.   

      3. Encourage the democratic process, wherein all participate in determining their own destiny, and through which they can assist non-violently in taking back what is rightfully the commons.

      4. Champion equal opportunity for work and for earning a living.  It must be enshrined that our government is the ultimate employer; we need not await private initiatives that take from a pool of human beings who are regarded as economic commodities. 

      5. Contribute to Global Development Funds to alleviate world hunger, lack of housing, and major health problems.

      6. Restrict incomes to a determined amount dependent to some degree on the cultural conditions of time and place.

      7. Transfer portions of a military budget to health facilities for the health security of people in poorer parts of the world.  

      8. Promote a spiritual profit-motivation by discouraging a material profit motivation -- for, in this needy world, material profits for some are at the expense of others.    

      9. Tax excessive wealth so that there are limits to what individuals can retain.  At the same time, reduce the tax burden on lower-income people, but retain taxes on luxury items and on items and practices linked to substance-abuse such as alcohol, tobacco, and tanning salons.  Commit our government to help remove tax havens for the wealthy and redistribute this wealth to the needy.

      10. Organize local groups to discuss these matters and to prepare for the eventuality of some being delegates to a future Second Constitutional Convention.  

      Prayer: Lord, give us the courage to support needed changes as a way to improve the quality of life and to heal our wounded Earth.  Inspire us to speak in favor of this change even at the risk that some compromise will be needed. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kentucky Ice Storm, 2009
Ice coating on Queen Anne's Lace,  Daucus carota.
 (*photo credit)
 

February 5, 2012      Job's Trials Are Ours as Well 

        Remember that my life is but a breath... (Job 7:7a).  

      In the book of Job we discover desolation on the part of one who suffers.  However, this is not specific to one person; rather, all of us suffer desolation at one or other time through awareness of our mortality and our unfinished work.  Some amount of short- or long-term depression is in each person's life.  It is true when looking back as much as looking ahead; our services undertaken were not perfect and this pains us.  Lent is an opportune time to review our own approaches, and reaffirm that the Lord is willing to accept us and forgive us for our past performance.  In God alone we trust, our remedy for desolation.  Job discovered this; so ought we.  That ever-shortening span of life ahead makes the reality of Lenten review all the more imperative with each passing year.  Focusing solely on ourselves apart from God adds to our desolation. 

      Group desolation may prove more problematic than remedying our individual conditions.  In part this is because our consumer culture captivates so many with a social addiction that is hard to overcome.  For many, the more that is purchased or consumed, the better, and that material appetite for more is insatiable.  The treadmill of goods gained, maintained and sought is self- perpetuating.   

      Saint Paul (I Corinthians 9) says he has made himself all things to all people in order to save at least some of them.  He accepts that his work has some benefit and feels the need to act accordingly.  We join Paul and find hope in the power of the Lord's Resurrection.  Will we succeed?  The question haunts us, for the tasks needed to save our wounded Earth are daunting.  Many people strive to become materially secure, refuse to change behavior, and fail to conserve limited resources.  Along with Job we search for an answer and discover that true success is rooted in God's designs, and that trust must emerge when we see and understand the futility of our own limits.  Belief in the Resurrection is to place a sure promise at the heart of our efforts to bring people to see the problems facing us -- and to act accordingly.  The Lord assists us to break through the fog of desolation.  Now we are able to serve God and bring a promising and renewing spirit to others.    

     Our trials in these troubled financial times are real.  We stand before God as an addicted people who think that more and more material things will satisfy us.  However, painfully we realize that a new economy must be in the offing, for material greed is insatiable -- and the first steps at this realization often come through realizing the causes of desolation.  Jesus implores the Father for help; so ought we when we are down and out.  Lent helps us discover the ultimate spiritual frontier. 

      Prayer: Lord, you heal the brokenhearted and bind up our wounds.  Help us gain the patience it takes to endure these times and circumstances with the sure trust that you will conquer all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not my best friend, Dolomedes tenebrosus
Dark fishing spider, Dolomedes tenebrosus.
 (*photo credit)
 

February 6, 2012  Confrontation as a Possible Christian Virtue                  

      I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were burning already!   (Luke 12:49) 

      Why am I so confrontational?  My answer is that it is neither my particular personality nor a sense of dysfunctionality, but because I am a Christian.  In fact, I regret not being more confrontational on various occasions.  The Luke quotation above is on the wall in front of me; it strengthens my resolve.  It is the countermeasure to all who seek to caution that my passion for justice ought to be toned down in order to retain benefactors.  One doctor once suggested that certain anti-depressants could help tone down social activists, and he even had a name for the malady.  Rather, my prayer is that more would burn with the fire of Jesus.

      All too often the virtues of people, and especially Christians, include how patient they are, how tolerant of what others do, and how much they are supportive of the current system.  Amazingly, Jesus does not extol these so-called virtues.  Some will remind us that Jesus says to render to Caesar what is Caesar's, but this must be seen in the political context as a method used to trick Jesus into affirming one or other competing systems -- that of Rome or that of Jerusalem.  He says to give each its due in taxes, etc.  He does not say to promote the Roman Empire or current religious practice for which he has strong words.  Jesus does not mince words in speaking of the rulers -- "Tell that fox..." 

       We find Jesus willing to confront others, whether personal or the system itself. Jesus calls the Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for preaching one thing and acting in other ways.  Jesus takes a whip and drives out the moneychangers, and cites the passages that this is to be the house of prayer FOR ALL THE PEOPLE.  His defense of the commons has a minority of today's Christian followers, especially from the more "prosperity-minded" sector of Christendom.  Will these in the silent majority learn that saying nothing when democracy needs defense is not a Christian virtue -- it is conforming to the system of mammon and not following the gifts of the Spirit within us?  People lack essential services and their rights are violated -- and those who are on fire must say so.  

       Wealth cannot be condoned when destitution abounds.  Again and again, we must raise the issue: why not share the wealth that is accumulated and is not being used.  If the wealthy are unwilling to share, or to pretend that this is what keeps an economy running (even while dysfunctional), then citizens must take matters into their own hands.  Christian virtues must come into play, namely, to take non-violently what is rightfully ours.  Downsizing the rich affords them a better chance for salvation.  Overturning the tables of moneychangers hurts no one physically, only economically. Such actions can arouse opposition.  Ask Jesus.   

      Prayer: Lord, allow us to confront the establishment and to do so with heart, lips, and arm; let our actions be loving and public. 


Copyright © 2012 Earth Healing, Inc. All rights reserved.

Earth Healing team:
Albert J. Fritsch, Director
Charlie Fritsch
Janet Powell
Mark Spencer

Excerpts from the JERUSALEM BIBLE, copyright © 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd. and Doubleday & Company, Inc.  Reprinted by permission of the publisher.

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