The Humility of Moss – Lenten Reflection by Tomas Sandoval

2nd Week of Lent: Thursday, February 23

Is 1:10, 16-20 / Mt 23:1-12

Moss takes claim of my heart when it comes to picking a favorite feature of nature. Moss is not showy; it doesn’t boast nor does it scream, “Look at me, look at me!” Moss is busy about its duties on the humus littered forest floor (what those duties are, I do not know), it is not concerned about the analysis of man’s utilitarian judgement or with the boasting of the towering pines that cast their shadows across its sprawling microcosm. Easily a passerby treads upon its soft contours and does not spy the glistening green clinging to a shaded rock, and although it is dubbed superfluous to the vegetative world, a king is not worthy of such a velveteen couch. No, none but the King sees the true beauty and necessity of this humble green plant, for it is only the Creator who can judge and say, “you are most exalted my little one.”

Tomas Sandoval, a seminarian from the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, is a senior at Conception Seminary College. He is an avid nature lover and enjoys long walks in the woods barefoot during the spring. His favorite wine is a Pinot Noir, with which he thoroughly enjoys smoking a (now legal) Cuban Cigar during the evening hours.