The first readings from yesterday and today present to us the story of creation from the first chapter of Genesis. Yesterday, we heard of the first four days. Today, we hear about the creation of the fifth and sixth day, completing God’s creation of heaven and earth, with God resting on the seventh day, making it holy. There are different ways to view the story of creation. With our youth religious education class, we have been studying the creed. In the first part of the creed, “I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth,” we studied this first chapter of Genesis.
In recent years, we have interpreted the creation story from Genesis as a responsibility that we have to be good stewards of creation, realizing the impact we human beings can have on the environment. Rather than good management and good stewardship of God’s creation, we as human beings often seek domination, control, and exploitation of the earth’s resources. We look at God’s creation as to how it can benefit us. Creation is put into our human hands to meet our needs. However, we human beings are just one part of creation. A mutual interdependence exists between all of creation on planet earth.
In an address to youth in the Philippines in 2015, Pope Francis stated: “Respect for the environment means more that simply using cleaner products or recycling what we use. These are important aspects, but (it’s) not enough. We need to see, with the eyes of faith, the beauty of God’s saving plan, the link between the natural environment and the dignity of the human person… As stewards of God’s creation, we are called to make the earth a beautiful garden for the human family. When we destroy our forests, ravage our soil, and pollute our seas, we betray that noble calling.”
From mighty galaxies to the sub-atomic particles, there is a seamless garment of creation. We human beings are to be stewards of creation in a holistic way that will benefits our entire ecosystem here on earth.
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