Healing Ministry 1
Volume 12, Number 1, Winter 2005
F rom the pulpit
Thankfulness,
consumerism, and
the prophet within
Father Thomas Johnson-Medland, CSJ
PROOF COPY ONLY - DO NOT DISTRIBUTE
In the early morning, I have
taken to running along the canal
near my home. It is peaceful, still,
and clears my head on most
days. I find that the rhythmic
pounding of my feet along with
my heart causes things to bubble
up out of me that are longing to
be set free, as though there is an
inner prophet able to speak only
in the stillness of the predawn
day. I have taken to listening to
his words and stories, for they
give me a new vision every now
and then, one that I may take
back to color the routines of my
life.
I sometimes wonder about this
Father Thomas Johnson-Medland, CSJ, Light-
house Hospice, Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
presence of the “other” inside. I
find myself scratching my head
and trying to decide where he
begins and I end. But mostly, I
am appreciative of the new way
to view life, and am in awe of the
fact that there are ever-revealing
and ever-deepening resources
within each and every one of us.
Today, I heard the prophet
speak thus: “The greed and
avarice of our society pushes us
toward cancer, terrorism, and
global pollution.” It is not a new
set of words to ponder, but there
is a clear feeling of truth to them.
I suppose they were drawn out of
me when I saw the mounds of
trash wrapped around trees
along the edge of the river, a
reminder of grandeur disrupted.
We would do well to take
stock of how much trash each
home discards. I am astounded
each week at the amount of plas-
tic I send back out and into the
world. How can we wonder why
the earth is so fragile?
In American culture, consum-
ing goes unchecked. We give lit-
tle thought to acquiring more
and more stuff. This is true in the
workplace (we need more busi-
ness, more clients, more profit)
and in the home (we need more
space, more services, and more
stuff to fill it).
Some aspects of consumerism
have gotten to the point of absur-
dity. Children no longer go to
fast-food restaurants simply for
the unhealthy, overpackaged, yet
2 Healing Ministry
Volume 12, Number 1, Winter 2005
PROOF COPY ONLY - DO NOT DISTRIBUTE
cleverly marketed meals; now
they base their choices on the
additional plastic junk toys the
restaurants give out. There must
be hundreds of unused plastic
junk toys in any home with chil-
dren under 16. I’ve even seen
them showing up in garage sales,
as if they had any value.
This is one of the deepest
changes mass consumerism makes
in us—it changes our idea of what
is valuable. The erratic compul-
siveness that has emerged in our
society due to our belief that we
can and should have almost any-
thing we can imagine has diverted
our ability to determine what has
true value. It has also pushed us
away from deriving worth and
meaning from the things we do
have in our lives, whether those
things are objects, principles, ideas,
feelings, or people.
When I hold in my heart the
countless number of individuals
and families that have had cancer
ravish their lives—when I con-
sider the boundless pain inflicted
by this aggressive and unrelent-
ing illness—I am reminded of
how much cancer is akin to mate-
rialism and mass-consumerism.
It seems to me that what cancer
does to the body is similar to
what consumerism does to the
planet. Both are empty entities.
Both flourish in places where
soulfullness, awareness, and con-
sciousness are absent. Cancer
eats tissue with no concern for
life; consumers seek to obtain
whatever is in their path with no
concern for present or future life.
Ironically, these acquisitions
never bring lasting pleasure or
fulfillment. The Tibetans have a
category of beings entitled “Empty
Ghosts/Hungry Ghosts”; these
beings continually consume but
are never sated. Isn’t that a
metaphoric description of con-
sumerism? Terrorism, destruc-
tion of the natural world, isola-
tion, cancer, distancing ourselves
from the voices in our souls—are
these not different manifesta-
tions of the same beast?
As I run, as my thoughts drift
back to the beauty of the canal, to
the joy of the earth and her
rhythms, the prophet says, Tell
people. Show them why they’re
unhappy, what they’re doing wrong.
The prophet says, How many
phones do you need? How many
televisions do you need? How many
cars, stereos, CDs, meals out, new
suits, shoes, toys? How much will be
enough? Do you realize it will never
be enough? The prophet says, Ask
them. Don’t scold them or give them
the answer. Just ask.
I have a wealth of abundance
that is unrelated to my income
or the type of car I drive. I am
filled with awe and wonder at
the power that comes with
choosing to be thankful for what
I already have and am connect-
ed to. Being satisfied may be a
dying art, but it appears to be
the antidote to avarice. Thank-
fulness may not play well on
Wall Street, but it remedies the
desire to consume.
The radiant glow of a golden
sassafras leaf interrupts my pon-
derings. How wonderfully rich is
the color, the deep red of the leaf
to its left in such stark contrast.
“Wow.” What else can we say to
the gift of such delicious, simple
beauty?
Thank you. Thank you for the
leaf.