www.earthhealing.info

An eco-spirituality through the seasons

By Al Fritsch, SJ

CONTENTS

    * Table of Contents
    * Introduction
    * January
    * February
    * March
    * April
    * May
    * June
    * July
    * August
    * September
    * October
    * November
    * December
    * Appendix

ECO-SPIRITUALITY IN JUNE

June ushers in the start of the early harvest season when we
mow grass, harvest hay, pick cherries and berries, and plant the
remainder of the late seasonal crops. We look ahead to a
productive summer and take part in increased outdoor activity. We
rise early and stay outdoors with the extended sunlight until late,
for June is a time of exertion and sweat, of perseverance and
exuberance. During the month, the fresh beauty of springtime
vegetation fades like a youthful blush giving way to middle age.
Even the deep colors of the black-eyed Susans and marigolds have a
summer tone. Youth and people of every age enjoy the fresh air,
outdoor sports, celebrations, and picnics. The new-born wildlife
scamper about in their new-found mobile freedom. However, we must
also protect ourselves from overexertion, excess sun exposure, and
those severe thunderstorms that often occur in June. Nonetheless,
the land needs the moisture and the growing produce needs tilling
to keep weeds under control.

Five elements that occur within our June eco-spirituality are:
exercise, hard work and the physical activity of summer; a wider
call to go out to all the world; a measured sense of maturing and
pacing ourselves through appropriate protective measures to avoid
overwork; exaltation in our mission as part of a cooperative
enterprise; and a seasonal temptation to think that longer days and
unending life have begun in the ease of a summer that will never
end.

This is liturgically a transition period when the last of
Easter's celebration in the Ascension feast, commemorating that
Jesus is taking his throne in Heaven. The long Pentecost season
begins; it covers half of the calendar year through summer and
autumn. Depending on the changing annual date of Easter, during or
around June and immediately after Pentecost (July's focus), we
celebrate three other feasts -- Holy Trinity (to be treated in
August), Corpus Christ (considered in September), and Sacred Heart
(discussed in October). The four are important to an eco-
spirituality and are given special attention in the months ahead,
during the time we are harvesting the spring plantings.

The Ascension feast encourages us to:

* stop looking up to the sky and get on with the work at
hand;
* hear our call and go out to all the world and bring
the Good News in our individual ways;
* be practical in how we exert ourselves, always in
appropriate ways and within the limits of our resources. Thus we
consider appropriate technology, the instrumentation needed by the
lowly to do effective work and live a higher quality of life;
* sense the exaltation of the lowly that comes after a life
of sacrifice and openness to the God who calls; and
* realize that this exaltation is not the result of
entitlement, privilege or unearned position, but a gift from God
enabling us to engage in a gentle revolution of healing the Earth.

    A. EXPERIENCES OF CONFRONTING THIS WORLD

June is the time we get outdoors more, travel about at greater
length, explore the surroundings and find that God's creation
presents challenges. As we exert ourselves more, we feel a surge
of power from within; we are tempted to think this allows a certain
conquering or exploiting spirit, and a feeling of superiority to
the other creatures around us whether they be wildlife, pets,
trees, or weeds. Subjection of others may be deep within our
Western culture; maybe it is a false interpretation of our Judeo-
Christian religious heritage.

Somehow we are exalted in our lowliness through Baptism, and
yet we can easily miss the counterbalancing stricture to take on
the serving role of Jesus -- and in June we can be forgetful about
these things. Many of us wrestle with this exploitative spirit
from early youth, through middle age greed, and on to old age's
refusal to let go of comfort and independence. Yes, we are lowly
but yet called to greatness -- and understanding loving service and
spiritual empowerment is early summer's challenge. The Almighty
continues to teach us how to do this through our neighbors in the
natural world, if we only take the time to see, listen, taste,
smell, and touch the Divine Presence found in creation.

        1. Cliffs Presenting Challenges

Come then, my love,
my lovely one, come.
My dove, hiding in the clefts of the rock,
in the coverts of the cliff,
show me your face,
let me hear your voice;
for your voice is sweet
and your face is beautiful.
(Song of Songs 2:13b-14)

Rockcastle means sharp cliffs and rugged sandstone formations
cresting above the river valley; thus the county and river were
named for the unique southeastern Kentucky formations. Several of
us were cutting our way in June through a very dense forest tangle
in Rockcastle County when we happened suddenly on the edge of a
precipice, almost causing us to topple down hundreds of feet. Such
experiences suggest how much rock formations challenge us in our
attempts either to scale them or to avoid the sudden pitfalls in
our path in life.

Maneuvering the hidden recesses, sheer heights, and the rugged
character of rock formations takes close attention, especially when
foliage is dense and the footholds ahead concealed. When we
observe prominent cliffs and jagged rocks from a distance, they
appear enchanting; up close, we experience cliffs and caves as
barriers to conquer and challenges to explore. Are we afraid to
journey near the jagged edges of life and foresee what lies ahead?
Do we have an insight into the wilderness of our soul? Can we
find ourselves in the rugged terrain and somehow conquer our
uncertainties and fears in order to move on to what lies ahead?
These rocks have a way of eliciting new questions about life and a
preparedness to undertake our uncertain journey of faith.

        2. Rumbling Distant Thunder

Then came a mighty wind, so strong that it tore the
mountains and shattered the rocks before Yahweh. But Yahweh was
not in the wind. After the wind came an earthquake. But Yahweh
was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire. But
Yahweh was not in the fire. And after the fire there came the
sound of a gentle breeze.
(I Kings 19:11b-12)

I had to get the cow with the newborn calf to the barn because
the distance was great and the sky threatening. I tried to carry
the calf but it was too heavy for a youth of ten. I tried to drive
the cow but she went in circles back to the walking calf. Finally
she nudged me and I decided to go first, and she followed and the
calf trotted behind her. We made it to the barn before the storm,
and what I learned from that close shave with bad weather is that
we must go ahead and allow others to follow -- not drive them. The
cow taught me a youthful lesson, as though God speaks to us through
all of creation. What we need to do is to be open and listen at
these unexpected moments, not only as youth, but at all stages of
life.

The sounds of creation vary in volume, tone and pitch.
Obviously, the most pronounced sound of June is the thunder,
accompanying the storm clouds that roll through the Ohio Valley and
other temperate zone regions. Other powerful sounds (earthquakes,
mighty waterfalls or the crash of an ocean wave) are rarely
experienced, highly localized, or too far away for inland
residents. However, the rumble of distant and the crash of local
thunder gives us a sense of powerlessness before the impending
might of the Almighty. Dogs and other animals are often terrified
by a thunderstorm, for it hurts their ears and triggers strange and
unexpected behavior on their part.

We learn much from natural observation, and even from
reflecting about our storm-triggered fears. We human beings are at
the mercy of the God who sets this world in motion: we could be hit
by lightning, washed away by flash floods, killed by earthquakes,
or burned by flames. We realize we must take shelter; we unplug
the computer; we bolt down the hatches of our lives; we take
precautions to avoid the path of unleashed natural forces and thank
God over and over for continued life. Looked at another way, all
of life has its thunderstorms, and their sudden revealing power
teaches us to respect the forces of nature from our lowly
circumstances. Amid the seemingly chaotic times in which we live
comes a more gentle breeze to which we must open ourselves. Yes,
amid the gentleness of after-storm breezes is the continued call to
greatness. Go on and achieve the tasks at hand, for God is with
us. We don't know what the outcome will be, but through trust and
cooperation with others, even our neighbors in this world, we will
be able to spread Good News. And through endurance we can better
enjoy the gentle breezes that follow the storms of life.

        3. A Priceless Drink of Cool Water

As a doe longs for running streams,
  so longs my soul for you, my God.
(Psalm 42:1)

When I was young, my family drank mainly rainwater from a
properly maintained cistern. We kept the inlets to the cistern
turned off until the rainfall was sufficient, and then we turned
into the cistern only the higher quality water. Our relatives knew
the water to be good tasting and loved to drink our "farm water"
instead of their chlorinated city water. No matter what we say,
few pleasures of life go beyond that of slaking the thirst with
good-tasting, potable water.

Water has a particular taste in different places and
circumstances. Some water is quite soft and pleasant with only a
trace of minerals. Other water is heavily laced with bitter and
smelly ingredients such as iron or sulfur compounds, which may or
may not be harmful in themselves depending on type and amount. In
fact, some foul-tasting mineral waters have been regarded for
centuries as curative and healthy to the fortunate ones who have
the means to "take the waters." The unpleasant taste accompanied
the anticipated curative process of soaking, sipping, and sitting
around mineral-spring resorts. But clean, soft, and good-tasting
water can also be healthy and inviting, and ought to be accessible
and affordable to us all.

All people on this Earth have a right to potable water.
Protecting this vast supply of clean water is within our power, for
we are empowered to ensure potable water to all -- and here
ecological concern and social justice merge. In parts of
Appalachia, water wells are polluted, especially where water
aquifers have been fractured by blasting operations and
contaminated with waste due to mishandled mining and road
construction. In such places, the humble and ancient concept of a
cistern may still be a solution, using time-honored experience and
locally found expertise. Solutions need not be mega-governmental
projects, completed with outside experts and resources. The lowly
people of this Earth can effect a gentle revolution when taking
matters into their own hands and using the limited available
resources. And just pacing ourselves in this fashion will allow us
to bring higher quality life to our people -- and that certainly
includes good tasting potable water.

