Aug 12 2008
Reflect
Humanity, made in God’s image and likeness, was designed by God to care for creation, to be stewards of creation. But because we have not followed God’s plan, a great moral as well as environmental pollution has resulted. Let us pray that the human family may learn to respect God’s plan for the world and care for creation as God’s gift. Our reflection continues Pope Benedict’s speech at the beginning of World Youth Day 2008.
What of man, the apex of God’s creation? Every day we encounter the genius of human achievement. From advances in medical sciences and the wise application of technology, to the creativity reflected in the arts, the quality and enjoyment of people’s lives in many ways are steadily rising. … All of us, young and old, have those moments when the innate goodness of the human person – perhaps glimpsed in the gesture of a little child or an adult’s readiness to forgive – fills us with profound joy and gratitude.
Yet such moments do not last. So again, we ponder. And we discover that not only the natural but also the social environment – the habitat we fashion for ourselves – has its scars; wounds indicating that something is amiss. Here too, in our personal lives and in our communities, we can encounter a hostility, something dangerous; a poison which threatens to corrode what is good, reshape who we are, and distort the purpose for which we have been created. Examples abound, as you yourselves know. Among the more prevalent are alcohol and drug abuse, and the exaltation of violence and sexual degradation, often presented through television and the internet as entertainment. I ask myself, could anyone standing face to face with people who actually do suffer violence and sexual exploitation “explain” that these tragedies, portrayed in virtual form, are considered merely “entertainment”?
Today’s Readings: Ezekiel 2:8-3:4; Psalm 119:14, 24, 72, 103, 111, 131; Matthew 18:1-5, 10, 12-14
