We all know the creation story in the opening chapters from the book of Genesis, of how God created the universe as a fruit of his goodness and creativity. We can imagine how God created the universe because he did not want to be alone, just as God imagined that man would not want to be alone and how man needed a partner. The birds of the air and the wild animals of the earth, though wonderful creatures in themselves, did not provide an appropriate partnership, so God created both man and woman.
We can look at this creation story in Genesis from different viewpoints, which is the richness of our Catholic faith and our Catholic traditions. Tomorrow, October 4, our Church celebrates the feast of a saint who had a deep love for all of God’s creation here on earth: St Francis of Assisi. Even though Francis was born in the late 12th century more than 800 years ago, his teachings still speak to our modern world today. A friend sent me this book called Care of Creation, which is a Franciscan spirituality of ecology and caring for the earth. The early Church rejected the philosophy of Gnosticism, which it later declared to be a heresy. Gnosticism saw the material world as being inferior to the spirit world; it saw a need for human beings to gain salvation from the material world. The Church, however, saw the world as intrinsically good as a part of God’s creation. St Francis saw a unity between human beings and all of creation. He saw the sun and wind as his brothers, the moon and water as his sisters.
In recent years, as we’ve become more aware of destructive affect humans have on the environment, our Church has developed a spirituality of being stewards of God’s creation in the tradition of St Francis. Pope Francis has been very outspoken on our need to care for the environment, calling for a courageous and responsible effort to avert the most serious effects of the environmental deterioration caused by human society. Pope Francis sees human dignity as rooted in our obligation to care for one another, for the planet, and for all diverse creatures here on earth.
The story of creation in Genesis and the holistic view of creation in the spirituality of St Francis of Assisi give us a great introduction for Respect for Life Month, which we kick off this first Sunday in October. As Pope Francis declared this to be the year of St. Joseph, this year’s celebration of Respect Life Month is connected to this great saint. Joseph was the faithful protector of both Jesus and Mary; thus, we find in St. Joseph a reminder of the way God calls us to welcome, safeguard, and defend the precious gift of human life that we receive from God himself.
Even with the challenging circumstances surrounding Mary being with child, St. Joseph took her into his home in response to the message of the angel. Joseph guided their journey to Bethlehem, found shelter, and welcomed baby Jesus into his life as his son. When Herod threatened Jesus’ life, St. Joseph left his homeland, fleeing with Jesus and Mary to Egypt. Like St. Joseph, we are also called to care for those God has entrusted to us, especially those who are most vulnerable. We can follow in the footsteps of St. Joseph as protector by advocating against those things that endanger human life.
I encourage all of you to join us in celebrating the Respect for Life this year in all of fullness of its dimensions. But beyond that, all of us as practicing Catholics should examine our own consciences on how well we are respecting life in the different ways in your daily life. During the month of October, the Church invites all of us to pray that our society will become a culture of life – not just for our own sakes – but for the future of our world.
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