The Flood

When the LORD saw how great was man’s wickedness on earth, and how no desire that his heart conceived was ever anything but evil, he regretted that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was grieved. So the LORD said: “I will wipe out from the earth the men whom I have created, and not only the men, but also the beasts and the creeping things and the birds of the air, for I am sorry that I made them.”

But Noah found favor with the LORD. Then the LORD said to Noah: “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for you alone in this age have I found to be truly just. Of every clean animal, take with you seven pairs, a male and its mate; and of the unclean animals, one pair, a male and its mate; likewise, of every clean bird of the air, seven pairs, a male and a female, and of all the unclean birds, one pair, a male and a female. Thus you will keep their issue alive over all the earth.

Seven days from now I will bring rain down on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and so I will wipe out from the surface of the earth every moving creature that I have made.” Noah did just as the LORD had commanded him. As soon as the seven days were over, the waters of the flood came upon the earth. (Genesis 6:5-8; 7:1-5, 10)

Aha!  Those who selected our readings for daily Mass were clever.  Yesterday’s reading mentioned Seth.  I noted that Noah was descended from Seth – the third son of Adam and Eve.  Today we read Noah’s story.  These biblical, mythological characters speak truth to us all.

Yes, how great is man’s wickedness on earth, and how no desire that man’s heart conceived is ever anything but evil.  True, really?  Only we can respond to this claim made by the LORD.  That claim was made in biblical times, and the result: a devastating flood with Noah’s rescue act – an act of rescue with an emphasis on animals, not on humans.  

Is there any rescue plan for today and tomorrow?  God is good and is love, but what is man and woman?  Again, only we can answer these questions through our words and deeds.

With global warming and sea level rise around the world, some time in the future, we all will need arks, or we retreat to higher ground.  This likely will happen well before the end of the century, about 80 years away.  Our and world-wide population descendants will look back on our/their ancestors and will say: “How great was their wickedness!  They cared not for the Earth.”  

My assessment of our future situation is quite glum.  I’m influenced by God’s conversation with Noah.  God speaks to us now through climate scientists and our new Climate Czar, John Kerry, selected by President Joe Biden.  

Consider this NASA statement: A large fraction of the Earth’s fresh water is frozen: It’s stored in glaciers all around the world, and in both the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. When this ice melts or calves off, the water flows into the oceans and sea levels rise. If all glaciers and ice sheets melted, global sea level would rise by more than 195 feet (60 meters). 

NASA continuously measures the weight of glaciers and ice sheets – with the twin GRACE satellites from 2002 to 2017, and with the GRACE-Follow On satellites since 2018. These satellites unambiguously show that the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, as well as the glaciers, are shrinking. Both the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the US National Climate Assessment conclude that ice loss was the largest contributor to sea-level rise during the past few decades, and will contribute to rising sea levels for the century to come.

Time to build our arks.  Seriously.

Deacon David Pierce