Grace, mercy, and peace to you!
1 Timothy 1:2
Day thirty-four: October 4, Feast of St. Francis of Assisi
“Let everything that breathes praise the Lord. Alleluia!” Psalm 150:6
The conclusion to the Book of Psalms is a call to continue on life’s journey with faith, and so is also a fitting point for the conclusion of the Season of Creation, for, as T.S. Eliot wrote, “to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.” The psalmist calls forth a symphony of praise from all creation, exulting in harmonies sung by the web of life. Humanity’s special role in this orchestra is that of director, laboriously bringing to birth the vision of its composer. The human family serves that vision well only to the extent that we allow each instrument its unique place and voice in contributing to the music.
Passionist priest and “geologian” Thomas Berry writes, “Everything has its own voice. Thunder and lightning and stars and planets, flowers, birds, animals, trees…all these have voices, and they constitute a community of existence that is profoundly related." The symphony is lessened when one piece created by the composer is ignored, cast aside, or eliminated. By analogy, attending to the way in which the whole of creation works together will require changes in the way we approach life individually and communally.
In Laudato Si, Pope Francis writes: “(Patriarch) Bartholomew has drawn attention to the ethical and spiritual roots of environmental problems, which require that we look for solutions not only in technology but in a change of humanity…He asks us to replace consumption with sacrifice, greed with generosity, wastefulness with a spirit of sharing, an asceticism which “entails learning to give, and not simply to give up. It is a way of loving, of moving gradually away from what I want to what God’s world needs. It is liberation from fear, greed and compulsion” (Laudato Si, 9).
Liberating, learning, giving, loving. Words that share both practical and spiritual content, and when expressed as gerunds (with the -ing ending), point to a continuous process. We are part of processes that contribute to or detract from the well-being of everyone and everything. And so the choices we make individually always matter. Even more, our collective choices - socially, economically, politically, culturally, locally, nationally, and globally - matter. We are less human if we choose to live mindlessly, unaware of the impact our choices have on others and the earth.
One theologian, Bernard Lonergan, SJ, helpfully laid out precepts that can guide us in paying heed to all which God gives us: be attentive in experience; be intelligent in understanding; be reasonable in judgment; be responsible in decision. Give careful attention to the gifts and needs of the world we occupy, seek to learn from these gifts and needs, form judgements and decisions based on what we experience and learn, and accept that this process will unfold over the course of one’s lifetime, requiring our willingness to grapple with new experience and deeper understanding, revised judgments and altered decisions, in a continuous cycle. It is a process of conversion of mind and spirit. This is the work of a lifetime.
The feast we celebrate on Oct 4th each year is of the saint who came to exemplify a commitment to conversion with stunning intensity and authenticity. St. Francis’s young adulthood was marked by a love of the goods of the world, and what those goods could give to him. By the end, his life was marked by a love for the world, and what he could give to it. Through his many experiences, Francis still loved the world, but much differently, so much richer and purer, than earlier. The poet TS Eliot would write centuries later, though not specifically of Francis, but certainly true of any who seek deeper understanding of life’s mysteries, “We shall not cease from exploration/ and the end of all our exploring/ will be to arrive where we started/ and know the place for the first time.”
And so it is fitting to end these reflections with Francis’ Canticle of Creation, the words of which Pope Francis borrowed to entitle his message on creation, Laudato Si (praise be). St. Francis, though physically blind at the end of his life, was spiritually filled with wisdom, humility, mercy and love. Even from his deathbed could come to praise “Sister Death” as one more musician he was to make room for in the symphony of his life. St. Francis came to live deeply the meaning of “to praise.” May we too share in his inspiration, renewing our dedication to faithfully serve God, neighbor, and the earth, drawing from all that God hands over to our attentive, intelligent, reasonable, responsible care.
Canticle of Creation, St Francis of Assisi
O Most High, all-powerful, good Lord God,
to you belong praise, glory,
honor and all blessing.
Be praised, my Lord, for all your creation
and especially for our Brother Sun,
who brings us the day and the light;
he is strong and shines magnificently.
O Lord, we think of you when we look at him.
Be praised, my Lord, for Sister Moon,
and for the stars
which you have set shining and lovely
in the heavens.
Be praised, my Lord,
for our Brothers Wind and Air
and every kind of weather
by which you, Lord,
uphold life in all your creatures.
Be praised, my Lord, for Sister Water,
who is very useful to us,
and humble and precious and pure.
Be praised, my Lord, for Brother Fire,
through whom you give us light in the darkness:
he is bright and lively and strong.
Be praised, my Lord,
for Sister Earth, our Mother,
who nourishes us and sustains us,
bringing forth
fruits and vegetables of many kinds
and flowers of many colors.
Be praised, my Lord,
for those who forgive for love of you;
and for those
who bear sickness and weakness
in peace and patience
- you will grant them a crown.
Be praised, my Lord, for our Sister Death,
whom we must all face.
I praise and bless you, Lord,
and I give thanks to you,
and I will serve you in all humility.
Day thirty-three: October 3, 2020
For six years you may sow your land and gather in its produce. But the seventh year you shall let the land lie untilled and fallow, that the poor of your people may eat of it and their leftovers the wild animals may eat. So also shall you do in regard to your vineyard and your olive grove. For six days you may do your work, but on the seventh day you must rest, that your ox and your donkey may have rest (Exodus 23: 10-13).
Our reflections on Season of Creation began with reference to the Jubilee festival of ancient Israel. As we approach the end of this year’s Season, we return to the Jubilee theme. The Jubilee was counted in seven-year cycles, with the conclusion of each cycle retaining its own ritual affirmations. The section quoted above indicates what was expected at that time: to give the land and the animals a share in the divine resting. Those who suffered poverty were to share without restriction of the fruits of the land. Thus the Jubilee cycles were a form of rest and reconciliation, bringing creation and humanity together in renewed commitment to one another. The land, the animals, and the destitute were all included; all intended to share fully in the goods of the earth.
“In his wisdom, God set aside the Sabbath so that the land and its inhabitants could rest and be renewed. These days, however, our way of life is pushing the planet beyond its limits. Our constant demand for growth and an endless cycle of production and consumption are exhausting the natural world. Forests are leached, topsoil erodes, fields fail, deserts advance, seas acidify and storms intensify. Creation is groaning! During the Jubilee, God’s people were invited to rest from their usual labor and to let the land heal and the earth repair itself, as individuals consumed less than usual. Today we need to find just and sustainable ways of living that can give the Earth the rest it requires, ways that satisfy everyone with a sufficiency, without destroying the ecosystems that sustain us” (Pope Francis, Message for Season of Creation, 2020).
Daily Meditation: “I will not offer to the Lord that which has cost me nothing (2 Samuel 24:24). I don’t know how much is too much, but I do know that if our offerings don’t cost us something, if we aren’t giving until we really feel it, we’re probably not giving enough….when love of God and neighbor come first, the question is never, ‘how much do I get to keep?’ but ‘how else can I give?’”
