Living simply so that others may simply live

 ‘…Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you..’ (Luke 3:13)

Luke 3:10-18 (Year C: Advent 3)

If each of us collected ‘no more than the amount prescribed’ for us the world would be a different place indeed. If only…

Wars, disputes and conflicts over land, money, houses, honour, status, authority are a feature of human history since the beginning of time.  Part of the problem is that we cannot agree on what is ‘the prescribed’ amount of something. ‘We got here first so that land is ours!’ or ‘We deserve special treatment because we are victims’ or ‘What we have we hold’ or ‘I am/we are entitled to this’ or ‘this person does not deserve that’ or ‘We can do it because we can do it: tough’. Variations of these tunes and many more are played out across human history and across the globe today and even in our homes, workplaces and churches.  There is hardly no better way to start an argument than among supposedly religious persons who claim the fullness of truth and certainty and the right to denigrate or exclude or patronise someone else (in the latter case it might run like this line – ‘they don’t have the full picture or sacraments or truth or….’).

Much of these conflicts are born of distrust. Distrust – in turn – is born of experiences of bad behaviour. It is a deadly vicious circle. Which comes first? – distrust or bad behaviour: It is hard to tell. Insecurity is another driver of conflict as well as a thirst for absolutism (not the absolute).  We reveal insecurity the more we argue for something and against someone else. It is as if their way of being and having is a threat to our fragile hold on something.

Where we are today is on the cusp of a momentous change in the conditions of this mother earth where we have been planted. Love your neighbour takes a particular urgency because it means loving our children – the next generation. There is more than weather extremes and rising temperatures and flooding at stake here. We simply don’t know for sure how much or how long it will take but we can be sure of one thing – unless action is taken at global and local levels the future planet and the conditions for those living there does not look pretty. To put it another way, we are consuming one and half earths. This cannot continue. Eventually, something gives. It becomes a choice of ‘de-growth’ or ‘de-carbonise’ or both. Leaders and peoples can continue to duck and dive on what it takes to begin to fix the underlying causes of environmental degradation but, eventually, the reality and the truth will catch up with us all.

As we spare a thought for the millions freezing to death in various deserts of the middle east, north Africa, the Mediterranean sea and south east Europe do we take seriously the call to share? And, if millions of euros on housing, feeding and clothing millions of refugees is beyond the budget of the most wealthy nations of the earth how come trillions are spent on weapons of destruction which, it would appear, invites more revenge, conflict and displacement if the experience of the last decade is anything to go by? And closer to home we are witnessing the spectacle of a growing crisis in accommodation as billions have flowed through the finance system but it is staid that we cannot afford to fix the problem of homelessness because it is too complicated.

The story of John the Baptist ministering in the desert and, according to other accounts, subsisting on locusts and wild honey (Mark 1:6) and preaching a message of repentance may carry an ironic message for all of today.  Though we may not be living in an isolated desert clothed in camel hair with a belt round our waists and with wild honey and locusts as our staple diet as we criticise various supposedly persons in authority as ‘vipers’ (John lacked tact in these matters and was beheaded for this), we need to re-examine the way we live and how our civic participation impacts on the well-being of future generations. We know that the current patterns of globalisation, trade, consumption and energy utilisation are not sustainable. What are we doing about it?  Including a prayer of intercession this Sunday is surely a great idea but doing something about it next week and next year is vital. Laudato Si (Praise be to you) was the title of a historic document issued this year by Pope Francis. If this year is the year of praise let next year be the year of action: Fiat voluntas tua (your will be done …).