Vital Life No. 5: A Friar's Experience

Fellow Residents and Staff,

Groundhog’s Day occurs this month. That day fascinated me when I was a kid and fascinates me still. Sixty years ago I didn’t know what a groundhog was, but I imagined something like a porcupine. (The best thing about imagination is that we can imagine whatever we want!) I didn’t understand anything about the critter’s seeing its shadow; and in cold, wet, slushy February spring seemed like a long way off, shadow or no shadow, six weeks or no six weeks. I first saw a groundhog ten years ago when I lived at Saint John the Baptist Friary in suburban Cincinnati, as we had several groundhogs on the property. Two years ago I stayed all night in notorious Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, on my way home from vacation.

Behind the longtime folklore and more recent hoopla, however, there lies a grain of truth. If shadows are seen in mid-winter, the sun is shining. If the sun is shining, there is no cloud cover. If there is no cloud cover, earth’s heat dissipates. If earth’s heat dissipates, winter will remain. On the other hand, if there are no shadows to be seen, the sun is not shining. If the sun is not shining, there is cloud cover. If there is cloud cover, the earth’s heat is trapped. If the heat is trapped, spring will come earlier.

We have had an unusually mild winter. While a mild winter may be convenient for those of us who would otherwise have to scrape, gouge, or dig ice off our windshields in the morning, it is not good for our planet. In latitudes such as ours we need the cycle of seasons—winter, spring, summer, fall. How concerned are we for the well-being of our earth? Christian theology and Franciscan spirituality teach that creation has been entrusted to us. How good has our stewardship been? Do we reverence the earth? What kind of planet do we want future generations to inherit? What changes in lifestyle are we willing to make in order to leave them with a healthy planet?

Lent begins later this month. Should those questions be part of our Lenten meditation?

In the words of Saint Francis, Peace and every Blessing!

Loren Connell, OFM,

sacramental minister

February 1, 2011