Susan Pitchford, Following Francis, The Franciscan Way for Everyone.
Day thirty-one: October 1
“I understood that every flower created by Him is beautiful, that the brilliance of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not lessen the perfume of the violet or the sweet simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all the lowly flowers wished to be roses, nature would no longer be enamelled with lovely hues. And so it is in the world of souls, Our lord's living garden” (St. Therese of Lisieux).
The first of October in the liturgical calendar is the memorial of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, popularly known as St. Therese of Lisieux. She entered in 1888 the Carmelite monastery of Lisieux, France at the tender age of 15. She stayed there until her death at age 24 from tuberculosis. St. Therese is known for the spirituality of the “little way” of sharing simple acts of love and kindness even for those who are most disagreeable, and practicing seeing God in the seemingly mundane experiences of everyday life.
Pope Francis refers to St. Therese in Laudato Si, saying that St. Therese “…invites us to practice the little way of love, not to miss out on a kind word, a smile or any small gesture which sows peace and friendship. An integral ecology is also made up of simple daily gestures which break with the logic of violence, exploitation and selfishness. In the end, a world of exacerbated consumption is at the same time a world which mistreats life in all its forms” (LS, 230).
It is difficult to ignore the starkness of the Pope’s language: gestures that sow peace/friendship, borne out of faith-filled humility, are contrasted with actions that result from the logic of violence, exploitation, and selfishness. This “logic of the world” reveals itself forcefully in what he calls “exacerbated consumption,” that condition which seriously mistreats life itself. This type of logic cannot account for the beauty of the simple wildflower, but only its value, or lack thereof, in relation to the needs of the self. In the “Little Way” of St. Therese, we can practice the art of noticing the hidden beauty in the network of life that surrounds us, all the time, in the natural world. By extension, we may also come to see the same hidden beauty in the humanity that surrounds us as well.
Daily Meditation: “I spent the summer traveling; I got halfway across my backyard.” Jean Louis Agassiz.
Day thirty: September 30
“As many spiritual masters have taught us, heaven, earth, sea, and every creature have this iconic capacity, or this mystical capacity to bring us back to the Creator and to communion with creation. For example, St. Ignatius of Loyola, at the end of his Spiritual Exercises, invites us to carry out the ‘contemplation to come to love.’ This contemplative practice is to consider how God looks at His creatures and to rejoice with them; to discover God's presence in His creatures and, with freedom and grace, to love and care for them.” Pope Francis, 2020.
If we are willing, we can interrupt our otherwise hectic lives to do as Pope Francis suggests: trying to look at creation the way that God does. This “looking” is something more than seeing. This “looking” is perceiving that the being before me is valued precisely because it, too, shares in the same divine creative impulse from which I - and from which all things - emerge. “The sparrows are every one of them accounted for, as is every hair on our heads.” Jesus recognized that all things are loved into being. He encourages us to see this reality, too. As we do, thanksgiving for God’s goodness builds from within our spirits, and along with this, the desire to be faithful caretakers of these goods.
Suffering ensues, though, when those who are appointed caretakers begin to lose sight of this. We fail to look, and so fail to see, what God communicates through creation. We are too preoccupied, too enamored with our seemingly invincible technological know-how, too concerned to have and possess, to pay heed to the creation’s inherent value, with no further need for justifying its existence, let alone proving its worth as a commodity to be exploited.
Pope Francis reminds us, “oftentimes, our relationship with creation seems to be a relationship between enemies: destroying creation for our benefit. Exploiting creation for our profit. Let us not forget that this will be paid for dearly; let us not forget that Spanish saying: “God always forgives; we forgive sometimes; nature never forgives.”
It is important then to redirect our gaze, so to speak, from time to time. To attend to that which is given to us, exists around us, within us, between us. To wonder anew at the marvelous ways in which all beings depend, one upon another, and all upon God. To continue in the process of becoming what God intends each thing to become.
Daily Meditation: “You call it a sin that I love the dog above all else? The dog stayed with me in the storm; the man, not even in the wind.” St. Francis of Assisi
Day twenty-nine: September 29
"For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse" (Romans 1:20).
In St. Paul’s view of things, what is seen in this world is merely a thin veil enfolding what is not seen of the nature of God. This invisibility is at least partially revealed within the workings of the created order of the universe that God provoked from the very beginning. Later in Romans, Paul notes that the “whole of creation groans in agony,” while awaiting the consummation of becoming all that God intends.
Human beings share in the potential for this type of longing. This is what we might call “spirituality.” That is the desire to grow into a communion with God. For Christians, this is envisioned as communion with God, through Christ and the Spirit, that we may become one with God, as Jesus prayed for his disciples at the Last Supper in John’s gospel. This communion is one of both matter and spirit. Fr Joseph Tetlow, SJ, remarked in an essay on a spirituality based in ecology, that “…when we receive Communion we are eating bread, fruit of the earth and work of human hands, now most intimately bound to the body, blood, soul, and divinity of the Son of God. Here lies the most fundamental revealed truth that gives shape to an ecological spirituality today. All the earth shall be made new and brought to fulfillment through Christ.” Fr. Joseph Tetlow, SJ, “Peace with God the Creator, Peace with all Creation, 1995.”
The communion we share in the Eucharist is meeting of heaven and earth. The goods of the earth, represented in the bread and wine that seem so unremarkable in our eyes, are of inestimable value to the one who consecrates them into the communion that is promised to all things that exist by God’s grace. If we are to live a spirituality of communion, is it possible for us to disregard anything of earth as of little or only instrumental value? All of it is destined to renewal by the workings of God. Who am I then to ignore this remarkable vitality?
We may ask what value is commonplace bread and wine, other than to satiate the hunger or thirst of our body? This is a perfect question from a world so given to materialistic assumptions that it is impossible to consider any reality beyond what can be immediately physically sensed. But there are other ways to see the matter beyond the material explanation. Bread and wine, the “work of human hands”, cultivated from the earth, then cared for in a different way under the prayer of the Church, is consecrated in Christ by his command in union with our faithful, intentional prayer. In this “admirable exchange,” the things of heaven subsist with those of earth, and those of earth with those of heaven. No material good is excluded from this promise and hope. How, then, can we live without taking careful thought for how our actions as individual and collective action affects for good or ill the created order made by God?
Daily Meditation:
“Ecological spirituality elicits this awareness in us: God in eternity passionately desired intelligent freedom to adorn the earth. We are that adornment. God in eternity has hopes for the earth: that it ‘flourish and grow steadier and more beautiful.’ We are that plan. Can we have any deeper reason for caring for our planet and for every single person on it?” Fr. Joseph Tetlow, SJ.
Day twenty-eight: September 28
“For you are the one God living and true, existing before all ages and abiding for all eternity, dwelling in unapproachable light; yet you, who alone are good, the source of life, have made all that is, so that you might fill your creatures with blessings and bring joy to many of them by the glory of your light” (Eucharistic Prayer IV Preface).
