We have just returned from a short holiday in Dorrigo National park, about 4 hours north of where we live (central New South Wales). To reach this area of beautiful rainforests we passed through zones recently devastated by fires. The contrast between the two was saddening, even more so after having talked to a priest whose parish was affected by the fires. He told us of how one of his parishioners had lost her home (and almost her life), and how an elderly man in a nearby town ignored evacuation orders and died while trying to save his house.
The fires are the inevitable consequence of a long drought, a situation which occurs regularly in this part of the world. This is the second summer in a row in which we pray for rain at Sunday Mass:
We turn to you now in faith, hope and love, asking you to look with favour on our drought-stricken land, on our starving animals, on our failing crops.Strengthen, sustain and give new heart to our farmers and to all who are affected by drought: be with those who support them. In your loving providence, send abundant rain and restore our parched earth.

Amidst the inevitable accusations of politicians’ unpreparedness in front of a foreseeable danger, and the reportedly renewed evidence of climate change and its consequences, a lot of publicity in the media has been given to spontaneous acts of solidarity and courage amongst the mainly volunteer firefighters.
The heavy smoke over our cities for days on end was like a provocation, a grim reminder that what we saw in the media was a reality which touches us all. Sydney’s Archbishop Anthony Fisher’s sermon, given on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, finishes in a prayer which expresses well the faith and hope we are called to witness:
“… we pray that these fires will occasion a renewal of our community and its highest ideals, so that as in days of old, we may hear God speaking out of the fire (Ex 3:2; Lev 9:24; Dt chs 4 & 5), offering us not only immediate relief but new purpose to carry us forward.”