        4. The Scent of New-Mown Hay

Yes, the smell of my son
  is like the smell of a fertile field blessed by Yahweh.
May God give you dew from heaven
  and the richness of the earth
  abundance of grain and wine!
(Genesis 27:27b-28)

Forgotten odors trigger past memories. The smell of the
hayfield still causes me to sweat and wince. I recall the old
stationary hay-baler, the heavy bales, the hay hooks with their
cool slick feeling of steel. But not every association of the
scent of hay is painful. In dead of winter, the hayloft became a
comfortable place, from which livestock were fed and where youth
could play. Outside, old hay stacks were places to hide, and
shelters against the wind. The scent of timothy, alfalfa, or red
clover brings back the sweeter memory of fertile fields. Even the
sweaty haying process has some minimal good associations: breaks
to drink cool freshly-made lemonade; the cool breeze hitting us at
the final load of the day; the smell like that of the chemical
coumarin in the fields of new-mown hay; the feeling in June that in
the coming winter we would be well provided for.

Isaac, the patriarch, though blinded, still had the sense of
smell, and could distinguish his sons accordingly. Perfumes and
scents identify individuals as all dogs are most aware. Incense,
a liturgical smell associated with the church assembly, has its
place in raising our minds and hearts to God. We know particular
smells of Appalachia, even those of the pole cat or the wet dog.
All such odors bear mixed blessings, and that is what life is all
about -- those associations, some pleasant and some not so.

As down-to-Earth people, associated with all creatures, we
need to work together to retain the land we love. This working
together as a community of God's creation takes cooperation and
much give and take. We cannot achieve success alone; we look
about and accept the expertise and resources of all who are
present, and we recognize them by their inviting presence.
Discrimination and refusing a helping hand in times of need are
downright defeating. We swallow our pride and self-sufficiency and
cast about for those who have assisting hands. We reach out and
accept the offer in our expanding company of Earth healers.

        5. Being in Contact with the Rocks

To the rock too high for me, lead me!
   For you are my refuge,
      a strong tower against the enemy.
(Psalm 61:2b-3)

My best rock memories are those of a particular spot on the
sandstone cliffs of a ridge overlooking the Rockcastle River
Valley. I most deeply appreciate this personal sacred space during
the warmer seasons, surrounded by huckleberries and scented flowers
and sufficiently high to see the meandering river and hear bird
calls. I climb up to the overhang more slowly with each passing
year. When I reach the heights, I'm breathing more heavily. I sit
down more solidly on the rock surface, stare down and find it is
alive with a life of its own -- with its lichens and ants and other
little critters. I am witness to a centuries old and ever so
gradual process of weathering rock -- but it is changing
nonetheless. Oh, a rare earthquake may shake our sense of
stability, but that only happens once in a lifetime. In these
peaceful moments of just sitting, life appears unchanging; nothing
needs to change; we are eternal. But then time calls to us to move
on ever so slowly for it is getting late.

Some regard rocks as cold and lifeless, and they certainly can
be at times. But how about thinking of rocks as warm, for they act
as teachers in their own right? While these formations are my
refuge and stronghold, still they too are subject to change and at
best can only tell a partial story. They can humbly indicate to us
that God alone is our true refuge, our harbor of security. Only
in God do we trust. If we but touch the rock with reverence and
are mindful of its own limitations, we learn something about
ourselves. We may be tempted to think the long days of June will
last forever, but already by the end of the month in barely
perceptible ways the days are shortening. And so are our days.
Let's confront our natural world not as a challenge so much as as
a gentle friend who teaches us to live the higher quality of life
that is offered to us here and now. Reality can be warm and
comfortable when accepted for what it is. Rocks tell us that and
even help us overcome our temptations.


    B. REFLECTIONS: EXALTING THE LOWLY

He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of
the Father.
The Nicene Creed

The ascending of the Lord ushers in the exaltation of his
lowly immediate followers and the extended company down through the
ages. The Ascension Mystery is the completion of the Resurrection,
and we delve into this mystery, finding here qualities that can be
applied in our own mission as other christs. We, as poor people,
receive an invitation to assume our exalted role as bearers of Good
News. As first, this seems to be an impossible task and yet the
poor have become experienced with limited resources; they look
longingly for good things to happen; they are proficient in
accomplishing tasks through appropriate technologies, which are
environmentally benign, low-cost, user-friendly, and community-
oriented. Using our experience through hard work, we perform
environmental resource assessments and encourage the lowly to enter
the healing process. But as people always in need of the Almighty,
we also see that we can have temptations; we can be tempted to
worldly glory, a false security in material things, a certain self-
centeredness, a desire a wish to be violent in bringing about
change and the temptation to avoid confrontation. All of these
underlined points need to be considered within a meditation on the
mystery of the Ascension.

    1. The Ascension Mystery

Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven, this same
Jesus will come back in the same way as you have seen him go there.
(Acts 1:11b)

We stood as youngsters sixty some years ago with Daddy and
Uncle Pete as they shook their heads and lapsed into Alsatian while
surveying their old home place, the ruined homestead, the broken
fences, the eroded fields. So much toil and sweat a few decades
before, and it was brought to ruin through carelessness of the new
owners in such a short time. However, when I first wrote about our
visit to that hilly land at the escarpment above the Ohio River two
decades ago, the land had been turned into a wildlife reserve, a
re-creation. But not all things even in restoration work are
perfect. In the past few years that same land has been made into
an off-road vehicle riding park -- and environmental damage is
again occurring. Such is life!

The Ascension event can be divided into several components:
final climbing the mountain, instructions and departure; seeking
the authentic messianic mission (not a political one), which
includes spiritual empowerment and exaltation; going out to others
in a practical and humble manner; proclaiming the Good News to all
of creation; and seeing that Jesus is always with us protecting and
guiding us on our way.

Jesus tells us in the discourse at the Last Supper in St.
John's Gospel that he is to go away and prepare a place for us for
in the Father's house there are many mansions. Jesus is up ahead
of us in time. But must we look for him up there in the clouds
beckoning us to come home? And is he beckoning us to help hasten
the preparation process for his final coming? Even on leaving,
Jesus is still with us in many ways: in the community of believers;
sacramentally in the Eucharist; in the joining of two or more in
prayer; and in our actions among the poor. But Jesus is also
absent, because he is ahead of us, and beckons us to come, a
magnetic force attracting us forward and drawing time itself to the
coming Kingdom's eternity. Jesus departs so we can have the space
to become other christs who continue his teaching, healing and
active ministry in the world.

1. The departure. As he said this he was lifted up while they
looked on, and a cloud took him from their sight. They were still
staring into the sky when suddenly two men in white were standing
near them and they said, "why are you men from Galilee standing
here looking into the sky? Jesus, who has been taken up from you
into heaven, this same Jesus will come back in the same way as you
have seen him go there." Acts (1: 9-11)

Jesus' departure raises a great question that haunts us: if
Jesus had remained, wouldn't skeptics be forced to come to faith?
We would have a resurrected person who could go to every fair and
circus. Unbelievers would tremble and find such a long-living man
as distant from them, but compelling them to believe. Faith would
be something forced upon them out of fear and without use of free
will. What I didn't understand in my youth is that the precious
freedom in our coming to faith as response to a gift freely given
by divine grace would be lacking under such circumstances. Forcing
one to believe is not faith but fear or terror. God's way is
through freedom on the part of all parties; in that atmosphere we
are to believe.

The mystery of the Ascension and the subsequent New Creation
foreshadow God's profound love, mercy, and justice; these divine
qualities are visible, not to brow-beat unbelievers, but to invite
believers to ever deeper levels of sharing in divine love. To
appear before non-believers and frighten them is a show of worldly
power and only elicits unreasonable fear and trembling; to appear
in mercy, love, and justice seeks to elicit mercy, love, and
justice in return from those with the gift of faith.

2. The true messianic role is self-sacrificing, not political.
Lord, has the time come? Are you going to restore the kingdom
of Israel? (Acts 1:6)

The questions asked show how much the disciples still do not
understand the messianic role of suffering servant. They have a
political fixation on restoration of the kingdom of Israel, not on
the establishment of the Kingdom of God. They await the victory
over Roman power and the building up of an independent Israel with
its own military might. But this is not Jesus' mission and it
never as -- though even in the last moment of his earthly presence
to them his closest followers think it is. Jesus only responds by
saying that it is not for you to know times or dates and that they
will be established by the Father later. No rationalizing, no
explaining, no enlightenment for that is now being left for the
working of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

3. Great work ahead. "All authority on heaven and earth have
been given to me. Go, therefore, make disciples of all the
nations..." (Matthew 28:18-19a).

At the Ascension we stop our gazing into the heavens and
focus on what lies ahead in our mission to our neighbors. Here on
the Mount of Olives we say farewell to Jesus who goes ahead of us,
and we await our own specific mission. However, we cannot afford
to stand idly by while the Lord ascends -- or simply ignore our
brothers and sisters on Earth who do not have the basics of life.
One message stands clear in the early days of the New Testament:
standing about, expecting a rapid return of the Lord shows a lack
of awareness in our urgent ministry -- going out to the broader
world. St. Paul in the letters to the Thessalonians speaks out
clearly against such idleness and says that if people don't work
they shouldn't eat. We have work to do during these two thousand
years, urgent work empowered by the Risen Lord and inspired by the
Spirit.

Jesus' going ahead of us does not mean he leaves us alone.
From his seat in power Jesus still remains with us, present in many
ways. From his throne a spiritual power fills the world in which
we are now the heralds of Good News. And we are called to be other
christs telling that creation, wounded by human misdeed, is in need
of healing. We enter into the process that Jesus Christ as Lord
launches through his suffering, death, and resurrection. He
ascends leaving us as maturing followers with the awesome task of
moving out to all the world to bring Good News to every creature.
We must be on with the task ahead of us acting with humility as
agents of change and as leaven for the masses.

