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Dristy and her mother Rupali have experienced the devastation caused by extreme weather.
“Jesus said to him, “Away with you Satan! For it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’”
Our readings today invite us to ponder our dependence on God and our solidarity with all creation. In Genesis we hear of God creating human beings from the soil, reminding us of our close relationship with the earth and our Creator.
In the gospel story of the temptation in the desert, Jesus resists any urge to seek earthly recognition and power, pointing instead to God as the foundation of our lives.
Reliance on God is something we share with all creation. Remembering this, we can perhaps better recognise our responsibility to care for our common home, the earth, and our sisters and brothers.
In Bangladesh, 14-year-old Dristy is no stranger to the devastation that extreme weather, caused by the climate crisis, can bring. She knows that when a cyclone comes, she must put her school books in a bag and go to the shelter where it is safer.
She says: “The adults around me talk about natural disasters, and they worry about that…If we want to be safe, we want to plant lots of trees, and we have to stop taking out sand from the river. We need to stop destroying forests. We need to stop all the black smoke coming out of factories too. We need to let people know about this, because not everyone knows it.”
So, in this season of Lent, as we remember our common dependence on God, let’s take time to ponder what this means for our lives and for how we care for our world and all our global family, especially those who are most vulnerable.
Lent prayer
Faithful God,
you created and sustain all things.
Create in us a desire to live simply
and in solidarity with our sisters and brothers in need.
Amen.
Act
Learn to live simply and encourage others to do the same.