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by Rev. Fr. V.V. Paulose, Toronto, Canada
"At this time a message from God came to John, son of Zechariah, who was living in the wilderness." (Luke 3:2)
Have you ever enjoyed a life away from your
man-made world?
We often judge people by their superficial standards of power, wealth and
beauty, and miss the truly great people through whom God works! Greatness is
measured not by what you have, but by faith in God. We cannot dream and imagine
the length and breadth of his creation. Simply look at the sky on a full moon
night. This will make us realize how small our inventions, construction and
scientific advancements are.
All of our artificial inventions stand at the mercy of God. An unprecedented
snow in Europe made the continent stand still helplessly last month. The vast
galaxy that we live in is spinning at an incredible speed of 490,000 miles an
hour. But even at this breakneck speed, our galaxy still needs 200 million years
to make one rotation. And there are over one billion other galaxies just like
ours in the universe. We have to learn to live closer to nature instead of going
away from it. When we allow our children to play with mud and ice, stay in tents
and camps, swim in seas and rivers, and trek in hills and valleys, we are taking
them closer to the lap of God. John lived in the wilderness eating honey and
locusts.
Once, a wealthy father took his son to stay with a poor family on a village
farm. On their return, the father asked his son as to how his trip was. "It was
great, Dad. I saw that we have one dog and they have 4. We have a pool but they
have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they
have stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole
horizon. We have a small piece of land and they have fields that go beyond our
sight. We have servants who serve us but they serve others. We buy our food, but
they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have
friends to protect them." The father was speechless. Then his son added, "Thanks
Dad for showing me how poor we are."
We should not be proud of our material wealth. That will come and go. We have to
praise God for his providence and wonderful creation. Wealth is for all. We have
no right to fix fees and prices for natural resources like air and water, and
stop the poor from enjoying them.
Jesus, let our generation come out from their
closets and see your creation and its greatness and beauty. We hope your divine
intervention will stop commercialization of natural resources. Let all of us
have equal access to the bounty of your creation. We ask this in the name of
Jesus.
Amen.
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