THE EARTH 

IS FULL OF 

THE GOODNESS OF THE LORD

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Tuesday after Easter  is, “The Earth Is Full of the Goodness of the Lord.”

That’s the Psalm Response for today - from Psalm 33.

Most of the time I preach on something from the Gospel and sometimes the first reading, but it hit me last night to reflect upon the Psalm Response for today: “The Earth is Full of the Goodness of the Lord.”

We said that 4 times - so it hit me: Try to come up with 4 examples where we see the goodness of the Lord.

FOUR EXAMPLES

The first example would be this earth itself which we live on. It has water, air, food. It has temperatures in which we can live - or move to and move away from. We have our seasons. The average temperature on earth is 61 degrees Fahrenheit.  That doesn’t mean it’s not hot in a desert in Libya or Death Valley in California which has registered the hottest temperature on earth - 134 Fahrenheit in the air and land that registered 159.3 Fahrenheit. The coldest spots would be Antarctica which register minus 128 Fahrenheit. Mars is tempting with 70 degrees Fahrenheit in summer at its equator, but it can jump to 100 below that same night. Talk about cold. It can be minus 400 on Pluto.  So for starters, we have a wonderful home to live in and on - with variety and something to talk about besides sports and each other.

The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

The next example would be people who are full of goodness: family, friends, volunteers, especially  people who give their lives and time and energy and study in service to others - doctors, nurses, teachers, researchers, fire fighters, police, EMT folks, etc. etc., etc.

The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord

Third would be places and scenes of natural beauty all around the world: mountains, oceans, beaches, lakes, the Mississippi, the Grand Canyon, national parks, city parks, ski slopes, glaciers in Alaska. There are whales, sea lions, eagles, robins, roses,  magnolia trees, pugs and puddles, black and white cats - that sometimes look like the ying-yang black and white spiral circle. 

There are wonderful surprise twists and paradoxes: ugly gnarled trees sometimes end up as beautiful furniture. In churches like ours we see the cross flowering.  THEN…. Then there are unique surprisingly beautiful interesting like the brown yellow glisten of the sunset on the back of a brownish hippo in a mud hole in Africa.

I add mention of a hippo because of a favorite quote from Albert Schweitzer, “Late on the third day, at the very moment when, at sunset, we were making our way through a herd of hippopotamuses, there flashed upon my mind, unforeseen and unsought, the phrase, ‘Reverence for Life.’” [1] Out of My Life and Thought (1949)

The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

And fourth and last we could list our creations. We’re all made in the image and likeness of God. So check out our creations:  paintings by Van Gogh,  statues by Michelangelo, crayon drawings by grandkids, buildings by Frank Lloyd Wright or Frank Geary, monuments like the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. designed by Maya Lin, cities like Paris or gardens like those in Kyoto, Japan.

The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord

CONCLUSION

Ooops! Better bring in Christ and Mary, and Mary Magdalene and St. Peter whom we hear about in today’s two readings  and all those who have given us, passed down to us the gift of faith - and hope - and love.

Ooops! Better say:  Isn’t it our daily call: to do nice, to be neat, to be caring so others at the end of the day will say spontaneously, “The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. Amen.