At church this past Sunday, we heard the story of Noah and the ark.  Well, actually, we heard just the end of the story, the part about the rainbow and about how God promised to never again wipe out all of life with a flood, and about how God established a covenant with Noah and his descendents.  

There was a little phrase in the story that I don’t think that I had ever noticed before.  When telling of the covenant that God made with Noah, the story says that God’s covenant was established also between God “and every living creature.” Not just Noah, not just Noah’s family.  The covenant of life and love is with every living creature.

Now, that might not seem like a big deal to you, but it actually is.  Because what it means is that I am no more or less special than any other living thing on the face of the earth. What it means is that God loves all of life. And, while I’m not an expert on all world religions and philosophies, I think that most of them pretty much espouse essentially that same message… that all of life is sacred.

And so, when I find myself becoming complacent about the number of species that are going out of existence on account of climate change…  Or when I discover that I am losing compassion for those fellow human beings living in Ukraine or Palestine or Nicaragua… Or when I become overwhelmed by the seemingly insurmountable political partisan mess of this country… When I feel like it’s just too much….  When I am tempted to just pull the covers over my head and block out the world…  When I feel like giving in or giving up…. 

Well, it’s then that I try to remember just how lucky I am and I try to remember how all human and non-human life is sacred.  And with that in mind, I double down on my commitment to do what I can to make a difference in this world so that all living things can experience the same sense of abundance that I do. That all living things experience the covenant of life and love.

Isn’t that really why Jesus came into the world? That is, to let it be known that God still holds all life to be sacred and to give his life for the life of the world?  And isn’t that where we Christians find purpose for our own lives?  Might not we, taking the example of Jesus, acknowledge that God’s loving covenant is with every living creature, and then double down on our commitment to do what we can to bring love and life into the world? 

All of life is sacred. The promise of abundant life is for every living creature. May we know this truth deep down in our souls.  May we never become complacent.  May this day and every day, we give our lives for the sake of every living creature.

~Father Art