“ Happy the gentle: they shall have the earth for their heritage. ” Matthew 5: 4

Some very fond and yet powerful memories were unearthed for me while reflecting on the gospel passage for this weekend. About twenty odd years ago I was reading a book entitled Small is Beautiful – a study of economics as if people mattered - by EF Schumacher.

Apart from being an author, he was also an entrepreneur, journalist and economist. In one of the chapters of his book, he referred to the Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount, as “precise instructions on how to construct an outlook that could lead to an Economics of Survival.”

The Gospels, he said, were his most exalted texts and he declared as daring, the link between the Beatitudes, technology and economics. He made the point that perhaps our world is in trouble precisely because we have failed to make the connection. Schumacher offered an interpretation of what the Beatitudes meant for him:

“ - We are poor, not demi-gods.

- We have plenty to be sorrowful about, and are not emerging into a golden age.

- We need a gentle approach, a non-violent spirit, and small is beautiful.

- We must concern ourselves with justice and see right prevail.

- And all this, only this, can enable us to become peacemakers.”

His understanding of the Beatitudes has helped me to realise how this teaching of Jesus is not some pious, lofty, impractical ideal, but is rooted in reality. There are implications for technology, economics, ecology and the environment and as he himself insisted, it leads to an economics of survival.

His Beatitude concerning the earth: “we need a gentle approach, a non-violent spirit, and small is beautiful” made not only a lasting impression on me, but brought home the significance, relevance and importance of reverence for the earth and nature.

Reading his book, Small is Beautiful , and the teachings embodied within it, reminds me of Jesus who went up the hill, sat down and was joined by his disciples. It is there he began to speak and teach them. Schumacher's book reveals a teaching in the world of economics that places emphasis on the person and not the product.

He proposes systems in the fields of technology and organic farming that are respectful, reverent and therefore human. This is how he sees the survival of the world and the earth being there for our heritage.

The Native American Indians have long had the tradition of reverence for the earth, treating it in a manner that brings about having the earth for our heritage. I recall the well-known passage attributed to Chief Seattle in response to the Great Chief in Washington who wanted to buy their land.

The thought of “buying” and “selling” land was alien to them. They saw the air, the water, the rivers, the flowers, the horses, the eagles as their brothers and sisters. They referred to the white man's ways as an appetite “that devours the earth and leaves behind only a desert.”

Their connectedness to the land and the earth was expressed as follows: “Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.”

The Native American tradition is another example of Jesus' teaching in today's gospel. Their traditions of caring for the earth, relating to it as a brother, sister and mother, understanding it as sacred, lives the beatitude “ Happy the gentle: they shall have the earth for their heritage. ”

Let us pray:

Lord, we thank you for all people in our world, our country today, those who are involved in organisations and communities who treat the earth gently and with respect. They know Lord that the earth is our mother and that we are all connected. They treasure and preserve the earth as their heritage, we thank you Lord.

Lord, we ask pardon for the times when we desecrate, abuse and rape the earth. Lord, we are violent and disrespect the environment and so the earth will not be our heritage.

Gospel Meditations for January are by Annie Gomes-Phillips. Mrs Gomes-Phillips is married to Ainsley and is the mother of Avion and Andrew. She is a parishioner of St Theresa's, Woodbrook and vice-principal of Fatima College.