The Message Goes Out

Gospel Reflection for Thursday, September 21, 2023

R. (5) Their message goes out through all the earth.
The heavens declare the glory of God;
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
Day pours out the word to day,
and night to night imparts knowledge.
R. Their message goes out through all the earth.
Not a word nor a discourse
whose voice is not heard;
Through all the earth their voice resounds,
and to the ends of the world, their message.
R. Their message goes out through all the earth.

-Ps 19:2-3, 4-5

I decided to focus on the Psalm today for several reasons. Today’s first reading is on Christian unity, a topic about which I have written recently. The Gospel discusses how our Lord reached our to sinners - Chantal and Kaleb have both written excellent articles on related topics in just the past few days. But also, just a few days ago, it was the Feast Day of Saint Hildegard von Bingen. Saint Hildegard, as well as being a mystic, theologian, composer of music, etc.… a Doctor of the Church, was a great herbalist and a great influence on my work as an herbalist and author. I have written two articles about her already for Missio Dei, that are taken from my book, The History and Practice of Christian Herbal Medicine, so I won’t rehash that today.

Given Saint Hildegard’s view of God, nature and man as inextricably connected… in fact, all illness arising from disharmony between these elements, I imagine that she often quote this Psalm. She likely quoted Saint Paul, as well, in his teachings on unity. Jesus as the Great Physician as referenced in today’s gospel, was certainly a common theme. Simply put, she taught that sickness and death entered the world as the effects of sin. Disobedience to God caused disharmony and disorder. As is common to Christian belief, she taught that all of creation was effected by this disharmony and subject to degeneration due to original (inherited) sin as well as the sins we commit personally. Health in both body and soul was to be found in unity with God and in harmony with creation. She believed that plants, animals, stones, metals, etc. were created by God for man’s use, and if used properly could have both a physical/medicinal effect and in some instances be a spiritual aid, as well…. especially as she believed certain illnesses to be caused by demonic influence.

While the medicine of Saint Hildegard is quite complex, the point of this article is not to explore that topic. The Psalmist tells us that nature teaches us of God. Indeed, the Bible tells us that no man could claim to be ignorant of God because evidence of Him and insight into His nature is seen in His creation. The beauty of nature tells us that God is infinitely beautiful. The wonder of its design tells us that God is intimately wise. That all living things find provision for their needs tells us that God is infinitely benevolent. The grandeur of the mountains, the depths of the sea, the infinity of space and much more tell us that God is infinitely wonderful and unfathomable. And even the beating of our hearts tells us that God loves us each, individually, in giving us life.

I think many of us these days live so isolated from the natural world that we don’t feel this reality as deeply as did our ancestors. While many of us spend far too much time indoors and on our internet connected devices, some even want us to truly live in cyberspace through artificial intelligence and transhumanism - the melding of man and machine. They would replace the natural world, the creation of God, with the creation of man. Some even promise that our personalities could be uploaded to the internet and we could “live forever”. I believe this to be absolutely evil and much in common with the sin of Satan who declared himself his own god.

I am sure, like a modern day Towel of Babel, it will fail… very likely with catastrophic consequences. I also believe that I know what Saint Hildegard would say. She would tell us that man should not try to separate himself from either nature or from God. In striving for harmony with God and His creation we find the natural order that can lead us back to the unity which was intended and is our natural state. Sin is disordered passion and the arrogance that leads man to think he can create his own world leads many into deranged thought and danger of hell. However, it is doomed to fail. God’s creation will remain. The sun will still rise and the grass will still grow, and all that is natural will still speak of the eternal One who is the Creator. No matter what happens between now and then, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church will still stand until the end of time with the unchanging fullness of Truth. Heaven and Earth will pass away, but our Lord’s words are eternal and we may trust in His promises.

Judson Carroll is the author of several books, including his newest, Confirmation, an Autobiography of Faith. It is Available in paperback on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C47Q1JNK

His new podcast is The Uncensored Catholic https://www.spreaker.com/show/the-uncensored-catholic