PAYING ATTENTION
Author: Fr. Michael Byron
December 01, 2019
We’re still
a couple of months away from Groundhog Day, when all eyes will be fixed on
Punxsutawney Phil to let us know how long our winter will be, but it might not
be a bad question to ask whether animals have the ability to predict the
weather. The answer from science seems to be both yes and no, and it depends
upon the animal. The answer is no, in the sense that most animals don’t have
the ability to think about meteorology and jet streams and cold fronts.
Punxsutawney Phil certainly doesn’t.
But the
answer is yes, in the sense that many animals have the ability to sense when
something is changing, or when something is unusual, or when something is
dangerous. Animals of all kinds have at least the same five senses that we
human animals do—smell, taste, touch, sound, and sight.
And some of
those animals have far more highly developed senses than we do, just by their
nature. An eagle can see about eight times farther than a human being, and can
hone in on a rabbit from a distance of about two miles.
A bear can
smell about 100 times farther that we can, sometimes up to 20 miles away. Owls
and elephants and dogs and bats and even moths can hear ranges of sound that
none of us can hear.
But in other
cases animals have no greater sensitivity than human beings do—but they are far
more attentive to what is going on around them than people are. I think it’s
safe to say that animals are not usually as prone to being distracted by
unimportant things as we are. They are too engaged in the task of survival, all
the time. So they are required to use their senses to attend to what will keep
them alive, and to run away from what would threaten them. Or fly away.
That seems
like such a basic and common sense instinct, but we humans have struggled from
the beginning to get it right. It is we who are much more likely to be seduced
by the latest shiny thing—to the point that we can ignore what our senses are
telling us about life and death.
We’re doing
it now. Our climate is changing in dangerous, life-threatening ways, and so
many humans carry on as if nothing is happening. The animals are very well
aware, and we can tend to ignore them too. Something has to change.
And this
brings us to the gospel of Matthew today, in which Jesus is saying exactly
that. He reminds his disciples of the ancient story of Noah, who had attended
to God’s word and was well aware that a natural catastrophe was coming in the
great flood. He dedicated his time and life work to preparing for that day—he
built the ark and gathered the animals, while everyone else partied on in
willful ignorance. And then the waters came in an instant, and destroyed them
all.
We
Catholics, who are not literalist readers of the bible, have no reason to think
that the story of Noah was actual history. But we have every reason to believe
that it is true. Jesus certainly did. And it is every bit as true for us now.
We enter in
to this new season of Advent hearing the pleadings of both Jesus and St. Paul
in the Sacred Scripture: Live now in the
knowledge of what is coming, and what will endure. We have our five senses,
like all the animals. Let us quit being so distracted by less important
things—especially in this pre-holiday season of glitz and glitter. Paul tells
the Romans to quit making their amusements—sometimes sinful ones—more important
than their attentiveness to the dawning Day of the Lord.
It is
coming, and it is almost here, and it will arrive by surprise, and the only
people who will need to worry about that are the ones who have failed now to
see, to hear, to touch, to taste, and to smell. It’s a time known only to God,
but it is not hard to understand.
The coming of
the dawn is not a maybe thing. And our responsibility now in preparing for that
great day is not mysterious…
It is as plain as our five senses:
Hear the call of the Lord, and the cry of the poor, and the voices of the
voiceless
Taste the body and blood of the Eucharist, and the sufferings of the poor
See the goodness of creation, and the injustice that keeps others from
partaking in it
Smell the sweetness of the promise, and the stench of violence that obstructs
it
Feel the Spirit in community, and the void of those who are excluded
If we wait
until the day arrives to do these things, it will be too late. We live now, and
every day of our lives, so as to be ready when the Lord returns.
Jesus’ command is to “Stay Awake!” Not merely to
be conscious, but to be busy about the things that will make us and our weary
world ready to welcome him. Like Noah, we have our five senses to guide us and
to make us wise, even when that may sometimes seem to put us at odds with
popular culture. And we have even more: We have the promise and the grace of
Jesus Christ to enable us to live rightly while we wait. The hour is coming,
and that is a very good thing.
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