Deacon Tom Writes,
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Aretha Franklin’s recent passing filled the airways
with one of her blockbuster hits, “R-E-S-P-E-C-T.” One simple word behind which
summarizes the basic obligation and duty we owe not only to one another but to
the entirety of creation around us.
In the calling forth creation Genesis recounts this
majestic moment when, after naming all the animals God created and finding no
suitable partner for “man”, God creates “woman”. If we were to travel to the
end of the cosmos and, arriving there, find an ancient text that recorded these
same words, I wonder how we back on earth would interpret those words today in
the fuller context of the same passage of our first reading.
That there was no suitable “partner” for the man is
telling. Man’s partner does not come from all prior life that man was given
dominion over. Rather, man’s partner is “bone of my bone and flesh of my
flesh.” How difficult would it be to see the creation story of this distant
world organized around a partnership between two created beings, sharing the
same flesh and blood, whose purpose in life was to become “one flesh?”
I suspect that if this distant civilization evolved
from with this understanding of partnership and purpose it would have would
have built a society much different than ours who have this same text as our
foundational narrative. Our interpretation is much different and we are just coming
to terms with the problems our poor judgment has sewn throughout time memorial.
Respect is a duty we owe to one another. It is the
profound recognition that we are “created beings” whose origin is same
beneficent creator who has made us “little
less than god” Ps 8:6 in the sense that we are all destined to share in His
very being for all eternity.
If we only understood the meaning of the word
“respect.” If we only knew the meaning of the Creation Story, what a different
world we would be living in. Fostering respect for one another is the way out
of many of the problems we confront in our society today. This is certainly
rich soil to cultivate. Interestingly, in a recent article in
America Magazine on-line confronting
the negative caricature facing Georgetown Prep in the aftermath of the Judge
Kavanaugh nomination to the Supreme Court, Fr. James Van Dyke, S.J. the schools
president remarked, “the problem facing
the larger culture among both men and women that we sadly cannot seem to
address—a fundamental lack of respect for persons as such”.
Today’s readings urge us to reflect on not only how
we treat others but how we view them. For in Christ we are all “One body”.
Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom
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