Learning humility from the Earth

Earth Humility      1 September 2013

Then Jesus said to the host who invited him, “When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers/sisters or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." Gospel of Luke

I look at Jesus' words this way:  

The Earth’s ecosystems continue on its cyclic processes, quietly over a period of time and in relation to the Sun’s energy.  The seeds fell and one day we see a sprout coming out of the ground.  The breeze of spring gently carries the aroma of citrus blossoms that in the summer become the fruit to which we indulge quenching our thirst and hunger. These silent processes allow the mountains to give us fresh waters, allow the oceans to give its fishes, allow the rain to water the earth and its trees, which in turn allow the trees to give out oxygen and inhale the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.  These interconnected cycles go on allowing life to flourish.  This must be the Earth’s banquet --- given to the poor, lame and crippled and to the powerful and rich alike, to all of its creatures. 

This must be the humility of nature, freely given over time.  We are all partakers of the Earth’s generosity that does not ask for anything in return.  But nowadays, the Earth’s ecosystems are threatened and asking humanity to respect and heal the damaged done to her ecosystems.  The inability of humankind to repay the Earth to respect life is changing the natural cycles, the composition of climate and other life-support systems in the planet.  May we learn from the humility of nature.