Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from You.”

“You crown the year with your goodness.

Abundance flows in your steps;

. . . the meadows are covered with flocks,

the valleys are decked with wheat.

They shout for joy, yes, they sing”

(Ps 64/65: 12-14).

Singing of a bountiful harvest like this is understandable in much of the American Midwest or in some world breadbasket. At times, of course, drought, flood or frost may limit that, but bounty seems usual. Praying or reading these words, though, one must think of how inapplicable they are to some land plagued for years by drought, war or flood. What do we do? Should we be satisfied to think that there are inequalities, injustices? And that we must accept them simply as good or bad luck.

The more we are aware of how we form one world, one universe, even one huge organism, the more we must realize how offensive is this huge inequality. Communication, technology, our whole modern world make possible almost instant presence to others, to other places and peoples; they make possible massive movements of anything we wish to move.

What prevents us from assuring that the whole world shares in harvest blessings is not know-how but a willingness to do it. We can work for that or contribute to that in our own fairly obvious ways such as voting. Somehow, we and our world can do better at sharing the loaves and the fishes.

Psalm 27: “I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness / in the land of the living.

Wait for the Lord; be strong; / be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!”

Reply to Fr. Don at: DTalafous@csbsju.edu

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