4. Command to agents of change. Go out to the whole world:
proclaim the Good News to all creation. (Mark 16:16)

Part of the mystery of the Ascension is that Christ leaves us
and ascends. What we forget is that we are called to leave our own
self-possessed surroundings and take the message of the Risen Lord
to others. However, this going out does not necessarily mean we
have to put on hiking boots and go to distant lands. We can simply
go to others around us whom we have ignored or forgotten.
Interestingly enough, Jesus tells the disciples to go not just to
other people but to the "whole world" and "all creation."
Our going out is first to our neighbors. So often we tend to share
the Good News with those most receptive and willing to welcome and
communicate -- the kindred spirits. We need to also find a way to
share with all creation the Good News that we have received in an
elementary manner. We can't rest self-satisfied with what we have
heard, or go because others ought to hear what we know; rather we
ought to share so that all are exalted together, all receiving more
of God's gifts to the degree possible and all giving from gifts
received; proclamation is a two-way street.

Missionary workers awoke to a paradigmatic shift after Vatican
II: the ones going to the rest of the world with something to
offer, were not the complete possessors of the treasure of truth,
only the initiators of Good News. Receivers of the missionary
message have things to offer. However, both the primary giver and
the receivers are at the mercy of God, as they have gifts already
given to share with others. The initial proclamation is that
Christ has risen, and this gives rise to conversation, a sharing of
otherwise hidden gifts being made know as our eyes of faith are
opened. The attitude of a primary giver as a holder of a treasure
to be dispensed is now changed; the giver is also the receiver and
thus, in humility, must be open to receiving through conversation -
- and that means not doing all the talking. We need to be good
listeners, sharing Good News -- giving and receiving
simultaneously. And good listening comes through offering our own
suffering with the Lord. Thus we can overcome the distractions of
worldly allurements, become transparent to grace, share with the
poor and realize that God alone is the Giver of all good gifts.
Thus we publicly proclaim that all already share in God's good
gifts and that is Good News.

Exaltation comes to all who suffer and enter into the paschal
mystery. All creation moans in suffering and is obedient to God's
call. Through its suffering, creation is better able to share. We
believers in the Resurrection can proclaim what we have received
and are impelled through it to discover the rich gifts in others --
in all of creation. Within the paschal mystery all creation
constitutes part of the Good News and believers are the heralds;
in heralding, we surpass John the Baptist because we know what we
are announcing the presence of the Risen Lord among us. John was
not so privileged.

Through modern means of communication and an atmosphere of
openness we can go out more easily to all, give, share, receive,
and show their worth by listening to them. By opening ourselves to
all creatures and by learning what they have to offer as creature
teachers, we establish their own worth; by thus being so moved, we
see their value and redouble our efforts to protect and broadcast
their reason for existence. We proclaim that all creation is part
of the Good News -- that the Risen Lord is present in our midst.

5. Protection of agents of change. In our mission to bring
about a gentle revolution, we need to be realistic and see that
dangers lurk even for believers proclaiming the Good News. The
Lord will protect us at all times even in the moments of our own
exaltation, provided we believe that it is not due to some type of
hereditary entitlement, privilege or unearned position, but God's
gift.

These are the signs that will be associated with believers; in
my name they will cast out devils; they will have the gift of
tongues; they will pick up snakes in their own hands, and be
unharmed should they drink deadly poison; they will lay their
hands on the sick, who will recover. (Mark 16: 17-18)

We hear that protection will be given to the lowly now
exalted and empowered in the Risen Lord. But one must not
interpret these as wonders to make the exalted a wonderworker.
They are meant to show God's constant protection and our constant
dependence: casting out devils indicates direct confrontation with
materialism in all its forms and having the grace not to be
overcome by it; tongues may not mean gibberish or meaningless
language as though we are brilliant and others ignorant, but rather
the ability to communicate in a meaningful way with people who
belong to a different or distant culture; picking up snakes is not
the snake handler's practice common in Appalachia (insidiously
tempting God to prove one's misguided sense of faith), but an
ability to take on those who are deceptive within a materialistic
culture and to come out unscathed; drinking poisons is further
confrontation in the face of allurements to be like the culture
being confronted and still continue in God's mission.

        2. The Lowly as Bearers of Good News

If Yahweh does not build the house,
  in vain the masons toil;
if Yahweh does not guard the city,
  in vain the sentries watch. (Psalm 127:1)

In trying to get enough funds to keep our environmental center
alive we came upon the idea of sharing with others the insights
that we were gaining so that their property and facilities could
also become demonstration centers. Using the disparaged name
"Appalachia" in our ASPI sponsoring organization's title instead of
something less associated with poverty was truly a tempting
suggestion. Then it occurred that if we were successful in
achieving this service as though originating from among the poor,
there would be hope that other contributions could be made by other
non-affluent people. Thus environmental resource assessment was
born and became yeast in the dough of the wider non-profit
communities of North America.

In France in 1789 a rather unexpected thing happened on the
way to the exaltation of the poor. Religion was forgotten or
deliberately forsaken, human knowledge was exalted, and the
possible powers of the lowly in a rather charged political sense
were deified. Many things went eschew and the poor's glorious
hopes of an overthrown kingdom led to the guillotine for royalty
and anyone associated with it. A valid revolutionary insight was
infested with purely materialistic and self-gratifying aims, and
the scent of blood triggered the French Reign of Terror. Forgotten
was the power of God at work in that early quest for liberty,
equality and fraternity.

And communists carried on that tradition of forgetfulness for
the next two centuries. The Russian Communist revolution of 1917
had all the trappings of a genuine rising of lowly people -- the
working class --, and then turned violent in the midst of a very
bloody First World War. What should have been a liberation and the
willingness of all to work together became the utter killing of
those Russian princes much in the misdirected pattern of that first
(French) revolution. Pulling down the nobility resulted in
execution of the Czar's family, and millions of others whose only
sin was wanting to be independent farmers, tradespeople or
religious monks.

Violent revolution? "The lowly must take what is rightly
theirs" becomes a revolutionary insight that is fraught with
misdirected twists and turns. So often the righteous anger,
directed at the exploiter holding what belongs to the commons,
evolves into the loss of control of the situation. At this moment,
the lowly need spiritual direction. Quo vadis? Violence or non-
violence. What our faith teaches is that violence simply breeds
further violence and a downward spiral leads to death in wars,
internal fights, concentration and labor camps, and ever greater
desecration of the human person. However, we must not be tempted
to deny the need for revolution -- but let it be in a gentle way in
a gentle manner -- the Magnificat.

Yahweh has pulled down princes from their thrones and exalted
the lowly. (Luke 1:52) "These words say that the world desired
by God is a world of justice. That this order should be
continually given reality in the world, and also that it should be
given reality again and again in social systems and situations
develop, as new economic conditions and opportunities appear, as
new technical and productive possibilities are developed, along
with new opportunities and requirements for the distribution of
goods." Pope John Paul II, 1980. (Reference: Rene Coste, The
Magnificat: The Revolution of God, Quezon City, Philippines:
Claretian Publications, 1988 p. 115). Coste adds that the Virgin
of the Magnificat also taught us that true liberation should be
achieved by the poor themselves and in solidarity with them in the
spirit of the Gospel Beatitudes (p. 116).

Pulling down princes. We will not speculate on how princes
ought to be brought low, as though there is a secret plan. History
gives us many examples of those riding high, from the genius
Alexander or the penniless Mozart to the spent dictators Mussolini
and Hitler, dying without fanfare and even in some cases receiving
unmarked grave. All worldly honors are temporary even with the
most popular names. God bestows and withdraws power and still
remains almighty. No one else can say that. High places change
with the weather and human memory fades just as quickly, and the
lowly who do the pulling down are just as easily forgotten. We
hesitate to gloat over the downfalls of many for that would be
heartless. The highly placed affluent are confused, addicted and
insensitive but not always the direct cause of their own toppling.
Yes, maybe culpable to some degree, but we can't play the divine
Judge. Is it not better to persuade those still holding high
places to renounce their affluence, live simply, and join the ranks
of the poor?

Exalting the Soviet oppressed. Exaltation is not an act of
pride, a conquering of others so one can have an advantage. Being
pulled down involves a simultaneity, as, at the same time, the
lowly rise to higher places, to be exalted. And is this not to be
done without the violence of the past but through a gentle
revolution like those witnessed in Eastern Europe as they shed the
Soviet yoke at the end of the 20th century? Were these brought
about through divine power and prayer (the Virgin Mary's
foretelling at Fatima in 1917 that Russia would be converted)? A
Soviet Empire was brought low and the lowly ones in captive
countries demonstrated with courage successfully and were exalted.
What had begun in the streets of St. Petersburg in 1917 was
completed, not with guns blazing but with peaceful public
demonstrations and flags flying. The ideal and most gentle manner
is in imitation of the coming of the Incarnate Word, ascending from
the budding forth of humanity and a leaping down of the Eternal
Word.

Ascending after descending. The ascent of the poor is
parallel to the Ascension of the Lord, but the process involves its
own descending, which has several aspects: a descent of the Holy
Spirit at Pentecost; the descent of Jesus into hell to liberate
those awaiting entry into heaven and a rising at the first streaks
of Easter dawn; a personal believer's descent with Christ in his
suffering to rise with him in May's Eastertide; and finally a
descent to liberate all the lowly held in captivity to poverty so
that they will rise as dough in baking. Liberation takes on both
divine and human forms: incarnation, redemption, personal following
of Christ, and liberation of a world of poverty. We have treated
the first three. Equally mysterious is exactly how the lowly will
rise and be exalted.

