September 29th

Did you know there are at least 350,000 species of beetles?  That is just one example of the incredible variety of life on this planet alone.  Nature seems to love diversity; human nature does not always seem to love diversity.  We humans can feel threatened by variations even within our own species.  At times, we fear human beings of different races, religions, cultures.  Fear easily leads to violence and, before you know it, we need words like racism and genocide and ethnic cleansing to describe our behavior.
 
        Considering this tendency towards fear and violence, a line from the movie, The African Queen, came to mind.  The straight-laced Rosie Sayer turns to the disheveled, hung-over Charlie Allnut at one point and says, “Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put on earth to rise above.”  When I first heard that line, I wasn’t sure how to interpret it.  Now  I wonder if I might not apply that line to some of my own instincts.  When I feel threatened by people who are different, rise above.  When I am afraid and want to strike out at another, rise above.
 
        As a Catholic, I am asked to bear witness to Jesus’ resurrection.  To do that, I want to remember and celebrate Jesus’ refusal to live out of fear or turn to violence.  He was obedient to the commandment to love, “obedient unto death—even death on a cross.”  His resurrection was a matter of rising above death—dealing with fear and violence.  As a member of the Body of Christ, I want to participate in that resurrection and rise above natural, but death dealing, instincts.