“–Wherever the land is dry and hard, you could be the water …
–or you could be the blade disking the earth open;
–or you could be the acequia, the ditch that carries water from river to fields;
–or you could be the just engineer mapping dams that must be taken down, and those which would serve the venerable all, instead of only the very few;
–or you could be the battered vessel for carrying water by hand;
–or you could be the one who stores the water, protects it, blesses it or pours it;
–or you could be the tired ground that receives it;
–or you could be the scorched seed that drinks it;
–or you could be the vine green-growing overland in all your wild audacity …”

“If there is an ancient secret to caring for and mending the significant lacerations to this “Oh-my-dear-God-beautiful” earth we’ve been given, by soul’s light it might be just a tiny four-word prayer from Creator to humanity:

““Please, just start anywhere.”

”
(from “The Rainmakers: Beer Bottle Old Woman, Tin Can Old Man” by Dr.E, see here)

The Pope, this morning, in response to President Bush’s welcome at the White House sprang up from his ceremonial chair with the vitality of a young man, no ooofs or ehhhs, (the Pope is 81 years old as of today, April 16, 2008).

This morning President Bush ritually asked that the Pope keep the USA in his prayers. But the Pope in response, said with verve, that in addition he would exhort the people of the USA to be in spirit and “even more responsive/responsible to the life of their nation,” the USA.

This does not mean, “There there, nice people, just separate paper from plastic, and you’ll be doing your part.” It means to unleash convenings, meet to ask questions, to plan, to think of how to bring to bear, to implement, in millions of ways, and sustainedly.

The Pope’s heartfelt “God Bless America” at the end of his address at the White House today, held a sincerity and timbre not seen for years in the usual GodblessAmericabyrote at the end of many politicos’ speeches here in the USA.

President Bush noticed, and in one of his best traits when well aimed, which is a very sweet boyish enthusiasm, he leaned toward the Pope and said of the prelate’s speech, “…that was an awesome speech.”

The contrast between predictable official welcomes, and a rather startling vitality in the Pope’s opening volley, is becoming an increasing part of this Pope’s pronouncements publicly. Just as such was when the Pope recently began to describe for the first time… the debt of honor earth’s people have toward caring for the planet.

Recently, in L’Osservatore Romano, an interview entitled “New Forms of Social Sin,” offered Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti’s remarks about “ecological” sin, which undergirded Pope Benedict XVI’s now ongoing public expressions of concern about global warming and other issues of environs.

The Pope will reiterate his exhortation to the world communities to better care for the earth in his speech to the U.N. here in the United States.

It is remarkable that this burgeoning concern about Earth’s wellness, by the Vatican, may be evidence of the quickening of the very soul of one of the largest churches on planet Earth… a distinct move away from the Church heretofore, often taking eons to notice or affirm or allow into consciousness, scientific ecological facts that might aid humans.

Instead, the Church joins now to exhort guardianship of the earth with an unprecedented timeliness of thought and action insofar as possible. As St. Joseph, the protector of children is still weeping over the pedophile infiltration and protectionism by the Church for decades, also Galileo must be nodding his head in approval over the Pope’s more timely awareness of earth’s science.

If the Pope’s focus is sustained and elaborated by Vatican actions beyond simply changing its brick and mortar structures to save energy in heat and electricity–which indeed it has done by installing photo-cells, solar mechanics, and timing mechanisms to save energy in its vast real estate holdings in Rome– then the directive to the 65 million Catholics in the USA, and just over 1 billion Catholics worldwide to care for the earth… potentially creates one of the most breathtaking headlines in history.

If.

If a small percentage of those who hear the Pope’s dictum, follow it… despite or because– the church often states things in terms of sin– e.g., ‘it is a sin to make the usually clean air, instead, a dank yellow-green at the horizon line.’

But for many, sin=bad is too simplistic. Sin=separation from God, is the bigger idea that is too often occluded if there is an overage of finger-shaking and declamations of tiresome ‘abomination rhetoric’ …. To browbeat people too often hides rather than reveals a singular ideal; in this case, that ‘caring for the earth’ has a very real life and death premise behind it. Thus, the Pope’s pronouncement is not some sappy version of ’save the Earth,’ nor one more chorus added to ‘Save the titmouse.’ It is at its core, meant to create lasting peace amongst people.

Just one aspect of Catholic thinking is that making and keeping peace in the world between peoples begins with the care of the things humans die without, and most especially will murder each other over:
–access to clean and adequate water, air and land;
–access to crops and medicines that come from the earth;
–development that gives those who live on that terrain the say-so,
–an ecosystem that does not strip humans of habitat
–but instead nourishes and revives them,
–rests them and feeds them,
–and reminds them of a “Source without source” daily,
–without having to be told,
–without having to pay to be carried there to visit…
–because all humans are already there.
–Because everyone is already Home.

It can be said that wise, short and long-term care of the environment so that it nourishes well, is one of the most relevant necessities to a down-to-earth and lasting peace amongst peoples.

Most of us know it doesn’t take the entire world to turn matters toward the better, but small roving tribes of dedicated souls who show up. Who keep showing up.

With love in their hearts; love, which in our times, is often more scorned and looked down upon, than some of the highest crimes.

No matter.

And. Sometimes, it is not the biggest, most powerful organizations– although they are critical– which inspire us to care for others and for earth, but rather…. lowly, humble people, who are giving quietly, changing earth in ways that –once we espy them– our souls might leap to imitate, to act similarly. No finger-shaking needed. Inspiratus by example.

If you would like to read a brief story about two such unknown souls who have their own odd ways of caring for a tiny parcel of earth, read here at my column El Rio Debajo del Rio (The River Beneath the River) at The National Catholic Reporter. Scroll to the bottom of the article: The Rainmakers: Beer Bottle Old Woman and Tin Can Old Man