Exaltation: Divine and human. Exaltation can be frightening,
for it could mean a rising to power similar to the imperfect
existing one -- political power up and power down; the dictated to
following the dictators in their already worn boots. But
exaltation must be done in the manner of the Incarnation when the
lowly (Mary) truly understands that great things are done for her
but through the power of God. Thus God is praised through exalting
the humble; Mary becomes the exalted one, only as a reflection of
God's greatness. Thus her very conception is a preparation for her
"yes" to God's call. Though Mary is unique in the manner of
preparation and response, still believers share in that uniqueness;
we as believers are immaculately conceived through baptism; we are
now to arise and say "yes" to our call of bringing Christ to the
world. Mary's assent is a precursor to our assent; her gentle
revolution as expressed in the Magnificat prayer becomes the
blueprint of our manner of acting. We are called as a believing
community to say "yes" to the exalted mission of saving our very
planet.

Exaltation: Cooperative mission. God's call for the lowly to
save the planet within the presence of the paschal mystery is at
the heart of our anticipated exaltation. For the Lord as risen and
empowered is not a distant power residing in a throne in Heaven and
apart from the community -- the "Body of Christ." Our mission is
to go forth and spread the Good News to all of Creation, and that
News involves a cooperative healing process involving all believers
acting as a community. This exaltation will occur in a gentle
fashion, for the Risen Lord is present. It does not rest in an
overly individualized culture, in an atmosphere of intellectual
elites, in the swagger of military power, or in the pomp of
inherited royalty. Rather it involves a mass of people caught up
in a mission and realizing that exaltation includes sacrifice for
and with others, who are equally lowly and recognizing their own
paradoxically humble and exalted status.

Exaltation: Dough and yeast. Hopefully, all rise together.
In reality some do and some don't. And those who do so first and
foremost are the catalyst or leaven from within the dough of the
masses. The pinpoint of action is undertaken by a few in choice
places among the poor, not by an elite above the poor or outside
the dough, for that is an outmoded model of past grandeur. For
that reason the individual who is meant to spread the word must be
among the poor as the word goes forth. He or she cannot be an
outsider or exalted figure recognized by the powers to be,
pronouncing a word of encouragement to the poor. If we see the
need for being such catalysts, then we need to become poor. If we
don't, we will postpone the time of deliverance until other agents
of change are found. Only "we the poor" can be true
revolutionaries. But our singular tasks will only be performed
within the corrective pattern of a believing community -- the true
visible agent of change. To stay individual within the change is
to repeat what went wrong from 1789 to 1989 (the fall of the Soviet
Empire). Two hundred years are replete with the wrong approaches,
and this set of errors continues through Gulf Wars and a host of
recent petty dictators today. Will we ever learn?

Gentle revolution: Taking what is rightly ours. The lowly
hold the key and start the operation as a group that lives simply,
and that is still called to take what is rightly its, namely the
initiative and not so much materials others claim as their own.
For the affluent, this sounds frightening because what is
envisioned is the taking by others of possessions now controlled by
them (the affluent). This fear could precipitate a severe backlash
against the lowly and could delay the changes needed. Spelling out
clearly what is desired is necessary to check this backlash and
defuse some of the opposition -- though it may never be quenched.
However, in all candor, when individuals or groups do not have the
essentials for life, the lowly can certainly take from the commons
or from the superabundant to supply essential needs, as Cologne's
Cardinal Frings taught during the severe winter after the German
defeat in 1945. What is rightly ours in a full sense is the
initiative to act but, in cases of necessity, it does include the
goods that others retain as well.

Global versus local eco-dynamics. A critical question is how
can a world of global ecological problems be healed by starting
with the locally-based poor who appear quite powerless if they
refuse to resort to violence. Are not knowledgeable experts with
global connections the catalysts? The ideal again must be based on
simultaneity, namely those in high places abandoning their position
and those in low places being exalted. When it comes to the manner
in which the Earth is to be healed, the ones living more simply
have a clearer vision that any Earth healing process starts at the
grassroots, and those in high places must acknowledge the
initiative of the poor as a component of Good News. The poor do
have one recent practical tool with global ramifications: the
Internet, just as this website is global in outreach.

Global/local cooperation. For authentic eco-spirituality all
elements must work together, and leaving out some hinders the total
healing of the Earth. The lowly cast in the role of workers are
the radical change agents or enzymes, leaven, yeast, chemical
catalysts, all dynamic pinpoints to hasten the movement forward.
The communications networks that acknowledge this work are often in
the hands of global religious, political, and cultural
organizations, which contain democratic bases that includes the
lowly. The better we perform locally through simple living and
appropriate technological methods, the better we are able to heal
a wounded Earth globally. To heal Earth requires a concerted local
and global endeavor even when the lowly initiate the change. It
utterly requires the humility of those in high places, but how does
one trigger that humility?

Deep power revisited. Power arising from the lowly is like
dough rising organically from within, not taking all its cues from
a top-down approach. Deep power includes an enzyme from within
that is still triggered by a vital spirit -- the Spirit "brooding
over this world" in the words of poet Gerard Manley Hopkins. It is
the vitality in new blackberry canes needed for the next harvest;
it is youth in a reproductive state; it is new wine skins for new
wine as Jesus says; it is the ones empowered through simplicity to
see local needs, suggest local remedies, and perform Earth healing
using local "alternative" technologies; it is the poor whose
preferential option is based on actual need along with the presence
of the Resurrected Lord -- "the new leaven;" it is grassroots with
life in the roots but not yet a full grown plant; it is the first
movement of a contagious fire of God's love in a tinder world.

Another Scenario. One would naturally expect that if a
global change is forthcoming and we must muster the entire
resources of the globe, we would immediately call on the top
international experts and expect them to take over the task of
healing the Earth. The wealthier governments would contribute; the
great minds would be mustered to work on this super organization,
and delegated commands would flow down to all concerned. Obviously
the organizers should be a highly recognized and well-paid set of
individuals and would require considerable power through United
Nations and other international auspices. This plan would be based
on how other crash programs have worked in the past. While this
scenario seems most tempting, it lacks vitality:

First: The confusion in initiating roles. The initial reason
for focusing on the poor is that they suffer most from ecological
imbalances and know the conditions they are forced to live under.
It is an economic order that is based on essential needs, not the
wants of people who can pay. The first moment involves defining
the sickness, and the hungry know what is essential far better than
someone who wants a faster speed boat or an expensive off-road
recreational vehicle. The affluent and powerful are simply too
confused to initiate a profound revolution.

Second: The poor shy away from power elites. Unless this
process is highly defined, the affluent naturally start at the top
along with those who know, those with power. However, this turns
off the multitude at the bottom and deflates their efforts,
overlooks their grassroots vitality, neglects their local talents,
local materials and appropriate technological tools, and ignores
the fact that they (the poor) are most knowledgeable about use of
limited resources. In fact, having never been poor, the princes
have never learned to listen and observe what needs to be done.
Everyone must help, but the poor must come forward bearing in their
bodies the pain felt in poor Earth itself.

Third: God works through the poor. Here is where the power of
the Risen Christ resides. Our just and merciful God, revealed
throughout the Scriptures, is not one to allow the worldly powers
to undertake the salvation of the Earth. That is simply not God's
way, for it idolizes the power of wealth, material possessions and
influence. God is the focus of all power and from God alone comes
that power. The lowly realize that change must be initiated and it
must be effected through their abilities to get things done in an
efficient manner relying on God's help, which is utterly needed.

A New Economic Order. Any new order must be devoid of
inequalities. Certainly, expertise at all levels must ultimately
be mustered to heal the Earth, but profound change must have the
vitality of the lowly -- the presence of the Risen Lord. Is an
anticipated gentle revolution a wishful thought in some distant
future or is this possible in the real world in which we live, a
world of melting glaciers, rising oceans, and hottest summers
virtually every year? If national security costs could be reduced
and savings plowed back into quality life for all the needy, then
the new order would not only come, but would come quickly. To
achieve this preferential option for the poor we must look for
guidance to the hard working people, who think frugality, have less
to lose and more to gain, and who yearn to take what is rightly
theirs -- essentials for life. Let's now look at the ideal tools
required for this profound change.

            3. Appropriate Technology

Solar energy has many wonderful applications and yet has been
underused by Western culture. We thought the day had come back in
the 1970s during the Carter presidency, but the first solar units
built on the White House were torn out in the early 1980s. To make
the time come is what our mission has been all about, and that
hastening of the day is the primary mission of those who advocate
environmentally benign, low-cost, community-enhancing, and people-
friendly technologies.

The lowly must be agents of change in order to achieve a
better world, a New Creation. We can't expect to do miracles; we
can not stand idly by; we must act within the capacities that we
have. The lowly do not have sophisticated instruments, limitless
resources, or attention-getting influence. But we are called to
bring Good News to a world as part of the paschal mystery. We look
at what we've got, refuse to act violently and that includes
harming the environment in any way; we use instruments that are
people friendly; we choose devices because they cost less and see
this as a victory; and we can build our community while we work.

Techne, in Greek an art or artifice, is the source of the
word "technology," the science or study of the practical arts.
From the creative inspiration of artisans comes an understanding
and then a systematic treatment of the art in the form of applied
science or engineering. From artisans to engineers is a natural
progression, work of both hands and head. Industry naturally
progresses from making brooms by hand to the use of machines to do
the same. This product may be a livelihood for a sweat shop
worker; however, for artisans, who pride themselves in high quality
broom-making, this is possibly financial ruin. They know the
nobility of calluses on their hands and an appreciated product, but
they can't compete in the world of cheap, throwaway items.

Labor saving -- Lionell Casson remarks that people in
classical Greek times had toys powered by steam (a surprise to many
of us today) and that the Greeks knew about but did not appreciate
the power of steam. Why save labor when what was saved was mere
slaves? Christian society believes in the right of all, even the
serfs and slaves, to have time to rest, pray and reflect.
Monasteries realized the need to utilize water power and wind power
for they expected their residents and neighbors to have time away
from servile work and devoted to prayer and worship on weekends and
holydays. Thus, in fact, windmills and water-powered units sprang
up all over Europe by and through the Dark Ages and were
flourishing by the Middle Ages. Monks and other church people
championed the right to rest and pray, to abstain from servile
work, and so technology as labor-saving was championed in the
Christian West, although it was overlooked in more learned Greek
and more practical Roman times.

