The black pepper creepers in our garden show signs of flowering. In about a month we would see black pepper in the formative stage hanging on the creepers. This is a refreshing sight in the garden. The back peppers creepers flower only once a year. The maturing time they take before we can pluck them is about four to six months. During one half of the year, the creepers have only foliage of different sizes.
There is a season of being present in preparation for fruit bearing !
A black pepper creeper has its cycle of fruit bearing !
I came across a phrase, 'Beatitudinal living' in the book, Spirituality of the Beatitudes, by Michael H. Crosby. The author reflects on the sayings of the Jesus of Nazareth in the fifth chapter of the gospel of Matthew in the New Testament of the Bible, and brings a perspective that drew my attention: '...individualism is undermining the possibility of authentic community (p ix). His intent to explore the Beatitudinal sayings of Jesus was explicit: ' I wanted my theology of Beatitudes to become the story of our lives-individually, communally and collectively for the integrity of creation' (p xv).
The message the pepper creeper announces when it flowers, is 'I am here for others with my fruits'!
A against this universal truth that life announces, the domineering view of life that seems to strangle people today is 'I exist for myself'! Every time one hears the remarks of the president of the United States of America, there is an expressed contradiction to the above universal truth. The individual interests dominate and are enforced upon others!
I saw a man in arm crutches walking along the road with a small bag. The people who knew him told me that he was walking half a kilometre to take food to a blind man who stayed alone in a room. This man on crutches brought lunch for him every day. On rainy days, he does with an umbrella attached to his hat.
This way of Beatitudinal living is what makes our life in our society an experience of collective living.
Michael Crosby quoting a developmental psychologist, Sharon Parks states this in page xvii of the book: ' The primary task before us, both women and men, is not that of becoming a fulfilled self, or fulfilled nation, but rather to become a faithful people, members of a whole human family, dwelling together in our small planet home, guest to each other in the household of God.... In other words, we will not find the wholeness we seek until the imagery of home, homesteading, dwelling and abiding is restored to a place of centrality in the contemporary imagination' !
The famous statement of Stephen Grellet comes to my mind: ' I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good thing, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again'.
It was while watching the pepper plant with its flowering presence, I felt moved to ponder on a larger purpose of being, going beyond one's own personal gain!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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