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“At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And God will send the angels and gather the elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.
“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
- Mark 13:24-32
Science, reading the signs, is making it very clear how “right at the door” our planet is to the brink of no return in being a habitable common home for future generations of creation.
But that “day and hour” has not yet come, and no one can be truly certain when it might, except, as Jesus tells us, the Creator of it all.
While it has been suggested that the just-concluded gathering of the elect from the “ends of the earth” at COP26 has not met all hoped for expectations, it, together with the cries for the earth from those who have lobbied it, protested at it and were associated with its planning, has at the very least exposed tender twigs and leaves of hope and affirmed that the word promised by Jesus never to pass away is still alive in humanity, the word which Thich Nhat Hanh says is the only thing that can ultimately save us from effects of climate change – love.
Meditations
“How will it all end? Will the cosmos disappear in a puff of dust? Will the earth freeze or fry, leaving nothing behind but the darkness and silence of death? Will the cosmos roll on regardless of the loss of a tiny speck we call planet earth, our common home?
“Christian tradition on the final state of the cosmos rests on the hints given in Scripture. These hints are humble efforts to describe what is essentially beyond our understanding: we have still such little knowledge of our own planet, tiny as it is, and our knowledge of the cosmos is negligible. … Isaiah tells us, and we know from experience that it’s true, that the Lord of history is the God of surprises. ‘I am about to do a new thing’ (Isa 43:19) and ‘my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways. For as the heavens are higher that the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’ (Isa 55:8-9)
“With this firmly in mind we can ‘gather the fragments, lest they be lost’… We need audacious imagination to grapple with the challenges to our planet and the mystery of God’s infinite power to achieve ‘the restoration of all things.’ (Acts 3:21) This divine work is already under way, so let us ask for the wisdom and audacity we need to collaborate with God in its achievement. Amen!”
- Brian Grogan SJ, Finding God in a Leaf – The Mysticism of Laudato Si’
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“We are not an inert mass of entangled electrons blindly hurtling towards an unknown future. Rather we are grounded in the incomprehensible divine mystery which is God, and thus our contingent lives are opened to and embraced by the infinite, unbounded love of God which is eternal, divine and holy. Teilhard [de Chardin] grasped this integral relationship between God and world and indicated that we must know the whole of which we are a part; then we must surrender to the whole which empowers our lives; finally, we must let go into the whole if we are to become one in Christ.
“Only when we know what we are about will we know what to do and how we are to act. The ethical question should never be our first question. Rather, the first question is the question of being itself: What am I? If we can begin to answer this question in light of the whole with God as Creator and ground of all life, then we will have a better sense of what we are to do and how we are to act. For to know oneself in God is to know oneself in all things, and this is the basis of true ecology.”
- Ilia Delio, “Towards a Renewal of The Whole,” July 12, 2018, The Center for Christogenesis
Practices
- Reflect on these passages in the manner of Lectio Divina, perhaps reading them aloud. What do you hear for your life now?
- Pray Pope Francis’ message of hope from Laudato Si’, perhaps returning to it throughout the week:
The Spirit of God fills the universe with possibilities, and therefore from the heart of things, something new can always emerge.
The God who created the universe out of nothing can also intervene in this world and overcome every form of evil.
May our struggles and our concern for this planet never take away the joy of hope.
- Pope Francis, Laudato Si’ (English Version - paragraphs 80, 74, 244)
- Post your reflections on the community forum here. Post prayer requests here. By clicking on the Subscribe link on the right-hand side of a thread, you can receive email notifications when someone posts a comment or a prayer request.
- All are welcome to join-in this free, online Zoom workshop with David Frenette today -- Sunday, November 14: "The Dynamic Center of Being: Awakening to Unity through Centering Prayer." Read more and register here. Zoom information is given on the confirmation page.
Join In Two Word of the Week Prayer Chapels
- Tuesday, 8:00-9:00 AM Central (Chicago) Time
- Wednesday, 5:00-6:00 PM Central (Chicago) Time
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To join use this meeting connection:
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- Open Zoom, click-on "join meeting," and enter meeting ID 445 909 4698. When prompted for a passcode, use COL.
Or, if this time does not work for you, there are additional opportunities to support your silent prayer practice and spiritual journey on The Meditation Chapel, a Zoom-enabled, worldwide meditation community. All groups are free and open to all. Read more about the groups on The Meditation Chapel here.
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