Technology for people -- Technology is a social justice issue
today. What started as a liberation for a people needing time for
prayer has devolved into a tool to profit a few. A promise of
leisure for workers becomes a peril with poor, underaged and
illiterate workers with long hours of labor, low wages or unsafe
working conditions. The dignity of working for a living is
juxtaposed with the indignities of living and working conditions.
In contrast, a broom-maker who loves his work and takes pride in
his product makes something that is suitable or appropriate: it is
made in an environmentally benign manner; the village community
needs the artisan who makes brooms and fits into the economy quite
well; the production takes only a small amount of financial
resources; the artisan works with a simple technology that is used
in a people-friendly manner. On all counts the broom is made and
used appropriately in a resource limited world.

Technology above the people -- Just as the artifact could be
idolized, so can the technological tool for its potential for
wealth and power. Mechanized gadgets such as land vehicles,
airplanes, bulldozers, and farm tractors are known for their
versatility and convenience. So is a mass broom maker with hardly
any human input. Large operations bent on mass production and
maximization of profit push the artisan out of work only too often
in our society. Instead of giving the worker time for rest, a
regionally-based manager uses fewer workers and labor-saving but
costly devices as a means to personal profits. A multinational
corporation may consider replacing people with machines or using
foreign laborers to produce brooms at far lower cost. Products,
instead of being subjects of pride, become commodities, which can
turn a fast buck. The former small-scale economy suffers; the
industry is mechanized and/or outsourced.

Appropriate technology is a technology proportionate to the
needs of the people and not inherently distracting in the work
needed to furnish the basics of life. A large tractor may be
needed for a farmer who has many acres of land to cultivate. It
saves the drudgery of daylight to dusk hard, very hard, labor,
which farmers with horse and oxen usually experienced. In a small
vegetable patch, the same heavy tractor would be a clumsy burden,
taking room to turn around and compacting the soil by its heavy
weight. While the tractor is good for what it is intended to do in
a large field, in the many small garden plots of the world it is
not needed, nor should it be introduced because it is costly to
purchase and maintain. It is not nearly as appropriate as a new
type of hoe, which could more efficiently be used in that same
small garden plot.

The technical myth. Over-commercialization makes people think
a new device will save time, be convenient, and accomplish
activities not handled by existing things. Moving from luxury item
to "wanted for convenience" occurs in lightning speed in our
consumer-product-laden age. Pushed into the background is the new
device's expense in acquisition, upkeep and storage, the need for
sophisticated personnel to maintain it, the cost of non-renewable
fuels to operate it, and the tendency to divide the community
through its use by a few. Rapid obsolescence leads to needless
resource depletion and environmental impacts as well. For some
operations (word processing, data processing, Internet connections)
computers can be appropriate and affordable, but accessories and
new features can become costly and less people friendly.

Technology is capable of defining us -- A tool is not an
inert instrument. If e are not careful, we can allow technology to
control and define us, the tool-using animal (though other
creatures are known to use simple devices for essential needs).
Tools treated with respect and well maintained can be controlled by
the user, but it takes an effort. Lack of respect leads to a
stampede for new and more costly tools, more that are
inappropriate; on the other hand, appropriate technology fills the
need for the total human person, not the need for profits by
technology promoters and salespeople. E.F. Schumacher understood
the role of technology as a tool for simple people and that
sophisticated technologies do not meet those needs. For
Schumacher, Small is Beautiful, and bigger is not necessarily
better. A good hoe or other small tool can be used more easily,
costs far less, is more environmentally benign, and improves the
community better than expensive and sophisticated technologies such
as the tractor mentioned above. A proportionate, suitable or
"appropriate" applied technology answers basic needs of people and
communities and includes several advantages:

1. Appropriate technology costs less -- We at ASPI promoted
the dry composting toilet as an alternative for the flush water
system. Scattered rural Appalachian households in mountainous
areas can only be hooked to a regionwide sewage system at high
cost. On the other hand, dry composting toilets serve lower income
households better than large-scale systems and they can be built
and maintained at far lower cost within the community, thus
retaining financial resources that would otherwise leave the
community. The end product is a humus or rich compost material,
which can benefit neighborhood plants. The total cost per unit
household when built locally is about one-tenth that of a
commercial septic system or municipal sewage system. The
combination of this toilet and artificial wetlands (to remove
excess waste water by transpiration through succulent plants) is an
adequate low-cost technology.

2. Appropriate technology is environmentally benign -- The
tractor example above requires non-renewable fossil fuel, while
work animals can be maintained at low cost on renewable feed grown
on the land. Tractor technologies tie farmers to a world economy
demanding more cash cropping to obtain money to buy more tractors,
accessories and fuel. While this more complex technology connects
the owner with a wider economy, the local community suffers the
loss of independence (generating one's feed source for the animals)
and opens a new dependence on large corporations equipped to build
tractors and process fuel for operating them. Non-renewable fuel
prices will undoubtedly rise as resources dwindle and resulting
pollution due to fuel extraction, processing and use, harms the
environment. On the other hand, the horse- or oxen-power tool or
a hand implement does not require non-renewable resources.
Furthermore, renewable fuel sources such as solar energy are quite
appropriate at the community level for there are no generation or
transmission costs and expenditures. Using solar energy saves the
Earth for it is environmentally benign.

3. Appropriate technology focuses on local areas -- The
developing of nearby sources for fuel, water, food, and building
materials stabilizes communities by enhancing their economy and
keeping resources at the local level. Obtaining distant fast food,
bottled water, building materials, and Middle Eastern oil is not
highly efficient, is costly and it drains local resources for bulky
basics of life. On the other hand, appropriate technologies such
as intensive organic gardens produce high quality, low-priced local
foods; water conservation and purification provides local water
supplies; using local native materials affords an opportunity to be
creative with building materials; and wind and solar energy
applications are adequate for much of the world's local energy
needs except in areas of very high population density.

4. Appropriate Technology is people-friendly -- Sophisticated
technologies are puzzling for simple people and require experts to
maintain and operate. Where no mechanically skilled person is
available, a tractor is worse than worthless; it is expensive and
dangerous. Small-scale operations can be easily handled by
ordinary people with far less effort. More sophisticated
technologies are ideal targets for terrorists. Computer viruses
can close down governmental, financial and research systems, which
are hooked to the Internet. To shoot at a solar array will damage
one house. To blow up an electric power tower can disrupt
electricity for a million people. Terrorists know that complex
technologies are far more vulnerable and require the assent of all
the people. Thus powerful technologies must be shared by all the
people. Appropriate technologies, which are community-based, are
generally more shared and more people friendly.

Harmony. Besides these basic advantages, appropriate
technology helps extend social benefits and establishes harmony
that leads to Earth healing.

* The application of non-renewable coal, oil and nuclear power
has resulted in increased environmental threats and pollution in
land, water and air, a cause of disharmony while renewable fuel
sources (solar, wind, wood, etc.) return nature's harmony through
no polluting emissions or drain on resources.

* Homes that are laden with commercial toxic substances are
unhealthy and disharmonious places, whereas a clean home
environment helps us establish a sacred space for living.

* Junk foods (high in fat, salt and refined sugar) create
imbalance or disharmony when ingested by the human body. On the
other hand organic gardening provides nutritious vegetables and
fruits necessary to keep our bodies in harmony and in good health.

Like a symphony orchestra whose members play in perfect
harmony, the performance of our body depends on the harmonious
interaction of nutrients, both known and unknown. By supplying a
rich assortment of natural foods, we best maximize the function of
the human masterpiece. (Reference: Joel Fuhrman, Eat to Live,
Little, Brown and Company, 2003, p. 141.)

An appropriate-technology environment is a non-threatening
place, freeing the resident to rest, celebrate and pray. Here the
tools and designs are shared with others in need. The goal is
mutual enhancement, not one group competing with, taking advantage
of or intimidating another. Mass industrialization and use of
laborers in factories and corporate agriculture are not truly
liberating. An inappropriate technology can enhance corporate
control and extend worldly power; an appropriate technology can
encourage community formation and "people power" in a spiritual
sense. The lowly need to take the challenge and join the concept
of technology (a possible promise or a peril) in an act that can be
applied to building the New Creation. If the route of uncontrolled
inappropriate technology is allowed to continue, only ruin awaits
this planet.

            4. Spiritual Environmental Resource Assessments

Always consider the other person to be better than yourself,
so that nobody thinks of his own interest first, but everyone
thinks of other people's interest instead. (Philippians 2:3b-4)

Only rarely did we fail to complete an environmental resource
assessment -- and the failed attempts are never talked about with
particulars since they are confidential matters. On one of the
failed attempts, we went with a full staff and looked over the
ambitious project and in the middle of the discussion the major
staff person broke down, cried and resigned. A host of
difficulties involving various personalities surfaced, and we
simply had to insist that the assessment could not proceed. What
was really needed was a spiritual resource assessment, not the
physical one that we were attempting.

The community of believers includes people of various talents
and skills who are called to be Earth healers through the use of
appropriate technology. Ordinary laborers, farmers, housewives,
artisans and others are called, as are the destitute, those who
suffer in hospitals, recovering alcoholics and former victims of
drug abuse, ex-convicts. This all encompassing gathering does not
stop there as though experienced and professional people are
excluded, because they are thought to be the princes of the land.
All are needed in their own right.

