A  NEW  HEAVENS 

AND  A  NEW  EARTH 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “A New Heavens and a New Earth.”

Today - April 22, 2019 - is Earth Day. 

The call is to take good care of our earth - not just today - but every day.

Today is Easter Monday - and Easter in this northern hemisphere is tied into Spring - a season when nature shows up in bursting beautiful  new life.

COLOSSIANS

It’s not today’s one of today’s readings,  but check out Colossians 1: 15-20

He is the image of the unseen God

and the first born of all creation,

for in him were created

all things in heaven and on earth:

everything visible and everything invisible,

Thrones, Dominions, Sovereignties, Powers -

all things were created through him and for him.

Before anything was created, he existed,

and he holds all things in unity.

Now the Church is his body,

he is its head.

As he is the Beginning,

he was first to be born from the dead,

so that he should be first in every way;

because God wanted all perfection

to be found in him

and all things to be reconciled

through him and or him,

everything in heaven and everything on earth,

when he made peace

by his death on the cross.”

There is a spirituality and a theology in Christ’s resurrection - that ties into creation.  Christ came to bring resurrection not just to humans but to all of creation.

I don’t have my hands or my mind on this creation nuanced theology.

I know what to avoid:  pantheism - or “all is God!”

Some stuff - some places - some sounds - are heavenly.

However stuff is not God.

Yet, there is a call in scriptures to see the call to sacredness in all people - and all life.

Each of us needs to ask: “How well do  we humans take care of our plots in nature’s fields?”

I kill mosquitos and swat flies - but I feel some hesitation when I do so. I hear a tiny voice: “Come on give this fly another chance to dance to fly.”

I know some religious teachers give a warning about killing any kind of life - yet I eat hamburgers and corn on the cob - after it’s cut down.

A COUPLE OF RANDOM  COMMENTS

We were just over to Japan in February. When our English speaking guides spotted Cherry Blossom trees - then mentioned the Cherry Blossom trees  which the government of Japan gave to Washington D.C.

We went to a tea ceremony - that took about an hour.  I now have a new series of thoughts about having a cup of tea. 

We saw people washing their hands at washing stations before going into the temple as well as sort of washing their hands in smoke outside the temple.

Look into Irish Spirituality and you’ll get some glimpses about creation centered spirituality.  Read Irish blessings and you’ll catch an awareness of trees and mountains, shamrocks and roses, salmon and homes.

I just received the following  prayer in an e-mail the other day from Martin O'Malley, our former governor, who was big on caring for our earth. It’s a poetic prayer by Patrick Kavanagh:

Sometimes when the sunlight

comes through the gap,

These men know God the Father

in  a tree.

The Holy Spirit is the rising sap,

and Christ, the green leaves at Easter

that will come

from the dark and sealed tomb.”

I just had a funeral this morning and the prayer on the back of the memorial card for Philip J. Maher had the following Irish Blessing that  we all know.  Notice the earth stuff.

Irish Blessing

May the road rise up

to meet you,

May the wind be

always at your back.

May the sun shine

warm upon your face,

and rains fall soft

upon your fields,

and until we meet again

may god hold you

in the palm of his hand.

It’s Easter - don’t forget to see and smell the beautiful flowers at the altar and the beautiful earth and flowers outside.

We’re at Mass - right now - close your eyes and see the evolution and the path of bread and wine - becoming bread and wine and then becoming Christ.