Chapter Two: Gospel of Creation

LAUDATO SI

CHAPTER TWO: GOSPEL OF CREATION

1. THE LIGHT OFFERED BY FAITH

        63. Solutions  to ecological crisis will not emerge from interpreting and transforming reality. Respect must be shown to everyone and everything.

        64. Humans need to realize “their responsibility within creation, and their duty towards nature and the Creator, are an essential part of their faith”

1. THE WISDOM OF BIBLICAL ACCOUNTS

        Human life is grounded in three fundamental and closely intertwined relationships—with God, with our neighbor and with the earth itself—yet these relationships have been broken, both outwardly and within us, by sin. As a result, the originally harmonious relationship between human beings and nature became broken and conflicted.

        The earth was here before us and it has been given to us by God. “Dominion” over the earth is not an excuse for “unbridled exploitation” but rather a command to be stewards of natural resources. (http://blog.acton.org/archives/79408-a-guide-to-laudato-si-a-section-by-section-summary-of-pope-francis-encyclical-on-the-environment.html)

1. THE MYSTERY OF THE UNIVERSE

        76. 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.”

        77. The world came about as a result of a decision. Creation is of the order of love. God’s love is the fundamental moving force in all created things. All creatures in this world, God envelops it with his affection. We can ascend from created things “to the greatness of God and to his loving mercy”

        78. Judaeo-Christian did not see nature as divine when they demythologized nature. In doing so, it emphasizes all the more our human responsibility for nature. If we acknowledge the value and fragility of nature and our God-given abilities, we can leave behind the modern myth of unlimited material progress. The world, entrusted by God to us, challenges us to come up with intelligent ways of controlling and developing our power.

        79. We can observe countless forms of relationships and participation. We are free to apply our intelligence towards things evolving positively, or new causes of sufferings. This is what makes for the excitement and drama of human history, in which freedom, growth, salvation and love can blossom, or lead towards corruption and mutual destruction. The Church not only reminds us to care for nature but to “protect it from self-destruction”

        80. God created “a world in need of development,” and “counts on our cooperation.” Thus, “many of the things we think of as evils, dangers or sources of suffering, are in reality part of the pains of childbirth which he uses to draw us into the act of cooperation with the Creator.”

        81. Each human person possess a unique quality that cannot be fully explained by evolution.

        82. When nature is viewed solely as a source of profit and gain, this has serious consequences for society. This caused immense inequality, injustice and acts of violence against the majority of humanity.

        83. The ultimate purpose of other creatures is not to be found in us. Rather, all creatures are moving forward, with and through us, towards a common point of arrival, which is God.

1. THE MESSAGE OF EACH CREATURE IN THE HARMONY OF CREATION

        84. Just because we are made in the image and likeness of God does not mean that other creatures  have no purpose and that we do not depend on them.

        85. No creature is exempted from the manifestation of God. To sense and experience the existence of other creatures is to live joyfully in God’s love and hope.

        86. The universe and all its relationships show the inexhaustible riches of God. All creatures         complete each other; and God wills the interdependence of creatures.

        87. When we see that all that exists reflects God, our hearts are moved to praise and worship Him.

        88. The spirit of life dwells in every living creature and calls us into a relationship with it. Discovering this presence leads us to cultivate ecological virtues.

1. A UNIVERSAL COMMUNION

        89. Humans are “linked by unseen bonds and together form a kind of universal family.”

        90. Humans continue to accept that some consider themselves more human than others, as if they had been born with greater privileges.