Assessments and plans. Appropriate technologies do not stand
independent of time or place or community. Independent resource
assessors are needed to evaluate the specific place for certain
environmentally benign, low-cost, user-friendly, and community-
enhancing instruments and services. At times some of these
qualities are not fulfilled. For instance, a "straw-bale house" is
good on the Great Plains where there is plentiful supply of straw
and low humidity; however, this method is unsatisfactory in a
highly humid area where mold can grow and harm dwellers. A solar
application may be suitable for achieving a result but at high
production costs that average people cannot afford. A computerized
wind generator with sophisticated hardware may require more skill
than is available at the very local level; a given appropriate
instrument may be owned and controlled by a wealthy individual and
not shared and thus divisive within a given community. The
assessor helps define what is appropriate in a given circumstance.
But does this fit in with the image of the exaltation of the lowly?

Technically elite as exalted. Rather than looking at a salary
scale or a curriculum vitae to classify an individual assessor or
advisor, a better approach is to address certain questions: Does
the expert practice a simple lifestyle? Is there a direct
connection between the lowly and the expert? Does the public
interest (as opposed to private or special interests) motivate the
expert at this time? Is the person's income source distinct from
more powerful interests?

a) Considered lowly -- Many technically competent people who
in other societies might even qualify for the socially,
economically or politically powerful are not regarded as such due
to their race, creed or color. It may be that the bright and
otherwise competent person has been impoverished by sickness or
other reasons, or that society refuses to accept this person
because of his or her simple living techniques. The person may be
a whistle blower, an ex-convict, someone who sacrifices
professional commitment to care for an ill or physically or
mentally challenged relative, a person who is outspoken and
regarded as disloyal by peers, or a person who denounces the
culture to which others are deeply attached. Being an expert and
lowly may come as no surprise given the vast differences in
philosophy in an age of materialism.

b) Direct connection -- Voluntary poverty and living within
or in close proximity to poor communities certainly qualifies the
professional and technical elite to be regarded as "We the poor" in
many ways. The connection may occur through a lifetime of health
care or other services to a point at which the caregiver is
regarded as identified with the surrounding lowly. The best test
is whether the poor are "they" or "we."

c) Having a public spirit -- Nor should we infer that the
technical elite are among the powerful, meaning those influencing
global affairs at a given time. Many of the brightest of the
technically trained have a public interest spirit and will do
things for the benefit of all humankind and for the plants and
animals as well. Enormous numbers are considered companions and
friends of labor, the homeless and disadvantaged. The ranks
include many health care providers, social service people, agency
workers who train individuals and many other companions of the
poor. In some cases the experts live among the poor. While they
may be regarded as the "voluntary" poor, they are nonetheless with
and among them and are counted as one with the poor.

d) Income sources -- The technically elite refuses to be
subsidized by the princely class. This is one of the most touchy
questions. The technical expert refuses financial assistance from
whole groups of the power elite simply because he or she does not
want to get contaminated; however this is regarded as foreign to
many, even public spirited individuals. Actually, the practice of
moving close to centers of power will result in the advisor
modifying practices to suit the funder even at times quite
unconsciously. To be able to say "no" to a funder because of fear
of wrongful influence gives freedom to work with greater
objectivity. Strangely for some, this applies more to "private"
funding than for public funds. That is because pressure by a one-
on-one funder results in immense influence being exerted even when
the recipient denies it. Public funds generally require more
accounting and are money that is obtained from the general public;
however subtle influences could be at work here as well.

Interplay of participants. A good work ethic raises people to
the level of an "elite;" they have skills not possessed by others.
If someone conscientiously fulfills a task that others regard as
onerous, beneath their dignity, or boring, then this person becomes
a member of the working elite and is an Earth healer par
excellence. Technical skills of professional experts become
apparent, for these people cannot be trained quickly and their
backgrounds cover a long period of experience. They are needed to
help evaluate, communicate, detect exploitation, and modify certain
appropriate technology practices.

Appropriate technology needs evaluative judgments as much as
any other technology. There is no protection from error in
appropriate technology, and so scientific and engineering experts
prove very helpful for its operations. Furthermore, the
appropriate technology demonstration is often better articulated by
an expert than by one working as a technician; a horticulturist or
an aquaculturist can explain the specialist's technology better and
a video producer proves to be better at popularizing and
publicizing appropriate technology. The expert may show the time
and place dependency of certain appropriate technologies and why
the devices or services should not be exploited by individuals or
groups.

Cooperative endeavor. Healing is a highly developed art and
science involving medical breakthroughs, technical equipment, and
sophisticated medicines. The amount of effort is staggering;
countless caregivers operate under personal risks and at low
remuneration for the good of others. Few claim to be sole
caregivers; it is a group enterprise. Teams work together and
require the cooperation of numerous individuals directly or
indirectly associated to bring healing to patients. These experts
and professionals become the seasoning in the rising dough; both
the dough and the seasoning make the final product; both are
needed in the exaltation of the lowly; both bring on the success of
the public interest venture and contribute to the product.

Environmental resource assessments. Our environments, whether
physical or spiritual, need the assessment of those who can stand
back away from the process and offer an overview of what is
happening at a local level. The overview is not a specific audit
that is also required for knowing a given situation. The physical
environmental resource assessment addresses general resources
whether used or not, the need to preserve or utilize these
resources in an appropriate manner, and the ability to properly
manage their use over a period of time. These practical
suggestions are patterned after diagnoses of illnesses. Earth and
all member parts are like living systems that can become
dysfunctional; caregivers are called upon to enter into the health
management process. The challenge here is to determine the need
for some environmental practice (e.g., wind power or greenspace),
and then suggest a new or alternative approach considering the
limited resources of the assessed group.

Assessments are not audits. We tend to get things backwards
when it comes to self-evaluation, whether on an individual level or
on a family or community one. We often prefer to look to outsiders
to monitor our own personal behavior and to tell us what steps
should or should not be taken to improve our lot. Actually, we
have consciences, and these are our internal lights, well-equipped
to do some monitoring of our practices. A group has the ability to
know what is being used (e.g., actual amounts of energy, waste,
water) versus assessing or reviewing overall practice or policy.
But surrendering one's internal monitoring process to others and
refusing to accept personal accountability for one's behavior is
quite popular today. A conscientious member of a faith community
should realize that monitoring is a personal (or community)
enterprise, depending on the level of conduct on which we focus.
I should know what I am doing, and not deceive myself and make
excuses. I come to an understanding of myself and my faults in all
their depths, and that is a humble way of seeing myself before God
through an examination of conscience. We must be true to ourselves
and not close our eyes to our private conduct.

Personal spiritual assessments. Spiritual directors do not do
the monitoring of the individual for that should be a routine and
even daily or twice a day personal operation. People who strive to
go to confession with over frequency should be told that this may
be giving to another the monitoring task that is really an
individual's responsibility. Monitoring helps us to find our
reoccurring faults and beg God for forgiveness, to experience the
justification that comes with confession, and to move on from
there. But we as individuals should also welcome assessment, and
thus we benefit from the outside spiritual advisor who can give an
assessment on a periodic basis as to whether we are using all the
spiritual resources we have at hand. The suggestions of that
individual, objective outside observer are highly important for
individual spiritual assessment.

Community Assessments by Outsiders. With time our
Environmental Resource Assessment Service (ERAS) was developed
because groups need total, assessed and not just monitored
overviews. Note a non-monitored group will often have to get their
resource auditing done (how much energy or water or waste materials
are used). On the other hand, groups and communities think they
can assess themselves perfectly, but they will constantly under- or
over-value their own resources. Often they refuse to act because
they are convinced that they have insufficient resources, or they
may overextend activities thinking they have more than are present.
What an objective outside observer skilled in resource management
can do is tell what more can be done environmentally, given the
time and limited resources of the group. The hope is not to burn
out active people and not to move too slowly as to lose interest in
programs.

Environmental resource assessments (ERAs) cover all aspects of
the property, namely land, buildings, transportation facilities,
water, wildlife, energy, waste utilization, food, and community.
These issue areas should be assembled with associated problems and
arranged in an order or set of priorities so that they can be
systemically addressed according to a reasonable time schedule.

Community wide audits. Certain aspects of resource use may
seem far too complex for certain individuals who are too old or
lack the skills to complete them. Most communities have some
members who can do resource auditing when properly motivated and
given sufficient time. For instance, for a transportation and
parking audit one asks how many cars use a particular parking place
and at what times. This is a factual piece of evidence that does
not require handling by outsiders. It can be done by individuals
with a notebook and a simple counter of some sort -- and the
willingness to take the time and tabulate the results. In a little
while one has a picture of whether more parking are needed or
whether alternative scheduling or other remedies could be arranged.
It is all done without outside experts -- though the outsider may
suggest that one or other modification should be considered to use
resources (potential parking space or retained greenspace) wisely.

Differences. Auditing physical resources is best performed on
a routine and frequent basis by internal staff or people acquainted
with the local operations. An assessment is different; it should
be the work of outside people skilled in the process of objectively
identifying environmental resources and examining the use of them.
Property holders tend to overlook both developed and under- or
over-developed environmental resources. Just as in spiritual
direction, the outsider brings a certain objectivity to resource
assessments that is necessary for the clearest picture of what can
be done. Personnel, time commitment, external community pressures
(e.g., local land development pressure) are all factors to be
considered in assessments and future plans for a community.
Monitoring is a frequent practice; assessments are independent
practices and are rare in frequency and require formal reports.

Community psychological assessments. All too often a local
community that works together has the resources to do well but the
interactions of some individuals make this quite difficult. The
physical resource assessor is most likely not the one suited to
handling the needed task. Rather one must turn to outside experts
who are still committed to the goals of the community. This type of
person knows the dynamics of personal group relations and can give
a more objective assessment of difficulties and suggestions on how
to overcome them. The workers could use consultants, and,
amazingly, this has been recognized as a need for the past few
decades with groups being funded to do just this task.