Light as a primary attribute of God is an image that is woven through sacred scriptures and the Church’s liturgical prayer. In the Eucharistic prayer of the Mass, the praying assembly acknowledges that God dwells in unapproachable light. From this light comes life by which God makes all that is, filling all creatures with blessings and joy.
Are we aware that we are both made for and filled with blessing and joy? The very fact of our existence is blessing. Remembering this produces a holy joy that overflows in prayer. The Eucharistic Prayer acknowledges humanity’s response to divine light, life, creation, blessing and joy by expressing in words what is already formed in spirit: “We give you praise, Father most holy, for you are great and you have fashioned all your works in wisdom and in love” (Eucharistic Prayer IV).
Our praise at Eucharist is given to the God who has fashioned all his works with wisdom and in love. Everything that exists is made of this caritas: an enduring, deeply desiring love of God that is given at great expense, for all of God’s works. We rejoice as we affirm the magnificence of our being made by divine wisdom and love, a making that we share with all other created things.
A question to ponder: while we take care to praise God in our prayer, can we also acknowledge what this prayer means for us in action, as caretakers of this creation that has been wrought, at great cost, from divine caritas? Is my praise of this gift a matter of Sunday convenience? Or does it grow a “spiritual sight” within me, that I may see all created things in the light of God’s caritas?
Daily Meditation: “And that we might live no longer for ourselves but for him who died and rose again for us, he sent the Holy Spirit from you, Father, as the first fruits for those who believe, so that, bringing to perfection his work in the world, he might sanctify creation to the full….as we await his coming in glory, we offer you his Body and Blood, the acceptable sacrifice which brings salvation to the whole world. To all of us, your children, grant, O merciful Father, that we may enter into a heavenly inheritance…There, with the whole of creation, freed from the corruption of sin and death, may we glorify you through Christ our Lord.” (From Eucharistic Prayer IV)
Day twenty-seven: September 27
“In the beginning was the Word: the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things came into being, not one thing came into being except through him. What has come into being in him was life, life that was the light of all people; and light shines in darkness and darkness could not overpower it.” John 1: 1-5
We celebrate today the 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time. In the northern hemisphere, this annually falls on or near the autumnal equinox. The daylight that has gladdened our hearts and spirits through the summer slowly recedes, giving way to earlier sunsets. The sun’s rays of arch across the western horizon at lower angles which shades cloud formations in softer pastoral hues. The vivid colorings the early evening autumnal sky illuminate the things of earth differently than its brighter summer forebear. We gain a different perspective; a reminder that our sight is limited. We are reminded that even in the bright sky of summer, we cannot see all that is. The altering intensity of seasonal light helps us to accept that we are living in the margins between what is seen and what is unseen. In that recognition, we might grow in humility, gentleness, and a more meaningful caring disposition for all that is.
Light is the first matter created by God after heaven and earth in Genesis. In John’s poetic imagery, light is a sign of divine life, creating and holding all things in being. The infusion of divine life permeating the material world creates potential for us to “see” the workings of God from the inside out. It allows us to sense all things as sharing in the network of life established by God’s creative work. The physical properties of light may be described as particle-wave elements visible at points on the radiation spectrum, or as triggering processes that sustain biological life on earth. But these physical characteristics of light also serve as representations of a more fundamental spiritual aspect. Light is an agent of divine revelation. Living by this light means we see ourselves as subjects of God’s ongoing attentive care for the world. Our eyes are opened to the immense beauty of all that God seeks to share with us in the web of life, even as summer’s brightness and warmth slowly fades.
Daily meditation: “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our own eyes, what we have watched with our own hands, about the Word of life, this is our declaration we have heard from him and are declaring to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all” (1 John 1:1,5).
Day twenty-six: September 26
“For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and sobriety. There is no law against such things… If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another” (Galatians 5: 22-23, 26).
As much as joy and humility are both a cause and effect of virtuous conduct toward creation, so too are the virtues of sobriety and justice. The Catechism of the Catholic Church presents sobriety (or temperance/moderation) and justice as two of the four “cardinal virtues. “Sobriety provides balance in the use of created goods,” while justice “promotes equity with regards to persons and the common good.”
Pope Francis depends heavily on these virtues in envisioning a renewed right relationship between humanity, God, and creation: “Christian spirituality proposes a growth marked by moderation and the capacity to be happy with little. It is a return to that simplicity which allows us to stop and appreciate the small things, to be grateful for the opportunities which life affords us, to be spiritually detached from what we possess, and not to succumb to sadness for what we lack. This implies avoiding the dynamic of dominion and the mere accumulation of pleasures” (Laudato Si, 222).
The rightful use of the earth’s resources, while reflecting a moderate lifestyle, is also necessary establishing and strengthening right relationship with our neighbor. “Our neighbor,” in reality, is the entire human family occupying this earth, enjoying the same rightful claims to the earth’s goodness as I do. Justice is that virtue by which rightful relationships are realized.
Ecological justice is present when the resources necessary for life are equally accessible and usable for all creation. Clearly, ecological justice has not been realized. Pope St. John Paul II wrote 30 years ago: “it is manifestly unjust that a privileged few should continue to accumulate excess goods, squandering available resources, while masses of people are living in conditions of misery at the very lowest level of subsistence. Today, the dramatic threat of ecological breakdown is teaching us the extent to which greed and selfishness – both individual and collective – are contrary to the order of creation, an order which is characterized by mutual interdependence.”
Moderate use of the world’s resources leads to a fairer availability of those resources. Also necessary for those who are under-resourced to have availability to goods are include distribution networks, fair trade, access, and financial means, among others. However, first we must moderate habits of demand and develop more sober and equitable habits of consumption.
Daily Meditation:
“The human venture depends absolutely on this quality of awe and reverence and joy in the Earth and all that lives and grows upon the Earth. As soon as we isolate ourselves from these currents of life and from the profound mood that these engender within us, then our basic life-satisfactions are diminished. None of our machine-made products, none of our computer-based achievements can evoke that total commitment to life.” Fr. Thomas Berry, C.P.
Day twenty-five: September 25
“You have gladdened me, O Lord, by your deeds; for the work of your hands I shout with joy. O Lord, how great are your works! How deep are your designs!” (Psalm 92: 5-6)
The joy of the psalmist does not come and go. It is not happiness at some fleeting acquisition or achievement. It is a joy rooted in the experience of being embedded in the wonder of created life, which makes it is a lasting joy. This joy endures as long as one is aware of one’s shared creaturely status in the web of life. This joy is the feeling of assurance of being embraced within an order of life that requires no other justification for existence other than it simply is, as God made it. When God answered Moses from the burning bush, the name of the Lord did not invoke power or glory, but simply existence. This existence is the source from which all things flow and to which all things return. No other name is needed. That is, no other name is needed unless we demand something more. Unless we feel the need to justify ourselves, and our notions of using this creation to satisfy our own desires for acquiring, achieving, dominating, someone or something else.
