April 28th

    I dreamt Christ the King’s Women’s Council won an environmental award.  While I have great admiration for that group of women, even my dreaming self was a bit surprised by their receiving a Water Conservation Accommodation.  When I woke up, I tried to make sense of this dream by considering what associations came to mind.  There were two:  Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si and an urge I recently felt to start composting!  I recycle, avoid plastic bags and try not to drive more than necessary—but that hardly seems an adequate response to the call to care for creation.
 
     Then again, perhaps my dream was sparked by listening to Carl Sagan’s Cosmos.  I picked up that CD at the library for I am fascinated by black holes and quarks!  Sagan’s description of our neighboring planets gave me a deeper appreciation for the uniqueness of Earth.  The abundance and diversity of life forms on our planet is amazing, phenomenal.  With the psalmist, I am struck by a sense that “The Earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.”
 
     Regardless of what my unconscious was trying to convey to me through that dream, I awoke with greater gratitude for the Women’s Council, for all who are mindful of environmental concerns and for the gift of wildly exuberant Life on Earth.