Community simple lifestyle assessments. Spiritual assessments
such as parishes (revivals and missions) are common as are those of
intentional communities (group conferences or retreats). How far
can such assessments go when people are not uniform in their belief
system and practices? It may lead to the presumptuous question:
"I'm saved, are you?" That leads nowhere and may be more harmful to
the questioner than to the recipient. To some degree one can apply
a series of questions to those who practice a uniform commitment or
manner of living to see whether individual or collective resource
conservation may occur. I created a Lifestyle Index that still
floats around and has some merit and a major problem: in
determining resource use, is the use charged against the person
expending the energy (the medic on 911 call) or the victim for whom
the call was placed? Most major expenditures of resources fall
into this category of application as a service and to or for whom?
That goes beyond personal to community levels as well. Food or
fuel producers use non-renewable resources to grow or extract the
materials (wheat or petroleum). Must this be credited to or
charged against the producer or the ultimate consumer?

            5. Temptations and the Exalted

A volunteer once said in a moment of fervor, "If only I had a
million dollars, I could save the world." It did sound tempting.
But then on second thought I asked, what if you could save the
world with absolutely no money at all? I must confess his way
sounded easier than mine.

Let us realize that this exaltation just discussed is not the
result of entitlement, privilege or unearned position, but the gift
from God to engage in a gentle revolution of healing the Earth.
Thus we consider the false temptations that accompany this
spiritual empowerment: idolizing of power, false forms of security,
self-centeredness, temptation to violence, and failure to confront
dangerous situations.

It would be quite false to think that the road to spiritual
empowerment has no testing. To be like Christ and to come into the
exalted glory of the resurrection means that we follow the Lord; we
are tempted just as he was, for this is part of the human
condition. Earth healing is more than merely spinning wheels and
pretending, while expecting God to work miracles. Our human input
is vital and that means, even as agents of change, we undergo
temptations that are above and beyond the ordinary personal
temptations with which we are all beset. We discussed these in the
February of eco-spirituality, namely to act or not to act through
denial of the problem, excuse as lacking expertise or resources,
and escape because the problem seems insurmountable and beyond our
physical and psychic powers to handle. All three types continue to
bother us as we undertake the road to exaltation.

Here we find somewhat more sophisticated temptations that
embrace the interplay of secular and ecclesial power, the
reluctance of believers to act at precisely opportune moments, and
the manner in which we confront authoritarian powers (violent or
non-violent means). We are tempted at all levels of the power
struggle, just as Christ is tempted.

Idolizing power. At the first level is the temptation to
idolatry, for power is perceived as resting in someone or thing
other than God. And even the spiritual power of exaltation can
tempt one to idolize all forms of control over others. In tempting
Jesus to worldly power and glory, Satan says that he has power over
nations -- I will give you all this power and the glory of these
kingdoms, for it has been committed to me and I will give it to
anyone I choose. (Luke 4:6)

Seeking false security. In the second level Jesus is tempted
to overcome his physical hunger through a miraculous changing of
stone into bread. When we hunger for success and hope to break the
spell of lethargy, limited resources or time, or difficult human
relationships through application of powerful technologies, we are
tempted to believe that these tools contain all the answers, thus
we are lulled into a sense of false security. Tell this stone to
turn into a loaf. (Luke 4:3)

Allowing self-centeredness. Those seeking to follow Christ
may be tempted to think that God's power is something to use for
ones's dramatic enhancement and self-importance. The follower who
senses some degree of empowerment may regard dramatic acts as a
necessary consequence. Rather, the follower as striving to be
another christ must act humbly with the means at hand, the
practical everyday tools of change. There is no magic to spiritual
empowerment. Healers are tempted much like Jesus when they dream
of God sweeping them up in an aura of righteousness that overwhelms
the enemy and baffles the unbeliever. The dramatic upsweep of
leaping in where angels fear to tread is a daydream of shortcuts
that never occur.

Throw yourself down from here, for scripture says, He will put
his angels to guard you. (Luke 4:9b-10)

Jesus remains faithful and concludes the temptation series in
the desert by saying that the Lord is not to be tested. He was
with the wild beasts and the angels looked after him (Mark 1:13b).
We are with the Lord and are not alone; we are cared for by the
good spirits, and even the wildlife will give us comfort.

Moving towards violence. We are often taken up with
performing an action that will dramatically move the world. As
Jesus was being arrested in the early hours of Good Friday he tells
Peter to put away the sword for that is not God's way. Jesus is
betrayed and led away with no resistance -- though he could have
had legions of angels if he so desired. Our first impulse is to
punctuate our actions with violent acts, and then we step back and
realize its ultimate futility -- as we seek to heal the Earth
through love and mercy.

Omitting necessary confrontation. On the road to exaltation
the Messiah is impelled by the Spirit to confront his opposition
and accept suffering that is the price of this confrontation.
Peter knows there is opposition ahead, and he begs Jesus not to
fulfill his calling by going to Jerusalem. But Jesus responds,
"Get behind me Satan, don't stand in the way." What lies ahead is
struggle with Scribes and Pharisees, their subsequent wrath and
plotting, betrayal by Judas, suffering and death of a seemingly
powerless victim in the ignominy of the cross. But Jesus is
determined to fulfill his mission.

And maybe some potential 21st century agents of change have
a further temptation: the world is too far gone; it cannot be
saved; one must await the return of the Christ for, no matter how
hard we try, the opposition is overwhelming. But then we are
brought back to our senses: we discover a deep sense of hope in the
heart of the paschal mysteries, that without this hope all is lost
and with it all is exalted.

                C. ACTIONS

The following are some practical steps to make us more
spiritually in tune with the exaltation that we experience with the
Risen Lord, if we are to help heal the Earth.

            1. Plans and Daily Examinations

Some of us are compulsive planners, working on each year for
a day or so, each month, each week and each day planning in ever
greater detail. I simply could not function in the haphazard way
of not knowing in general what the next day will bring -- though
knowing full well that on some days the plans will have to be
scrapped because of unforeseen problems. But planning before and
reviewing afterward are part of life -- and it allows for more
productive work. The Lord will have to judge whether the planning
(and resulting work) was successful in a longer term.

Daily examinations are regarded as good practice for
spiritual growth. As we grow, we note that our eco-spirituality is
not a subset but an encompassing view of our world, in which we are
agents of change and can move to such a point that our eco-
spirituality becomes our total spirituality. While some do not
favor a regular system of spiritual development, prayer periods and
spiritual direction, for the Earth healer our life is not a casual
operation but must be taken seriously. Though some readers may not
opt for such a systematic approach, they should consider how
caregivers are required to follow rigid routines in order to be
properly disciplined. We are not setting down a fixed formula,
only a basic structure that should be followed.

Thus examinations on a routine basis may be seen as onerous.
Still the task before us involves far greater difficulties than
scheduled prayer periods. Consider the good points of daily
personal examinations of our conduct. If we gaze out at the
horizon when journeying, we may stumble on the rock in front of us;
looking down occasionally is essential. Watching our steps becomes
routine, and that is what is called for here. This is especially
true during the long hot summer when past resolutions can be
forgotten and sweat gets into our eyes.

Regular planning. Some of us are compulsive planners. I find
it difficult to speak to people who only plan their day on that day
and not over a monthly or weekly span of time. The intensity and
immediacy of the planning depends on how far away the event is
distant -- yearly plans are less definite than monthly, weekly, or
even daily. Workers with little time to lose like to center their
attention squarely on what is immediately before them. Emergencies
do arise, and even compulsive planners must have a freedom to
change plans on rare occasions. It may be wise to have work
reviews based on yearly schedules (inception and closure), on
monthly and weekly schedules, and at the end of each day. Keeping
tabs in a standard diary is a good procedure and brings us down to
what was expected this day and to what extent it was successful.

General outline. Some make the following five step-
procedure: 1. Pray for light; 2. review the day in thanksgiving; 3.
review the feelings that surface in the replay of the day; 4.
choose one of those feelings (positive or negative) and pray from
it; and 5. look toward tomorrow. Others may see that this
structure is too rigid and freezes the daily "examen" into
something that becomes oppressive -- and maybe becomes neglected
through sheer exhaustion at the end of the day. It may be
burdensome for some morning people who wax at sun-up and wane at
sunset. It is enough that the "examen" is the last thing we do at
night, that it has a structure but not a certain time length, that
it is prayerful, and that it may be mercifully short and clearly
placed.

Some final questions. What was the major point of attention
for this day and did it get accomplished? What were the secondary
points and were they achieved? Was I able to keep centered in our
day's activities? The goals? The successes? The feelings? The
consolations and desolations of the day? Did things go wrong and
in what way? Did I beg forgiveness when I stumbled? Am I thankful
for the blessings received? Do I regard this as a major moment of
my day and summarize the day in a prayerful and meaningful manner -
-- a private moment of grace? Do I see this prayer as a fitting
end to the struggles of the day, and does it prepare me for the
promises of tomorrow and all they will bring?

            2. Act and Think Locally so You Can Act and Think Globally

Rene Dubos served as our advisor and my mentor at the Center
for Science in the Public Interest at its beginning. We were
blessed by having his wisdom and I will treasure those words of his
in the early 1970s. I can say that God blessed me to have him set
me on the road to an authentic eco-spirituality through those few
but enlightened conversations and talks.

Previously we brought up the dictum attributed to Rene Dubos -
- "Act locally and think globally." Our modification is not
something just a little less catchy and a little more wordy: in
fact to think and act locally so we can think and act globally is
really different. For we never act without thinking and this
modification places the primary emphasis, as shown in our empirical
approach on the local scene where we must think in order to act
well and start in a focused manner. But we cannot stop there, and
thus the short dictum makes sense when actions move to global
thought, as we have been attempting in the February to April eco-
spiritualities.

