Compost: Lessons in Life, Death and Resurrection

REFLECT

Then the angel said to the women in reply,

"Do not be afraid!

I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified.

He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said."

 

...Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid.

Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee,

and there they will see me."

Matthew 28: 5-6, 10

"If a healthy soil is full of death, it is also full of life: worms, fungi, microorganisms of all kinds ...  Given only the health of the soil, nothing that dies is dead for very long."

Wendell Berry, The Unsettling of America, 1977

Compost is made out of food scraps, brown leaves, and other organic matter that might look dead; however, all of these items, when combined properly, can generate soil that will nourish new life. Easter promises that death does not have the final word and Jesus reminds us, "Do not be afraid," even in times of confusion or that seem filled with darkness. Resurrection and new life are the heart of our faith and cycles of nature. 

PRAY

We pray for the grace to see signs of the resurrection each day in food and nature, especially during this Easter season.  

Attempt to start a compost at your home (it's easier than you think) to give new life to your food scraps.