By Michael Kolarcik, SJ Special to Catholic News Service The
story of the flood which destroyed almost all life on earth
(Genesis Chapter 9) reminds us just how precarious life is even
in the midst of a good and beautiful habitat. In the face of so
much wickedness and violence, God is said to have regretted the
creation of life. The pattern that we have seen time and time
again in Genesis — namely, how the stories present before us our
deepest desires as well as our worst fears — is confirmed in the
story of the flood. But the last word in this story is not
destruction but the promise of life. At one point the story
seems to end with Noah’s sacrifice and God’s acceptance of the
pleasant fragrance of the offering with the promise, “I will
never again curse the ground because of humankind…” (Gen 8:21).
But the same author who wrote the opening chapter of creation
has transformed this divine promise to Noah into the most
significant agreement which could be made among humans –- a
covenant. God declares the promi