Restored
to Health
“All
will come again into its strength:
the fields
undivided, the waters undammed,
the trees
towering and the walls built low.
And in the
valleys, the people as strong and varied as the land...”
Ranier
Maria Rilke (Book of Hours: Love Poems to God; translated by Anita
Barrows & Joanna Macy)
This is a poem reflecting
Rilke's yearning for a perfect world. One in which we are undivided
and the earth is restored to health. In this poem, he refers to
churches as “places where God is imprisoned and lamented, like a
trapped and wounded animal.” I don't know about that, but
confess that I recoil when I walk into a sanctuary where a crucifix
holding a dead Jesus figure hangs above the altar. I'm sure that's to
remind the congregants that he suffered and died for their terrible
sins, but somehow, I don't think that was intended to be Jesus' main
message. This is what he taught: “My command is this; Love each
other, as I have loved you.” (John 15:12) There are no
qualifiers there—no one is excluded. Jesus saw his mission—and
ours—as one of service. Here, for example: “And Jesus called
them to him and said to them, 'You know that those who are considered
rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones
exercise authority over them. But whoever would be great among you
must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be
the slave of all.'” (Mark 10:42-44)
Rilke further wrote: “No
yearning for an afterlife, no looking beyond, no belittling of death,
but only longing for what belongs to us, and serving earth, lest we
remain unused.” Those who are
able to “praise the Lord” one moment, and go out and
destroy the earth for profit the next, are missing Jesus' message
entirely. We are not here on earth simply to enrich ourselves while we wait for an afterlife in
heaven, we are here to live our own life in service and love for our
planet and for our fellowman.
Like Rilke, I yearn for a
perfect world, but barring that, I yearn for a world restored to
health by the stewards who claim it as their own. One where rivers
run free and unpolluted, where mountains rise high and are not
destroyed by mining, where all the species of the earth have food and
a sufficiency of space in which to live in peace. Idealistic, I know,
but a picture I'm going to hold close to my heart, and keep putting
out to the universe and to you. I hope you'll join me in this
affirmation for our beautiful blue planet.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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