DISCIPLINES FOR AN ECOLOGY OR THE SOUL

Asceticism comes from a Greek word, ascesis. This refers to the training athletes underwent so that they could compete in the boxing ring. Asceticism today trains us with skills to develop a personal and social ecology of the soul. This ecology of the soul is a practical spiritual balance which cultivates a wholesome and inclusive value system. We learn to reverence a variety of

values - such as having adequate shelter and creating a home, appreciating shared meals and friendship, fostering culture and esteem, participating in the common good, living the gospel in the world, and growing in justice and charity. In short, an ecology of the soul is a path to stewardship.

Eucharistic Prayer IV states: "Father, we acknowledge your greatness: all your actions show your wisdom and love. You formed man in your own likeness and set him over the whole world to serve you, his creator, and to rule over all creatures."

We stand around the table to give praise and thanks because we are formed in divine likeness. That means that we mirror Godliness, that we are wrapped in God's shawl, and that we unroll the scroll of God's action in the world today. We have been set over the whole world in a ministry of service to this world. We are to rule, i.e., to have dominion over all creatures. This does not mean we are to dominate the rest of creation. Nor are we to exploit creation through greed, waste, or arrogant disrespect. Rather, God entrusts creation to the human community. This sacred trust calls us to care for the earth, for human and natural resources, for other people in the same way that God does.

Human hands, through unrestrained industrial and agricultural capitalism, have brought suffering to creation. Creation's sufferings bring us instinctively towards the emotive region of the cross of Christ. We can continue hanging creation up on the meat hooks of the cross or we can learn a new asceticism, a set of spiritual disciplines for stewardship.

What disciplines will pastor our souls and establish our equipoise with the rest of creation?

First, we learn sacrifice and frugality by fasting from technology. Take a few hours every week to fast from television, CDs and cassettes, noise, electricity, and machines. Spend this time in candle light. Enjoy a family meal. Take more time to eat and to savor food and friends. Sing a bit. Tell stories and recite poems. Tell others you love them. Pray in gratitude for creation. Smell some flowers. Work in the garden. Sit (literally or figuratively) in a rocking chair on a front porch.

Secondly, devote as much time to being other centered as we do to developing self esteem. Learn more about peoples of other religions, cultures, races, and ethnicities. Learn more about animals, flowers, soil, rocks, trees, and rivers. Go the seashore and walk the beach. Visit a national park and walk the trails. Become more contemplative. Give thanks for creation.

Thirdly, join some citizen action group that works for justice for creation. Think global, act local. Do it!

Lastly, invite others to the Sunday Eucharist. This event is public praise and thanks for creation. This hour strengthens the ecology of our souls.