Wednesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s readings are a beautiful pairing. In our first reading from Genesis, we are reminded of the source of our life. We hear of the garden of Eden and of creation. These words struck me as I read through this time. The “Lord God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life” (Genesis 2:7). Sit with that image for a moment – the Lord breathing life into you. How does that make you feel? The Lord is the source of our life and goodness. He gives us life and sustains us.
As we continue to read, we hear that God has put these humans in the garden with the intention to cultivate and care for the Earth. Notice the instruction was not to abuse and deplete the Earth. It was not to hoard and damage the Earth. But rather the intention is to cultivate and care for. This past summer I read Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. In this collection of essays, she speaks of approaching the world with a reciprocity mindset. Reciprocity calls us to live in connection with the Earth in a way that we are constantly giving and receiving. With an understanding that each of us is part of a bigger connected community, we practice gratitude, generosity and respect. We see all that we have as gift and treat it as such. By remembering our connectedness to the Earth and then practicing reciprocity, we then become more connected with ourselves, with those around us and with our creator. When we center our relationship with the Earth around gratitude and selflessness, we can achieve this goal of caring for and cultivating our Earth.
As we read the Gospel, we hear Christ telling his followers that it is not the things that we consume from this Earth that will defile us but rather the things that come from within that defile. Jesus tells us it is what comes from our heart that can defile. And this means we must protect, cultivate and care for our heart. I am currently reading the book, Good Inside by Dr. Becky Kenedy. In her book, written for parents, she reminds us of our own goodness inside as we strive to raise and discipline children in ways that will honor their own internal goodness. We are all made in the image of likeness of God, meaning we are all made with goodness and love at our core. Think back to the first reading – the Lord breathes life and goodness into our lungs and into our hearts. It is our work to be discerning, careful and aware of what comes into and out of our heart and our mind. We must be discerning about how we are acting, thinking, talking, and treating others. Take time today to ask the Lord to remind you of your inherent goodness and to help you weed away the actions, thoughts and habits that prevent you from honoring and living out this goodness. Amen.
—AJ Grimm