Thinking and acting locally. By working at the local level we
till the local Earth and know exactly where we can make more
meaningful changes. To vaguely support a global action and forget
about local problems that should require our attention could be
misplaced effort. On the other hand, to become too consumed with
local issues and neglect the broader environment restricts our
vision and reduces our influence. But we must stay focused and
that means we have to be immersed in some local work for we are
grounded in the HERE and NOW. We think locally in so far as we know
the local time, place and community.

We think and are concerned with our more proximate neighbors
even when our thoughts go beyond. Lazarus was at the rich man's
doorstep; and so thus we act locally. All the time, when assisting
those who need help here we give some thought to those in need
beyond -- for that is the spirit of being "catholic" or more
universal in outlook. Our environment is contiguous with every
neighborhood in the world and ultimately all are one on this
planet. If we stretch out our arms far enough, we ultimately
embrace all human beings and all creatures on this living Earth.

Thinking and acting globally. It takes ecological balance to
give local and global attention. We need not be affluent to reach
out in prayer to others beyond our horizon -- the global WE. For
Jesus who suffered, died and rose, the HERE and NOW is our entire
Earth. Must we seek to imitate his salvific embrace? Can our
concern go beyond the local scene? Certainly it can, at least in
prayer and daily offerings for others, e.g., St. Therese's "Little
Way." Thinking globally is not that difficult for the religious
person who has a universal concern for all people and the total
environment -- but what about acting globally?

The key lies in communications. We act when we connect with
others about whom we are thinking. To communicate is to go beyond
thinking about another; it takes some doing. By sharing our local
appropriate technology or our reflections with those in distant
lands we are acting globally to some degree. Thinking globally
involves using sources such as the public mail, the cell phone or
the Internet for spreading the Good News. Easily accessible and
relatively low-cost global communications have only been possible
in the last decade, but it is to some degree becoming accessible to
the poor in many parts of the world.

This Earthhealing website reaches at least 88 countries each
month at last count; thus we are able to extend our local
Appalachian appropriate technological expertise to other places on
this planet. Furthermore, through personal contacts we may
encourage, inspire, teach, and influence those who will go out as
experts or missionaries to other parts of the world and, in turn,
be teachers and inspirers in those distant lands. We act in a
third way that is of spiritual importance: we can offer our own
sufferings and sacrifices (true actions going beyond mere concern)
for people in other parts of the world and through a global
community. In and through the paschal mystery we become one with
others and enter into their own sufferings and sacrifices. No
matter where we are, we can act as healers in a mystical sense,
uniting ourselves with Christ in his sufferings, which is something
to be discussed later in detail.

Being humble. It is improper to pretend to act or to act in
a self-centered manner; it is improper to be dissipated in thought
on local concerns, or so flighty that we never think of local
concerns. A proportion and balance are called for in our thinking
and acting and this moves us to look all the more closely to Jesus
to find how he acts and how he makes his judgments as judge of the
living and dead. Putting on Christ means we are to think and act
in a meaningful and humble manner without fanfare, being satisfied
and thankful for limited resources, and through the humbling task
of asking others for assistance in our work. To keep a clean heart
and creative but calloused hands (Jesus had worked as a carpenter
with his rough hands) means that we are at home among the poor.

            3. Are Communications Appropriate Technology?

For five years during the Nixon Administration, I lived two
blocks from the Library of Congress and I regarded this
international library treasure as a gold mine at my finger tips.
However, remote Indian villagers with access to the Internet today
can obtain more information faster than I could have in 1975 in
D.C. within the world's largest storehouse of information.
Admittedly, their (the Indians') reference materials are far more
abbreviated than those available through thorough research in the
Library of Congress, but even these remote villagers with some
astute queries could most likely gather a wealth of practical
information more in keeping with their personal demands than if
they were to travel to the Library of Congress.

Do modern communications techniques, especially electronic
technology, fall under the classification of appropriate
technology? These techniques often replace expensive postal
traffic that uses non-renewable fuel resources and they replace
newsprint that takes a heavy toll on forestlands. But are these
methods low-cost, community-enhancing and user-friendly? These
technologies do allow people in poorer parts of the world to bypass
the construction of expensive communication infrastructure
(telephone lines and stations) with cell phones; and extensive
libraries, which many areas could never afford, with an Internet
system with immense resource searching capabilities.

Certainly the organizational management and materials required
to put these modern forms of communication in place (computer chips
and software, launching pads for rockets to put satellites in
orbit, etc.) are far more sophisticated than an efficient hoe or
cooking stove, which are ordinary examples of appropriate
technologies at the local level. But with deductions in price for
some of these modern communication services due to heavy volume,
the relative costs are going down to an affordable range for
individual households or community electronic receiving centers.
Furthermore, in areas of communications where millions of people
are being served, appropriateness should not be judged on the
complexity of the systems or even the satellite required to effect
the communications, but on the end user economic costs, along with
overall environmental costs, user friendliness, and community-
forming ability. No one can dispute that communications can lead
especially to the last of these benefits (community-formation) to
an immense degree on the global scale.

Appropriateness in technology at the local level generally
refers to bulk materials: food and water for essential needs, fuel,
building materials, and waste disposal. Hauling these from one
place to another takes large amounts of resources. On the other
hand, communicating an idea is not a material resource-intensive
enterprise even though it may require the minds and skills of large
numbers of people to get the delivery system organized. Ideas
travel lightly; a ton of wheat or oil takes transportation
infrastructure and fuel to move from production point to consumer
use, far more so than ideas. Furthermore, communications can
actually lead to a growth of the communal energy potential binding
this world together and could have an almost anti-entropy effect
that communications experts talk about.

Each new communications device can bring promises where used
appropriately and perils where used inappropriately:

* Television can be a major affordable, educational tool for
the individual, family or community. Some of the programs give a
more graphic illustration of work that simply would not otherwise
be available for average people. The television can be under
community control in very poor parts of the world and thus through
sharing be relatively low-cost and people-friendly. But television
can be a peril through overuse and a dumbing down of the viewer to
a point at which little serious reading takes place. Often
materials that should be left off the television are allowed to
flood the mind of the innocent with violence. Television
advertisements work towards influencing people to assume a
materialistic mode of purchasing and use, e.g., drug advertisement
leading to overuse of both legitimate and illegal drugs.

* Cell-phones allow communication that is somewhat affordable
and at lower rates than for land-based traditional systems with
lines and exchange stations. The phones allow easy access to
remote areas and to individuals especially in times of individual
emergencies. However, such systems can be overused, listening
devices may prove dangerous from a health standpoint, and often the
chatter of nearby individuals infringes on the silent space of
others. Again, proper use allows for a highly beneficial
appropriate technology.

* Computers are often regarded as "technology." The computer
has now become an essential tool in the business world, government,
medicine, and education especially in the areas of data processing;
Cumbersome filing and storage has been greatly reduced through far
faster and less expensive personal computers. Electronic mail
allows people to correspond far faster and more cheaply than by
surface mail. Word processing has so facilitated writing and the
expensive steps of correction that it has improved the ability of
people to put their thoughts on paper succinctly and with ease.
The Internet allows us to go out to the world and tell the Good
News at low expenditure of funds and energy. However, the service
is also open to hackers, spam and viruses, and those who want to
deliberately sabotage another's work or reputation.

All of these electronic innovations can be regarded as
sophisticated in their production, programming and management, but
the end users can greatly benefit at relatively low-cost especially
when shared in a community. Appropriateness comes more in the
degree and selection of use rather than in the technology itself.


            SUMMARY: TOWARDS BECOMING EARTHHEALERS

...the Eucharist is a cosmic act, uniting Heaven with Earth
and permeating all creation. This one act of praise restores all
creation in the One Who created it, giving back to the Father a
redeemed creation (Reference: Letter on the Eucharist, John Paul
II, Merion, PA: Key of David Publications, 2003).

This monthly reflection on the Ascension completes the first
phase of our delving into the paschal mystery as such. We have
heard God's call by listening to the sound of God's hand at the Big
Bang of creation (January), seeing the effects of human wrongdoing
on our wounded Earth (February), sensing God's compassion in the
coming of the Incarnate Word who is healer, teacher and activist,
tasting the bitter pangs in the suffering and death of Jesus and
all living beings, smelling the garden roses in his Resurrection as
Lord of power, and by being touched by the exaltation given to
believers who are sent on a mission to proclaim the Good News. We
get the first glimpse of our mission as members of the poor to use
the instrumentation of an appropriate technology that is
environmentally benign, low-cost, people-friendly and community-
enhancing. Our call is to spread the word throughout the world
mainly through the Internet, realizing all the while that without
God's help the power of these instruments and media may corrupt.

With this spirit of compassionate mercy and caution, we are
empowered to bring about a re-creation of the Earth in an even more
wonderful manner. We are called to do something new in the
fullness of the Resurrection/Ascension and seek earnestly to find
the clues in looking with awe at the very nature of the Incarnate
Word and the Trinity of Persons. Mystery now becomes even more
awesome. Our pilgrimage involves the road to discovery in seeking
to find what our own transformation or metamorphosis as healers
really means. We know that the Risen Lord is still with us, and
thus we strain with all our powers to understand in what this
presence consists. In some way the clue is within the liturgical
act of transformation of bread and wine (the work of human hands)
into the Body and Blood of the Lord. Even in our unworthiness,
this supreme divine/human act, is perceived as a gift. Now we need
to anticipate what lies ahead, a New Creation, and spend the second
half of the eco-spiritual year in the vast season of Pentecost and
Advent preparing for the role we are to play as healers of the
Earth.

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