The word humility means being grounded. Humility is being grounded as part of something that exists before me and will remain after I am gone. The ancient Hebrews reflect this virtue describing the first man God created Adam, meaning “man,” who is formed from adamah or the dust of earth. Human beings are grounded in earth and the earth itself formed by the dusts and gases of the universe. Being grounded and humble in the truest sense is not a limitation as some believe. Humility is the basis of our joyful recognition that we are part of all that God has made and shares with us.
The sad truth that this creation is disfigured by the many misbehaviors of human greed and exploitation must strengthen our commitment to sharing in its re-creation. God can raise water from stones and manna from desert. With our cooperation, grounded as we are in the earth from which we were formed, God can restore all things. God can restore our ability to live with joyful hearts as we contemplate the wonders God’s hands gives us.
Daily meditation
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound…
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Wendell Berry, “The Peace of Wild Things"
Day twenty-four: September 24
“The Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there put the man he had shaped. From the soil, the Lord God caused to grow every kind of tree, pleasant to look at and good to eat, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil…The Lord God took the man and settled him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and to keep it” (Genesis 2: 8-9, 15).
Pope Francis refers multiple times to the creation story in Genesis, describing humanity’s fundamental relationship to the earth as one of cultivating and keeping it, that is, caring. “Caring” is an attitude, a right relationship or virtue, and is grounded in faith. The Pope says: “If we approach nature and the environment without openness to awe and wonder, if we no longer speak the language of fraternity and beauty in our relationship with the world, our attitude will be that of masters, consumers, ruthless exploiters, unable to set limits on their immediate needs. By contrast, if we feel intimately united with all that exists, then sobriety and care will well up spontaneously” (Laudato Si, 11).
Care in the sense of faith is the opposite of domination, that is, exploiting the goods of earth for the benefit of some to the exclusion of others. Care depends on a spirit of gratitude and praise, for it is from these spiritual expressions that right care for others will emerge. If we wish then to be faithful caretakers, we need to nurture our ability to wonder anew at the marvels of creation, to allow our prayer to be formed in response to this with gratitude and praise, and to open our hearts to what this prayer may reveal to us in how we may make our contribution to taking good care of our earth and one another.
Daily Meditation:
"In relation to the earth we have been autistic for centuries. Only now have we begun to listen with some attention and with a willingness to respond to the earth's demands that we cease our industrial assault, that we abandon our inner rage against the conditions of our earthly existence, that we renew our human participation in the grand liturgy of the universe.” Fr. Thomas Berry, C.P
We thank you, creator God,
for the goodly heritage you offer us,
from green downland
to the deep salt seas,
and for the abundant world
we share with your creation.
Keep us so mindful of its needs
and those of all with whom we share,
that open to your Spirit
we may discern and practice
all that makes for its wellbeing,
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
- Rev. Peter Lippiett
Day twenty-three: September 23
“You are indeed Holy, O Lord, and all you have created rightly gives you praise, for through your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, by the power and working of the Holy Spirit, you give life to all things and make them holy” (Eucharistic Prayer III).
The Eucharistic prayers of the Catholic church demonstrate the ancient dictum that what is believed in the Church is what is prayed by the Church: “lex orandi, lex credenda.” In English, that translates to: “the rule of prayer is the rule of faith.” The heritage of ecological virtues includes the acts of praise and gratitude, not for creation as such, but for creation as that which is brought into being by God’s love. So it is no surprise that we can hear the Church proclaim in our Eucharistic celebration this form of praise and gratitude. This praise is at the heart of the Church, inviting all people to share in the joyful recognition that all things can be sanctified by the power of God. And yet, it is a struggle to grow in this virtue. Pope Francis said in Laudato Si that:
“… some committed and prayerful Christians, with the excuse of realism and pragmatism, tend to ridicule expressions of concern for the environment. Others are passive; they choose not to change their habits and thus become inconsistent. So what they all need is an “ecological conversion,” whereby the effects of their encounter with Jesus Christ become evident in their relationship with the world around them. Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience” (Laudato Si, 223).
Therefore, the virtue of praise and gratitude is not a “stand alone” state of being, but a dynamic condition, in which the gratitude leads to consistency in the way life is lived. Pope Francis even refers to this life of ecological conversion as a vocation, as something worthy of dedication and commitment throughout our lives.
Daily Meditation: “Many things have to change course, but it is we human beings above all who need to change. We lack an awareness of our common origin, of our mutual belonging, and of a future to be shared with everyone. This basic awareness would enable the development of new convictions, attitudes, and forms of life. A great cultural, spiritual and educational challenge stands before us, and it will demand that we set out on the long path of renewal” (Pope Francis).
Day twenty-two: September 22
“Nothing I say can explain to you Divine Love. Yet all of creation cannot seem to stop talking about it.” Rumi
In recent times, the idea of ecological virtues has gained attention. In Laudato Si, Pope Francis refers to virtuous conduct toward creation as the outcome of the attentive awareness needed for healthy human habitation in the web of life:
“The Spirit of life dwells in every living creature and calls us to enter into relationship with him… Discovering this presence leads us to cultivate the ‘ecological virtues.’ This is not to forget that there is an infinite distance between God and the things of this world, which do not possess his fullness. Otherwise, we would not be doing the creatures themselves any good either, for we would be failing to acknowledge their right and proper place. We would end up unduly demanding of them something which they, in their smallness, cannot give us” (Pope Francis, Laudato Si).
Virtues are a vaccination of the heart against the “vice virus,” or what the Pope refers to as a “throwaway culture,” where excessive consumption habits lead to wasting of resources as well as further social deprivations against the poor and vulnerable. Practicing personal and social ecological virtues lays the foundation for conversion toward becoming more faithful caretakers. Though the virtues are not explicitly listed as such in the document, one author summarized the language of Pope Francis in helpful terms:
“The ecological virtues are not listed as such in the encyclical, but find repeated mention throughout the text. They are like signposts that guide us…: praise, gratitude, care, justice, work, sobriety, and humility” (Joshtrom Isaac Kureethadam, Ecological Virtues in Laudato Si).
Let my prayer be inspired anew by closeness to nature: What aspects of the natural world help me feel God’s creative presence behind the matter that I see or sense? Can a form a prayer of thanksgiving from this experience?
Reflect on my lifestyle: What does the term “throwaway culture” mean? Do I consider what happens to the waste I produce and what impact our cumulative wastes have the earth and one another?
Take Action: “One expression of this attitude (of resisting a throwaway mentality) is when we stop and give thanks to God before and after meals. I ask all believers to return to this beautiful and meaningful custom. That moment of blessing, however brief, reminds us of our dependence on God for life; it strengthens our feeling of gratitude for the gifts of creation; it acknowledges those who by their labors provide us with these goods; and it reaffirms our solidarity with those in greatest need” (Pope Francis, Laudato Si).
Daily Meditation:
O God, we thank you for this earth, our home;
For the wide sky and the blessed sun,
For the salt sea and the running water,
For the everlasting hills
And the never-resting winds,
For trees and the common grass underfoot.
We thank you for our senses
By which we hear the songs of birds,
And see the splendor of the summer fields,
And taste of the autumn fruits,
And rejoice in the feel of the snow,
And smell the breath of the spring.
Grant us a heart wide open to all this beauty;
And save our souls from being so blind
That we pass unseeing
When even the common thorn bush
Is aflame with your glory,
O God our creator,
Who lives and reigns forever and ever.
Walter Rauschenbusch
Day twenty-one: September 21
“Let the heavens rejoice and earth be glad; let the sea and all within it thunder praise. Let the land and all it bears rejoice. Then will the trees of the wood shout for joy at the presence of the Lord” (Psalm 96).
To assume into oneself the re-creative work of God in the world, one has to be, in some way, a contemplative, attentive to the manner in which creation signifies the love and grace by which it came into being. Allowing oneself to be filled with the joy and infinite potential of creation continuously unfolding, whether by means of experiencing the transcendent power of sunrise or sunset, or the beauty of a wildflower in full bloom, these “attentive interactions” of mind, body, and spirit with creation, is one way of contemplating God’s goodness. Dominican priest and spiritual writer Fr Timothy Radcliffe, O.P. offers this insight:
St. Thomas Aquinas believed that to see things as they are, we must be contemplative. Contemplation is that quiet, still opening of the mind to what is before it: the word of God, a person, a plant. It is that calm presence to what is not oneself, resisting the temptation to take it over, to own it or to use it. It means letting the other person be different from oneself, refusing to absorb them into one’s own way of thinking (Fr Timothy Radcliffe, O.P., Eric Thymes Abbott Memorial Lecture, 2004).
An opening of the mind, cultivating a supple, capacious spirit, makes us willing and able to see beyond the printed word on a page. When contemplating written words, instead of seeing ink and text signs of the divine communication, we see the action of our creative and loving God. When contemplating other humans, we see not just a physical body built through infinitely complex interactions of chemicals and organic matter, but an animating spirit that expresses eternal power. This spirit coalesces into dynamic, inter-related forms of organizing humanity’s response to creation. Religion, culture, and ecology emerge from a contemplative, attentive care for God, neighbor, and world. When one of those elements fail to sustain this attentive approach, when enough people in the human family no longer care to generate “attentive interactions,” then the other elements suffer deprivations, and sickness of the whole ensues.
Daily Meditation: “The heavens declare the glory of God.” How then, tell me, do they declare it? By means of the spectacle itself! For when you see the beauty, the breadth, the height, the position, the form, the stability thereof during so long a period; hearing as it were a voice, and being instructed by the spectacle itself, thou admires Him who created! The heavens may be silent, but the sight of them emits a voice that is louder than a trumpet’s sound.” St. John Chrysostom
Day twenty: September 20
“On Sunday, our participation in the Eucharist has special importance. Sunday, like the Jewish Sabbath, is meant to be a day which heals our relationships with God, with ourselves, with others and with the world. Sunday is the day of the Resurrection, the “first day” of the new creation, whose first fruits are the Lord’s risen humanity, the pledge of the final transfiguration of all created reality” (Pope Francis, Laudato Si, 237).
As we gather to celebrate the Eucharist - in person, virtually, or otherwise - we do so understanding this prayer is a universal act of thanksgiving, the sharing in which offers us hope of being healed and recreated anew in God’s grace. Eucharistic spirituality a deeper desire to share in the re-creative work Christ is accomplishing for the whole of creation through his life, death, and resurrection. This desire to attentively care for the whole of creation is respect for life, in all of its mysterious forms and expressions.
If we wonder about how much, or little, we demonstrate respect for this gift, we need not wonder at all about God’s commitment to the same. The psalmist sings the praises of God who is compassionate to all the of the Lord’s created works. “How good is the Lord to all, compassionate to all his creatures. All your works shall thank you, O Lord, and all your faithful ones bless you” (Psalm 145: 9-10). God’s care for the world is demonstrated first and foremost by the fact that this world exists at all. This is the “first respect” of the created order: God creates in love, and sustains with infinite respect, the goodness which God has accomplished in bringing into being all things (Genesis 1:31). This creation requires the cooperative interactions of all its creatures to maintain its health. It requires of me my part, my contribution, to the good of the whole. It requires the same of you, all others, and every living thing.
The level of attention, respect, care, and stewardship we offer for this created world is then a reflection of this “first respect,” a sharing in the divine creative initiative. This is a fundamental orientation of our hearts and spirits towards caring for the goodness of all the gifts God shares with us through creation. We celebrate this each Sunday at Eucharist, that all things be saved (made whole again) by the gratuitousness of God’s grace, and our willing cooperation with this grace. Respect, then, is a reflection, albeit imperfect, of the grace-filled, attentive care God shows toward all the God has made. It is an act of sharing in the healing work Christ brings to bear through Eucharist, and our capacity to contribute towards its growth is immense.
Daily Meditation:
“…it is sinful for people to misuse or destroy what they did not make. The Creation is a unique, irreplaceable gift, therefore to be used with humility, respect, and skill.” Wendell Berry, The Unsettling of America.
Day nineteen: September 19, 2020
“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name through all the earth!...When I see the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you arranged, what are humans that you should keep them in mind..?” (Psalm 8:1, 4-5)
Yesterday, we reflected on developing a respectful relationship with God, our neighbors, and the world we inhabit, for all of it is God’s doing and God’s gift to us. But where does such respect come from? Generally, we think of respect as something earned, not freely given. How then are we to respect the created order of animal and material life? Is it even sensible to think of such a thing? And if we fail to practice respectfulness with regards to creation, what might happen? Pope Francis offers some wisdom and guidance for us in considering how we might carry this respectfulness with us, and from where it may actually come:
“What is the antidote against the sickness of not taking care of our common home? It is contemplation. that is, looking at the earth, creation as a gift, not as something to exploit for profit: no. When we contemplate, we discover in others and in nature something much greater than their usefulness. Here is the heart of the issue: contemplating is going beyond the usefulness of something. Contemplating the beautiful does not mean exploiting it, no: contemplating. It is free. We discover the intrinsic value of things given to them by God. As many spiritual masters have taught us, heaven, earth, sea, and every creature have this iconic capacity, or this mystical capacity to bring us back to the Creator and to communion with creation. For example, St. Ignatius of Loyola, at the end of his Spiritual Exercises, invites us to carry out "Contemplation to come to love", that is, to consider how God looks at His creatures and to rejoice with them; to discover God's presence in His creatures and, with freedom and grace, to love and care for them” (Pope Francis, general audience, September 16, 2020).
Contemplating the natural world is not to worship nature in itself. It is to see signs of the Creator God who gives life to all that is, that is, as the Pope says, to the discover the intrinsic value of all things. This value is given to them by God, not based on their usefulness, or lack thereof, to me. This is the heart of a contemplative spirit for creation.
From a contemplative spirit emerges a respectfulness for all things, and all people, that God has given to us, and to our world. We are asked to see, and support, every living being in this light, not in terms of whether it promotes or obstructs efficiency, profit, and convenience for us, but as a being generated by the love of God, and for that reason alone, a being worthy of our respect.
Daily Meditation: “The struggle for the protection of creation is a central dimension of our faith. Respect for the environment is an act of doxology of God’s name, while the destruction of creation is an offense against the Creator, entirely irreconcilable with the basic tenets of Christian theology.” Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, Message for Season of Creation, 2020.
Day eighteen: September 18
“The created things of this world are not free of ownership: ‘For they are yours, O Lord, who love the living’ (Wisdom 11:26). This is the basis of our conviction that, as part of the universe, called into being by one Father, all of us are linked by unseen bonds and together form a kind of universal family, a sublime communion which fills us with a sacred, affectionate and humble respect.” Pope Francis, Laudato Si.
Respect is a quality everyone desires from others in any type of relationship. Respect is necessary for a healthy, life-sustaining relationship of any kind. Christianity proposes that as created beings, we share relationship with the Creator and the entire creation; the universe, the earth, and everyone and everything on it. Respect, then, is needed from the human family towards all other beings, and matter, residing on the earth, for health and well-being of all with whom we share the goods of the earth, and for the well-being of humanity. Pope Francis further defines this type of respect as “sacred, affectionate, and humble,” which sounds quite a lot like elements of a good, grace-filled relationship with God. This type of relational energy is a matter of faith between human beings and God as well as humanity and the created world.
Fr Richard Rohr, OFM described the effort towards this type of dynamic spirituality: “Don’t start by trying to love God, or even people. Love rocks and elements first. Move to trees, then animals, and then humans… It might be the only way to love, because how you do anything, is how you do everything.”
Daily Meditation: “The Christian’s vision of the world ought, by its very nature, to have in it something of poetic inspiration. Our faith ought to be capable of filling our hearts with a wonder and a wisdom which see beyond the surface of things and events, and grasp something of the inner and ‘sacred’ meaning of the cosmos which, in all its movements and all its aspects, sings the praises of its Creator and Redeemer.” Thomas Merton, Poetry and Contemplation
Day seventeen: September 17, 2020
“God said to Noah: ‘I am now establishing my covenant with you and your descendants, and with every living creature that is with you…I now set my rainbow in the clouds and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth…When the bow is in the clouds I shall see it and call to mind the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth, all living things. This is the sign of the covenant I have established between myself and all living things on earth” (Genesis 9:8 13-17).
In the Book of Genesis, accounts of the origination of humans and all other life on earth are both astoundingly beautiful and deeply troubling. Beautiful in that God is shown creating all things with great love. But also troubling, because from the very beginning, resistance within the human heart created disorder in the world. In the aftermath of the great flood, humanity was destined to live in conflict with the earth and the animal and plant inhabitants of earth. The story had moved quite a long way from the idyllic peacefulness God intended humans to share in the garden. Nevertheless, God remains steadfast, committing to a remembrance of God’s eternal care for humanity and the earth: “Never again will I curse the Earth because of human beings…never again will I strike down every living thing as I have done. As long as earth endures; seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, will never cease” (Gen 8:21-22). The created world remains, and humanity, even though deeply damaged by its own actions, remains collaborators with God in sustaining life and creation.
This collaboration is both a heritage in which we share, and an ongoing reality in which we and future generations will live. What needs of life and creation, then, can we simply ignore? Pope Benedict XVI addressed this question in a 2011 message to students, saying:
“Today, more than ever, it appears clear to us that respect for the environment cannot fail to recognize the value and inviolability of the human person in every phase of life and in every condition. Respect for the human being and respect for nature are one and the same, but they will both be able to develop and to reach their full dimension if we respect the Creator and his creature in the human being and in nature.”
Pope Francis furthered this in Laudato Si, stating: “A sense of deep communion with the rest of nature cannot be real if our hearts lack tenderness, compassion and concern for our fellow human beings…when our hearts are authentically open to universal communion, this sense of fraternity excludes nothing and no one. It follows that our indifference or cruelty towards fellow creatures of this world sooner or later affects the treatment we mete out to other human beings” (LS 91).
Daily meditation: “Christ has something in common with all creatures
With the stone He shares existence,
with the plants He shares life,
with the animals He shares sensation
and with the angels He shares intelligence.
Thus all things are transformed in Christ
since in the fullness of His nature,
He embraces some part of every creature.” (St. Bonaventure)
Day sixteen: September 16, 2020
“The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first fruits of his ways, before the oldest of his works. From everlasting I was firmly set, from the beginning, before the Earth came into being…I was beside the master craftsman, delighting him day after day, ever at play in his presence, at play everywhere on his earth, delighting in the children of men” (Proverbs 8: 22-23, 30-31).
The Old Testament book of Wisdom offer a “pre-creation” narrative that defines divine activity prior to the establishment of the Earth and its inhabitants. According to the ancient author, this activity is a life-initiating force that is companion to God’s creation, one that “pervades and permeates all things as the breath of the power of God…Wisdom can do everything; herself unchanging she renews the world” (Wisdom 7:24-27). Through this life-giving power, all things are intimately and sensibly bonded to God and to every other form of life in the heavens and on the earth. Spiritual author Christy Randazzo wrote, “if anyone can speak to how God feels about the creation, it is Wisdom, and she states plainly that God took joy and delight in every element, and desired relationship with every single aspect of creation.”
This is what Pope Francis refers to as the “network of life” woven throughout creation. This web encompasses all things, from the most seemingly insignificant life forms up to the most complex. No thing that is alive stands outside of or apart from this infinitely intricate web. Each has its contribution to make to the whole.
Humans are unique in that we can ignore, disregard, or simply mistreat those types of life that we do not care to acknowledge, what the Pope refers to as “the throwaway culture.” That which stands in the way of efficiency, profit, or technical progress is vulnerable to neglect, abandonment, or disposal as useless. Even worse, it may be seen as an intrusion into or obstruction of an inalienable right to live without reference to other beings - human, animal, or otherwise - who are disadvantaged by my actions.
Daily Meditation: “The problem is that we no longer experience our co-belonging with nature in such a way that we are willing to alter our lifestyles…we no longer feel our common kinship with other beings…that primordial sense of belonging to a whole web of life that our kind and other kind need for daily sustenance.” Mark Wallace, The Green Face of God.
Day fifteen: September 15, 2020
“The Lord looked with favor on the offering of Abel, but did not look with favor on the offering of Abel’s brother Cain, and Cain became angry and downcast…Then Cain said to his brother, ‘Let us go out’, and while they were in the open country, Cain set upon his brother Abel and killed him. The Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother?” Cain replied, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” The Lord asked “What have you done? Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. Now cursed are you from the ground that opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood. When you till the ground it will no longer give you its strength” (Genesis 4: 5-10).
Cain was the first born of Adam and Eve, tasked by God with cultivating the Earth for its produce. Abel was the younger brother, tasked with caring for the sheep and harvesting their wool and fat. While they no longer lived in paradise, God still intended and arranged for harmonious relationships between humans, land, and animals. Each served the other in their own way, for the benefit of the whole. But in the human heart, jealousy, malice, and grievance quickly supplanted this vision, disrupting the type of harmony intended by Divine Providence.
But the earth itself is an intermediary between humanity and God, crying out to the Lord on behalf of the blood of Abel. “The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it.” (Psalm 24:1). The Earth itself is a mirror, revealing the sin of human caretakers, and frustrating human plans that are alienated from God’s. But as the land reveals sin, so too does it show forth divine forbearance. Cain must experience the effect of his sin, but not without the protection of the Lord. The Earth will produce its goods only with great effort but will not grow entirely barren. There is hope to repair what is damaged in these interlocking relationships. The one cannot be repaired without tending to the others: what needs to be repaired between humans and the earth, shows forth in a need for healing between humans and the land, humans and creatures, and land and creatures. As we continue with our month-long reflection, we begin this week to consider the many ways in which all creation, our human neighbors as well as the Earth and forms of life, needs our consistent attention and care to thrive in the way that God intends.
Daily Meditation: Lord God, open my eyes, that I may always delight in the beauty of Your world, and open wide my heart, that I may sincerely grieve the damage we, Your human family have done to Your gift. Help me to desire in all things to help You repair the damage done between myself, my neighbors near and far, and the world You entrust to us all, that working together we may bear forth the fruit of Your love. Let me never act apart this desire. Amen. (Unknown author).
Day fourteen: September 14, 2020
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing of heaven in Christ…he has made known to us the mystery of his purpose, according to his generosity which he set forth in Christ for the disposition of the fullness of time, to gather up everything under Christ, as head, everything in the heavens, and everything on earth….” (Ephesians 1:1, 9-10)
The wisdom a Christian disciple can practice is trusting in God’s providential care for all living things. Though this wisdom may seem foolish to some, for disciples of Christ, it the source and the goal of our activity. For all things are to be brought to fullness under Christ. This bringing to “fullness” is making whole all of that which God has first created: “For I am confident of this, that He who began the good work in you will bring it to completion on the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).
This is good news: we are commissioned by the Lord with contributing ourselves to this ongoing work of recreating all things in Christ. We can practice seeing all things as belonging in this infinitely complex network of life, driven forward by the force of divine love, and by our participation in that process. Our commitment to be faithful caretakers of the goods of creation is a commitment to participate in helping bring God’s work to bear in our world. No effort is too small or insignificant. Can we feel the power that is present in Paul’s audacious declaration: all things, in heaven and on earth, will be gathered together under the risen Christ, by the power and plan of God?
Daily Meditation: “The world is not something indifferent, raw material to be utilized simply as we see fit. Rather, it is part of God’s good plan, in which all of us are called to be sons and daughters in the one Son of God, Jesus Christ (cf. Eph 1:4-12).” Pope Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis, 2007.
Day thirteen: September 13, 2020
“How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you have made them all. The earth is full of your creatures.” Psalm 104:24.
Are we wise in the ways of the Lord? We may at times confuse wisdom with knowledge. Though gaining knowledge may be one element of “wisdom,” for the purposes of Christian disciples, wisdom bears a strong relationship with what is actually done with that knowledge. One theologian wrote that “Science observes the natural world in order to systematize information. Wisdom on the other hand observes the natural world primarily in order to determine how to act…” Phillip McMillon, Creation and Wisdom, Three Themes.
Pope Francis would go on to comment in Laudato Si that:
“The word ‘creation’ has a broader meaning than ‘nature,’ for it has to do with God’s loving plan in which every creature has its own value and significance. Nature is usually seen as a system which can be studied, understood and controlled, whereas creation can only be understood as a gift from the outstretched hand of the Father of all, and as a reality illuminated by the love which calls us together into universal communion” (LS, 76).
In this sense, we could say that the beginning of wisdom is the desire to recognize creation as God’s gift, and along with that recognition, an equally present desire to care for and perpetuate this gift. Nurturing this desire, and then acting upon it, is to act with that “love which calls us together into universal communion.”
Daily Meditation: “God’s love is the fundamental moving force in all created things: ‘For you love all things that exist, and detest none of the things that you have made; for you would not have made anything if you had hated it’ (Wisdom 11:24). Every creature is thus the object of the Father’s tenderness, who gives it its place in the world. Even the fleeting life of the least of beings is the object of his love, and in its few seconds of existence, God enfolds it with his affection.” (Laudato Si, 77).
Day twelve: September 12, 2020
"Ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind." (Job 12:7-10)
As Job pondered the seemingly unanswerable questions that resulted from his overwhelming misfortune and suffering, he found consolation in the vision of all creation taken up in the protective embrace of God. For the faithful and pious person of Jewish faith in Job’s time, the assumption that the Earth and its inhabitants could “teach” human beings something came out of the Jewish experience of God’s everlasting covenantal relationship with the people. But this covenantal relationship was not only with humanity. It included the Earth and the animals on it: "I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you-the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you-every living creature on earth" (Genesis 9:9-10).
Can we consider the Earth and the life forms that inhabit it as teachers to us in their own way? "The beauty of the universe: the order and harmony of the created world results from the diversity of beings and from the relationships which exist among them. Man discovers them progressively as the laws of nature. They call forth the admiration of scholars. The beauty of creation reflects the infinite beauty of the Creator and ought to inspire the respect and submission of man's intellect and will" (Catechism Catholic Church, 341).
Daily Meditation: “Lord, grant us the wisdom to care for the earth and till it.
Help us to act now for the good of future generations and all your creatures.
Help us to become instruments of a new creation,
Founded on the covenant of your love.” The Cry of the Earth
Day eleven: September 11, 2020
“God wills the interdependence of creatures. the sun and the moon, the cedar and the little flower, the eagle and the sparrow: the spectacle of their countless diversities and inequalities tells us that no creature is self-sufficient. Creatures exist only in dependence on each other, to complete each other, in the service of each other” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 340).
The created world is a “network of life,” in the phrase of Pope Francis, a social network in its own right, with each being depending on others yet also contributing to the well-being of the whole by its innate actions. Humans are designated by God to care for and preserve this for the benefit of all living beings. From the perspective of faith, we are caretakers, who not only draw from the goods of the earth for our own sustenance, but who are also charged with the responsibility of assuring the preservation and equitable distribution of these goods. Our actions then are never neutral, but tend to support the preservation of this network, or act towards its detriment. Today we reflect on assuming our role with diligence, as a people who are commissioned to “till and plough,” cultivating the goods of the Earth so that all beings on the Earth may live in the manner ordained by God.
Mediation for the day: (Read prayerfully, take note of what words/phrases are striking to you. What about those words is important to you?) “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now” (Romans 8:18-22).
Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”
…God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” (Genesis 1: 26, 28).
The first two chapters of the Book of Genesis portray the creative initiative God set forth in establishing the heavens, the earth, and all living things on the earth. Humanity holds forth a special relationship with God however, different from, and set apart from, plant and animal life. Humans are charged with dominion over the earth and its beings. How ought we to understand this? Pope Francis helpfully offers Catholicism’s view on this question in his letter from 2015, Laudato Si:
67. We are not God. The earth was here before us and it has been given to us. This allows us to respond to the charge that Judaeo-Christian thinking, on the basis of the Genesis account which grants man “dominion” over the earth (cf. Gen 1:28), has encouraged the unbridled exploitation of nature by painting him as domineering and destructive by nature. This is not a correct interpretation of the Bible as understood by the Church. Although it is true that we Christians have at times incorrectly interpreted the Scriptures, nowadays we must forcefully reject the notion that our being created in God’s image and given dominion over the earth justifies absolute domination over other creatures. The biblical texts are to be read in their context, recognizing that they tell us to “till and keep” the garden of the world (cf. Gen 2:15). “Tilling” refers to cultivating, ploughing or working, while “keeping” means caring, protecting, overseeing and preserving. This implies a relationship of mutual responsibility between human beings and nature. Each community can take from the bounty of the earth whatever it needs for subsistence, but it also has the duty to protect the earth and to ensure its fruitfulness for coming generations. “The earth is the Lord’s” (Ps 24:1); to him belongs “the earth with all that is within it” (Dt 10:14). Thus God rejects every claim to absolute ownership: “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with me” (Lev 25:23).
In today’s reflection, we consider what this means for us, and the many ways we too are charged with preserving the goods of creation that God has entrusted to our care.
Prayer for the day: “God, creator of the universe, fill us with your love for creation, for the natural world around us, for the earth from which we come and to which we will return. Awaken in us an energy to work for your world; let us never fall into complacency, ignorance, or being overwhelmed by the tasks before us. Help us to restore, remake, and renew. Amen.
Written by Anne Richards.
“Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it. Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.” (Ps 96: 11-12).
The psalmist’s prayer gives voice to a network of life in the whole of creation that is exuberant with the praise of God. This life is by the fact of its existence a joyful shout of praise to God. The life created by God also contains within itself the expectancy of fulfillment in the presence of the God. It is this expectancy of being fulfilled, or said another way, of being brought to perfection, that animates all created beings with desire to live in the presence of its Creator. “There is one thing I ask of the Lord, only this do I desire; to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.” Ps 27: 4.
“Our insistence that each human being is an image of God should not make us overlook the fact that each creature has its own purpose. None is superfluous. The entire material universe speaks of God’s love, his boundless affection for us. Soil, water, mountains: everything is, as it were, a caress of God.” Pope Francis, Laudato Si: 84
That we share in this network of life, this everlasting harmony of praise, that is the created universe, helps us to situate our lives more honestly and truthfully in relationship with God and with all that is. Far from being the masters of creation, we are divinely appointed caretakers, overseeing with great care this wondrous gift that is life unfolding throughout the created world.
Daily Prayer: From the Book of Colossians, 1: 15-20, New Jerusalem Bible:
"He (Christ) is the image of the unseen God, the first-born of all creation, for in him were created all things in heaven and on Earth: everything visible and everything invisible, thrones, ruling forces, sovereignties, powers -- all things were created through him and for him. He exists before all things and in him all things hold together, and he is the Head of the Body, that is, the Church. He is the Beginning, the first-born from the dead, so that he should be supreme in every way; because God wanted all fullness to be found in him, and through him to reconcile all things to him, everything in heaven and everything on Earth, by making peace through his death on the cross."
Day seven: September 7, 2020
In his message welcoming the Season of Creation in 2019, Pope Francis observed that:
“In this ecological crisis affecting everyone, we should also feel close to all other men and women of good will, called to promote stewardship of the network of life of which we are part…We can even say that creation, as a network of life, a place of encounter with the Lord and one another, is “God’s own ‘social network.’" With that turn of phrase, the Pope exhorts everyone living in our world to acknowledge this “network of life” that is fundamental to sustaining all forms of life on this planet. All life, from inorganic matter to nascent embryonic stages of biological life, on through to the most self-reflective form of consciousness epitomized in human experience, and everything in between, shares in, and is dependent upon, this infinitely intricate, interrelated web of life that is “God’s social network.”
Today we bring these reflections into our prayer, asking the Lord to help us deepen our appreciation for, and commitment to sustain, this network of life that God entrusts to our care. And so let’s make this prayer, reflection, and activity our own, based on this model of reflection from Pope Francis:
Mediation for the day: The Book of Daniel, Chap 3: 74-82:
“Let the earth bless the Lord;
let it sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
Bless the Lord, mountains and hills;
sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever
Bless the Lord, all that grows in the ground;
sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
Bless the Lord, you springs;
sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
Bless the Lord, seas and rivers;
sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
Bless the Lord, you whales and all that swim in the waters; (NRSV, Catholic Edition)
sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
Bless the Lord, all birds of the air;
sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
Bless the Lord, all wild animals and cattle;
sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
“Bless the Lord, all people on earth;
sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.
“This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!” (Psalm 118:24). The Church has adapted this shout of joy most especially in its Easter liturgy, tying the shout of victory on the Psalmist’s lips to the Church’s proclamation that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, that God’s recreative wonders renew the earth and all who dwell upon it with new life. Today we celebrate the 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, but Sunday’s are never “ordinary” in the general sense of the term. Every Sunday is a “little Easter,” a proclamation that Christ has risen, and that God’s restorative love is alive and well in this world even now. What a great blessing that we can proclaim this through the Eucharist and prayer. And even more so, that we can live this reality by our awareness towards and nurturing of the earth, and our neighbors who share this world with us.
And so we return to our method of prayer and reflection outlined for us by Pope Francis, and today, this great festival day of Resurrection, seek to renew our spirits, minds, and bodies in the goodness of the Lord and the wondrous creation given over to our care:
Let our prayer be inspired anew by closeness to nature: Today, we seek to allow the wonders of creation to plant in our hearts a certain joyfulness. The very rhythms of nature reveal to us the process of emergent new life, a sharing of the goods of the earth to sustain this life, an eventual decay and dying process, and then life emerging anew once again, in a cycle of interdependence that is a wonder to behold. Can I see today that this is the Lord’s own making, can I too rejoice and be glad in it?
Reflecting on our lifestyle: As we consider this prayerfulness, we must also consider how our lifestyle, and patterns of consumption, contribute to, or detract from, the rhythms of life revealed by this creation. Am I taking more from the earth and my neighbors more than I am giving?
Taking action: How might I address any imbalances between what I receive from the earth and my neighbors to sustain my lifestyle, and what I give to sustain the earth and my neighbors need for sustenance and sharing in the goods of creation?
For our daily meditation, we turn to a prayer based on Psalm 118:24:
Loving God, I am grateful for the renewal you bring to me this day. I accept this day as a precious gift from you. May I value each minute. Guide me in every problem I face and every decision I make this day. Help me to treat everyone and everything in this world with kindness, fairness, and thoughtfulness. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Author unknown.