March 3rd

Five Minutes on Friday #62

HOPE FOR THE EARTH

A recent article in Nature magazine tells the following story:  Sperm whales have made a comeback in the northern waters off Alaska, and they pose a challenge to commercial fisherfolk.  Some of the interesting notes from the article:

*When fisherfolk reel in their longlines the machinery makes a unique noise which is a kind of acoustic cue for the whales to come looking for lunch.  They can hear these sounds up to twelve miles away.

*Some whales engage in what the fishers call ‘flossing.’  When a whale sees a longline being pulled onboard a boat, they grab it in their mouth. The whale lets the main line slide through their teeth and picks fish as they come by.  The whales get the easy calories, and the fishermen have to rebait the hooks and burn precious fuel to fish somewhere else.

*Many whale watchers value them inherently for what they are in themselves, whether or not they ever get the chance to see one. A whale’s size, charisma, and intelligence make it worthy of protection in its own right. This is clearly an ethical advance, a small sign of moral maturation in our species.

Read the full article below.

https://lithub.com/how-the-resurgence-of-whale-populations-impacts-our-ecosystem/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Lit%20Hu

LENT AND PRAYER

“Electronic communication has radically altered our lives.  While it has made our lives wonderfully efficient, it also demands our attention twenty-four hours a day.  Already in the 13^th century, the poet Rumi complained about having to be available all the time: ‘I have lived too long where I can be reached.’  How true … we can be reached all the time.  There never needs to be any silence and solitude in our lives. 

Information technology is a powerful narcotic, for good and for bad.  Sometimes a narcotic is helpful; it can shield us from pain and soothe us.  But it can also be overly intoxicating and too absorbing.  It can swallow us whole.  There are few better things we can do to find solitude and rest … where all the news in the world is available at our fingertips, than to practice contemplative prayer, a regular and deep-centering of ourselves in silence, a quiet sitting in one-to-one intimacy with God.’    [Ron Rolheiser in Sacred Fire, 200]

BEATITUDES – Matthew 5.8

‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Wonderful news for the pure in heart!  You will see God.

The spirit of the age blesses the clever ones who come up with the best schemes—
Jesus blesses the pure-hearted who have no schemes.    [B. Zahnd]

The word ‘pure’ means unmixed, in otherwords, blessed are those with unmixed motives.  Throughout the Gospels Jesus speaks of integrity of commitment:

        ‘No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.’

        ‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord”, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only one who does the will of my Father in heaven.’

The pure in heart will ‘see God.’  They will see God because their lives are in focus with the reign of God, freed from attachment to false masters like wealth, prejudice, militarism or egotism.  [Glen Stassen]

Psalm 24 describes the person who has complete integrity as they go to worship. 

‘Blessed are the pure in heart’ – Guildford Cathedral Choir