No Man Is an Island

A Reflection on the First Reading for Sunday, October 1st, 2023:
Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Ezekiel
18.25-28

​Thus says the Lord: “You object, O House of Israel! You say, ‘The way of the Lord is unfair.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair?

“When the righteous person turns away from their righteousness and commits iniquity, they shall die for it; for the iniquity that they have committed they shall die.

“Again, when the wicked person turns away from the wickedness they have committed and does what is lawful and right, they shall save their life. Because that person considered and turned away from all the transgressions that they had committed, they shall surely live; they shall not die.”

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

Recently I found myself reading again the beautiful prose that has come to be called “No Man Is an Island”: “No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” The 16th-century poet and clergyman John Donne composed these lines as part of a sermon about the connectedness of human beings to each other, and Ernest Hemingway paid homage to them when he named his novel For Whom the Bell Tolls. 

I believe we are all deeply connected to each other, and we must honour that connection by considering how our actions affect those around us. 

The first reading for this Sunday caused me to examine this connectedness and to consider the ripple effect that results when I choose to act in a particular way. While it is true that the decisions I make can impact my family, friends, and neighbours – for example, if I dump hazardous waste into a local pond and wildlife dies as a result, I have adversely affected those who enjoy that pond and its wildlife – some actions have an especially pronounced adverse effect on me and on my development as a human being.

Bishop Robert Barron, in a sermon on Ezekiel, chapter 18 (which is the source of this Sunday’s first reading), observes that the moral decisions we make define the person we are becoming. Each decision is like a brick in the foundation of the character we are building. If my decisions are just, my character, the person I am becoming, will be constructed of good stuff. However, if my decisions are morally wrong, then the bricks with which my character is constructed are flawed; they are morally wrong, and they are shaping the person I am becoming. Consequently, if I decide poorly, then I must bear the responsibility of those poor decisions, the flawed construction of my character.

Ezekiel tells us that God does not hold us accountable for the poor decisions of those around us. We are accountable only for the decisions we make ourselves. Looping back to Bishop Barron, then, who we are becoming not only will affect us in a very real way here on earth; it will have a great impact on the conversation that awaits us with our Maker when we take our final breath.

But what do I do when I lack the strength or the knowledge needed to make good decisions? Some decisions are very hard, and sometimes I am ill-equipped to figure them out on my own. It is then that I must call on the Lord in prayer, consult people of good character, and model my behaviour on the teachings of Christ.

Ezekiel says: “[W]hen the wicked person turns away from the wickedness they have committed and does what is lawful and right, they shall save their life.” As I reflect on the first reading, I am grateful for the reminder that I must be still and consider so that I make the best decisions I can. My life, both in the here-and-now and the hereafter, depends on it.




Donna Davis

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