Practice Resurrection

REFLECT

So, friends, every day do something

that won’t compute. Love the Lord.

Love the world. Work for nothing.

Take all that you have and be poor.

Love someone who does not deserve it…

 

Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias.

Say that your main crop is the forest

that you did not plant,

that you will not live to harvest.

Say that the leaves are harvested

when they have rotted into the mold.

Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.

Put your faith in the two inches of humus

that will build under the trees

every thousand years…

 

Go with your love to the fields.

Lie easy in the shade. Rest your head

in her lap. Swear allegiance

to what is nighest your thoughts.

As soon as the generals and the politicos

can predict the motions of your mind,

lose it. Leave it as a sign

to mark the false trail, the way

you didn’t go. Be like the fox

who makes more tracks than necessary,

some in the wrong direction.

Practice resurrection.

Excerpts from "Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front" by Wendell Berry

PRAY

What word or phrase from the poem speaks to you today?

Use the poem as inspiration for prayer. Do something today that "won’t compute," something that is not "productive" in any way. Wander like the fox, love the world, or practice resurrection however you feel moved and in whatever way you are able. 

You can also "practice resurrection" by using food scraps to grow more food. Items such as the end of a celery stalk or the core of romaine lettuce can be put in water to sprout more food. 

Lenten Daily Food Reflections

pause | reflect | act

Editor's note: These daily reflections on food, faith, climate and our lives will provide spiritual sustenance for the Lenten journey. They are inspired by the Lenten Food Waste Fast at the Ignatian Solidarity Network.