Friday, February 20

Reflection from Ethan Miller: 

Oh Holy Spirit, when will it end? How long will we fragment the non-human world around us? Every additional splinter is an added weight on our hearts. Hear our call as we mourn this turmoil.

Trees that endlessly give their sticks for walking, their wood for shelter, their leaves for clean air. How can it be that we take without thanks? How can it be that we treat them like a lifeless tool, to be controlled, used, and discarded? Oh forest, how I long to be close to you, to speak to you, to weep for the violence inflicted within your sacred grounds. 

Cows, who millions revere as holy, now enslaved and butchered. How have we gotten to a place where to “treat someone like cattle” means to treat someone like a meaningless object? Why god, oh why, do we cage them so? It dredges my spirit to know the oppression of these beloved beings. What would it be like to live in a world that exchanges consent with animals? What would it be like to live in a world where “to be treated like an animal” would mean to be treated like a sibling, a friend, an elder, or a saint?

Horses, who we once loved as the friends they were. Where are you? Where did you go when we traded you for our own Broncos, Mustangs, and Pintos? I long to care for you. Have we alienated you too, through inattention, through indifference, through our need for speed?

Salmon, blocked by dams.

Antelope, impaled by fences.

Rhinos, elephants, and lions, killed for glory.

Even the stars in the sky appear dimmer in our cities. Will they vanish as well? Does it know any end?

But Holy Spirit, I know it is you. I know it is you that gives us this reverence for the world around me. I know it is you that will pick us up from my anguish and guide us to renewal and reconnection with this world. I know that this sorrow is not the end, but a step towards glorifying the kingdom on Earth.