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Christian Community by Reg Block
Responsible conservation and respect for nature is a Christian duty.
The old and new testaments, the patriarchs, the church fathers and
sainted expositors remind us of the stewardship bestowed upon all
inhabitants of Earth. Despite this, it is apparent the torch is more
boldly carried by those outside the faith.
From a Christian perspective, the whole of creation is held together
because God wills it. Saint Augustine states, "the world began
when God’s word drew it out of nothingness; all existent beings,
all of nature and all human history are rooted in this primordial
event, the very genesis by which the world was constituted and time
begun."
God established order within the hierarchy of living things giving
mankind the responsibility to care for the Earth and everything in
it. Early in Genesis we are told that creation was good. God was pleased
with it. However, there was trouble in paradise resulting in Adam
and Eve’s expulsion from the garden lest they ate from the tree
of life and lived forever in an eternally fallen condition. Despite
their ejection from the garden, Adam and Eve retained elements of
a God-breathed nature, albeit tainted by self-willed separation from
the Creator.
Although mankind, embarking on a perilous journey, forfeited access
to the tree of life, God would make provisions for an eventual end
to the curse. We see that clearly demonstrated in Revelation 22, where
the tree of life is re-introduced for the healing of the nations.
Jesus identifies himself with that tree numerous times in the New
Testament, referring to himself as the way, the truth, the life and
the tree. He offers all people provisional access to the tree through
his life, suffering, death and resurrection.
A new age is coming, but it’s not here yet. The whole earth
is still groaning with birth-pains. And we, the inhabitants, face
greater and greater challenges as passing time diminishes the image
of our primordial ordained occupation. Even though we are promised
eventual restoration, it in no way negates our responsibility to honor
the Creator. Page 88, Catechism of the Catholic Church profoundly
says, "Each creature possesses its particular goodness and perfection.
By the very nature of creation, material being is endowed with its
own stability, truth and excellence, its own order and laws. Each
of the various creatures, willed in its own being, reflects in its
own way a ray of God’s infinite wisdom and goodness. Man must
therefore respect the particular goodness of every creature, to avoid
any disordered use of things which would be in contempt of the Creator
and would bring disastrous consequences for human beings and their
environment. Creatures exist only in dependence on each other, to
complete each other, in the service of each other."
Saint Francis of Assisi in his Canticle of Creatures writes: "May
you be praised, O Lord, in all your creatures, especially brother
sun, by whom you give us light for the day; he is beautiful, radiating
great splendor, and offering us a symbol of you, the Most High…May
you be praised, my Lord, for sister water, who is very useful and
humble, precious and chaste…May you be praised, my Lord, for
sister earth, our mother, who bears and feeds us, and produces the
variety of fruits and dappled flowers and grasses…Praise and
bless my Lord, give thanks and serve him in all humility." 1
As Christians, we are ever reminded that the Tree of Life proceeds
from God. "It reflects His infinite beauty and ought to inspire
the respect and submission of our intellect and will."2 Saint
Francis helps us to understand that creation mirrors the glory of
God, it sustains us like family. The psalmist says, "the heavens
declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows his handiwork."
3
This month’s Common Ground cover depicts the tree of life -a
concept that can mean anything from literally worshipping nature to
merely honoring it as the work of a great and holy Creator. How is
it then as North Americans, declared mostly Christian, that we are
among the most wasteful pollution-contributors on planet Earth?
From Moses to Jesus we are reminded that our faith is demonstrated
in numerous ways including respect for the gift of creation. I would
encourage everyone to examine the biblical perspective on the effects
of contravening natural laws and balances. Although our hope should
not be on earthly things, we still have to live here and our children
hereafter.
1.Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition
2.Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition
3.Psalms 19:1, KJV
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