In his book, Letters from the Desert, The Little Brother of Jesus, Carlo Carretto tells of a journey in the Sahara that he made son after becoming a monk.  He arrived at a place just as the sun was setting and the temperature plummeted. It is a fact that the Sahara is known as a ‘cold country where it is very hot in the sun’ and because of this he carried two blankets.  He arrived at a village where he noticed an old man shivering with cold.  Carlo thought that he should give the old man one of his blankets but he thought of the night ahead and the cold that was descending.  He knew that he really ought to have given the old man a blanket but when he drove off in his jeep the blankets were still with him.

Eventually he made camp under a great rock that would give him shelter from the wind.  He wrapped himself in both his blankets and eventually he fell asleep.  And he had a dream.  He dreamt that he was lying under the very rock he had camped under. In the dream the rock moved and a great boulder fell on top of him.  It did not kill him but he was no longer able to move his body.  He opened his eyes  and saw the old man shivering before him.  Now, he didn’t hesitate.  The blanket was no longer any use to him so he tried to stretch out his hand to offer the blanket but the stone made even the smallest movement impossible.  The blanket mocked him and reminded him of his lack of charity.  He wondered how long he might have to remain under the rock and God then spoke to his heart:  Until you are capable of an act of perfect love.  In an inverted sort of way this story is about God’s Providence. God provided warmth and protection for the shivering old man but it was denied him by the selfishness of Carlo Carretto. 

You see it isn’t that God hasn’t provided for the needs of the world – the planet teems with everything we need to sustain life and to share its goodness equally with all.  It’s just that some have more and want even more and so deny Providence to those in need.

We are presently caught up with worry about the credit crunch – the global destabilization of the world’s economy caused partly by unscrupulous dealings on the world’s Stock Markets and partly  by the media which has been quick to talk us into Recession. Nothing spreads faster with devastating consequences than bad news piled onto bad news.  But in the midst of our present crisis perhaps there is room for a view that whilst not manipulating us into crisis, God’s providence might be at work.  For too long we have been a consumer-driven economy and acquisitiveness and making money and providing vast profits for a few shareholders has been the name of the game.  Add to that inflated house prices and exceptionally large salaries for a few and you do begin to wonder what our values really are as a society.  Meanwhile, it is the world’s poor that suffer and whilst for us the credit crunch might be uncomfortable - for the poor it is unmitigated disaster.  The poor always suffer. In a time of crisis we keep both our blankets which God has provided for us to share with others.

But it need not be so and maybe we can draw some lessons from the present crisis.  One lesson which we might profitably re-learn is contained in today’s lesson from Deuteronomy.

Take care not to forget the Lord your God and later, Remember the Lord your God.

This reading from Deuteronomy is about Providence too.  The land which God gives to the Israelites is a land of abundance – full of the basic commodities that sustain life – water, food, natural resources – a land where there is plenty for all and from which we can eat our fill.  Though Deuteronomy is speaking of the promised Land given to the Israeilites, it can easily be seen as a metaphor for the whole earth.  But we are to remember that all this is gift – it is indeed the act of perfect love that Carlo Caretto strived after but it is given so that we can keep God’s Covenant – the agreement that we have made with Him.

In Judaism an essential part of that Covenant was to provide for the poor through the principle of Justice-as-Charity. Prayer to God must be accompanied by how we act responsibly in the world.  Creation is the gift we must ensure is enjoyed by all for, as Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi, puts it in his book To Heal a Fractured World,

God created the world so that others could enjoy it. Goodness is not an attribute of the soul but a way of acting and creating: creating happiness for other people, mitigating their distress, removing even a fraction of the world’s pain. we worship God spiritually by helping his creation physically.

Deuteronomy reminds us of our obligation to bless  God for his goodness towards us and an essential part of that blessing is to share with others all that God has provided.  If we have any doubts about any of this, Our Lord’s telling of the parable of the rich man is a vivid warning.  Think only of yourself, keep things safely tucked away for your own use, relax, eat, drink and be merry in an ‘I’m all right Jack’ sort of way and there is no guarantee that you might forfeit all that you have because God may demand the one gift over which you have absolutely no control – the gift of life itself.

