The recent release of Pope Francis’ encyclical letter about preserving our environment came to my mind as I heard the first reading for our liturgy today. Abram and Lot have become too wealthy! The two of them have so much livestock and so many servants in their extended families that the land cannot support them both. So they part and go their separate ways.
When Abram settles his family at the terebinth of Mamre, he receives a promise from God that his descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth. In response, Abram sets up an altar at Hebron, one of the holy places of that area. This altar served as a reminder to all who encountered it that although Abram held the land, he did so in trust. The land belonged to God. Abram looks upon it as a gift and wishes to remind all who pass by of that truth.
Native Americans have much the same notion regarding the land. They realize that they are but tenants and that no one owns the land.
In today’s world, the notions of personal property rights have clouded our vision regarding our possessions. While we will almost all agree that “you can’t take it with you,” we don’t seem to be able to grasp the universal truth behind this quip. The very reason that we cannot take it with us is that it is not ours in the first place.
The people of the ancient Middle East looked upon the created universe as a finite resource. We, on the other hand, seem to operate on the principle that there is always more where this came from. The ancient people believed that God created only so much and that God divided it up among all the people of the earth. If someone acquired “more,” that person was immediately suspect. He would be looked upon as a thief, taking what was not rightfully his.
This biblical take on the created universe would be a good notion for us to ponder as we read the encyclical letter “Laudato Si.” Evangelical poverty invites us to be dependent upon God rather than upon our own resources. That kind of thinking begins by embracing the idea that what we possess is merely a gift.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator