Creation, as we see it today is a fruit proceeding from God’s love. God gave everything he had in order to realize his beautiful masterpiece. According to the Scriptures: “God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good.” (Gen. 1:31) This means that creation was not a mere desire of God, but a project that he meticulously planned.
When I was pondering this story of creation (Gen. 1 & 2) I grasped that the creation of the human person was so meaningful, a reason God entrusted to humankind the care of the rest of his magnificent creation. Then, God said: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth” (Gen. 1:28). This particular enunciation has been controversial as many consider it to be God’s permission for humanity to dispense of creation and even destroy or do whatever we want with it. This line of thinking or interpretation is erroneous because God who made all his creation out of love, cannot will its destruction.
Creation is a work of God. As a creature, the human person must not despise his own habitat, for it is a gift God has bestowed for his survival as a person, a species, and an important part of God’s magnificent masterpiece. Every person must treat creation with care because "the interdependence of creatures is willed by God. (...) The spectacle of their countless diversities and inequalities signifies that no creature is self-sufficient. They exist only in dependence on one another, to complement each other, in the service of one another."[1] Saint Francis of Assisi clearly illustrates this interdependence through his famous Canticle of the Creatures or Canticle of Brother Sun.[2]
As human persons, we are fundamentally connected to our environment, and as such, each action of ours has serious repercussion on the thriving of the rest of creation. By taking care of creation, we add value and improve our relationship with the whole creation, from which we significantly benefit.
At the moment, the concern and care towards creation have shifted in magnitude, as the effects are felt globally. We all have a share of them. But the antidote is deep within us, that is the capacity to build a profound altruistic relationship.
Genuine altruism stems from a desire for compassion and solidarity with others. On the latter, Pope Francis admonishes insistently that: “The sense of intimate union with other beings in nature cannot be real if there is not, at the same time, tenderness, compassion, and concern for fellow human beings in one’s heart.”[3] To think of the other and of their future in this way means doing everything possible to ensure they feel as well as I do myself.
Furthermore, care for creation is a responsibility that sounds a clarion call for reconsideration of the meaning of life. Historically, in our desire for omnipotence as human persons we have come closer and closer to confrontation with our own mortality and that of our ecosystem. On one hand, humanity has progressively realized that its actions have grave consequences for its future. This realization became particularly acute in the 17th century as people came to understand that “climate disruption was likely one of the major factors behind the succession of famines, wars, and epidemics that ultimately led to depopulation in Europe.”[4] Today, on the other hand, the question of meaning of life is indispensably urgent; the reason behind mobilization to avert mass destruction of creation.
To end with, while I acknowledge I cannot explore this topic fully, I am firm in my conviction that something can be done. We are where we are now because of uncontrolled human desire for wealth and power. But collective conviction put to action makes a difference. By responsibly taking care of creation in our little ways, we gradually rebuild the relationship that existed before with the rest of the created world. To actualize this, Pope Francis invites us to grow through sobriety and to nurture in ourselves the capacity to find enjoyment with little.[5]
[1] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 340.
[2] Feuillet M., Petite vie de François d’Assise, Desclée de Brouwer, Paris, 1992, p. 112.
[3] Pape François, Laudato si’, n° 91.
[4] Mistral J., Le climat va-t-il changer le capitalisme ? La grande mutation du XXIe siècle, Eyrolles, Paris, 2015, p. 9.
[5] Pope Francis, Laudato si’, Op. cit., n° 222.