You probably know the story of the rich lady who arrived in heaven and was conducted by St. Peter to her new home.  They came to a grand house with well-kept lawns and flourishing garden.  Naturally the lady made to go through its gates.

“Oh no,” said St. Peter, “that house belongs to your gardener. Here’s your home..

He pointed to a ramshackle little hovel. “I’m sorry it isn’t better,” said St. Peter, “but you only sent us enough material to build this one.”

In his parable, Jesus warns those who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich towards God.  And being rich towards God is bound up with being rich towards God’s creation – including  all humanity.

But, you might say, we are worried about the state of things. We are living in a time of great uncertainty.  How can we not be prudent and look to the preservation of our own life-style.  After all, there is a kind of truth in the fact that wealth is an important part of charity.  How can we give if we have nothing to give?  How can we help the needy if we have nothing to help them with?

Thankfully, [ as the harvest gifts you will be giving to Manna will prove,] that is not a view which holds much credence in Christian circles [and out of your generosity will come an abundance of love for the homeless and the despairing. ]  And if we are worried about the present situation then Jesus tries to reassure us.  Don’t worry about your life…consider the ravens ..the lilies –have faith that God knows your needs – though don’t, of course, confuse your needs with your ‘wants’.  This speech of Jesus to his disciples is also about God’s Providence. He who has given you everything will not abandon you in your need.   And he provides not only the things that sustain life but also the spirit of love and charity by which we can help each other.  An essential part of God’s Providence is ourselves. He has provided  us with the ability to help each other.  In a Christian society, as in the Jewish one of our Lord’s time, it is the mutual care we have of each other which stands in the face of those values by which our present Society is living,

It’s that difference between heaven and hell.  You know this story too, I expect.  There are two groups of people gathered around tables on which there is an abundance of wonderful food.  The difficulty is that, to eat it, you need to use six feet long chopsticks and it’s quite impossible to feed yourself with them.  Those on the ‘hell’ table starve as a result, even though they can see the tempting food.  It’s very different on the ‘heaven’ table. They are well fed because, of course, they feed each other.

Our Society has for so long been gathered around the wrong table. We Christians have a big part to play in escorting people to the other table. We have to restate and live out the Christian values which are rooted in God’s Providence – in a humble acknowledgement that we depend upon each other because we depend upon God and upon his good gifts.

[Harvest is a time when all this is symbolized in the beauty of creation and the fruits of the earth which surround us though also in the manufactured products  which we shall pass on to Manna.  Somebody wrote to me this week and suggested we should re-name this festival – Factory Festival – because we have replaced the rustic fruits with tins of baked beans and toiletries.  Well there is a point in that and maybe we might be more comfortable with traditional harvest fayre which allows us to concentrate on the rural meaning of harvest but God’s creation includes suffering humanity and the Harvest that Christ reaps includes them as well as us.]

Charity to others is as Jonathan Sacks  puts it , a form of prayer – a preliminary to prayer.  It is only when we act with justice and compassion,  when we recognize his (God’s) image in other people and hear the silent cry of those in need  that we shall really understand that we are part of God’s Providence – and for that be truly thankful.

There was once a French woman who made her retreat at Carlo Caretto’s desert monastery.  One evening as she walked by the tents of desert-dwellers she noticed a girl, thin as a rake, trembling with cold.

“Why don’t you cover yourself up” the French woman asked.

“Because I’ve nothing to cover myself up with.”

The French woman moved on and entered the desert chapel to pray. But she found she could not.

“I couldn’t go on” she said, “I couldn’t pray.  I had to go back to that tent and give that child one of my sweaters.  Then I returned.  Then I was able to pray.”

Prayer and Charity; Prayer flowing from and into loving action. The essential ingredients for an act of perfect love.

That is what God’s Providence allows for from us to whom so much has been given. That is the heart of  a real Harvest Thanksgiving.