Laudato si': "Gospel of
creation" is the key that unlocks its meaning
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| A swan with cygnets on the River Ill in Strasbourg (AFP) |
Five years ago on May 24th, Pope Francis published his
second encyclical, Laudato sí. Cardinal Turkson explains how it got its
subtitle, how care for creation is connected with worship, and St Francis of
Assisi’s vision of creation.
By Sr Bernadette Mary Reis, fsp
Cardinal Peter Turkson was a guest on a webinar sponsored by
the Global Catholic Climate Movement during Laudato Sí Week.
The Prefect of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral
Human Development unpacked the second chapter of the Encyclical, Laudato
sí called the "Theology of Creation". He tells us how the
Encyclical got its subtitle “On Care for Our Common Home” and how care for
creation is connected with worship of God, the Creator.
Lastly, Cardinal Turkson explores the relationship as brothers
that we share with all created things, as explained from the perspective of St
Francis of Assisi.
The Gospel of Creation
Reflecting on Chapter Two of Laudato sí,
Cardinal Turkson pointed out the significance of Pope Francis’s explanation of
the “Gospel of Creation”. The purpose of the literary genre of the “Gospel”,
Cardinal Turkson explained, is to proclaim the mighty works of God. Whenever
someone speaks about what God has worked, whether it is salvation itself, or
the well-being of the person, “it is always Good News, it is always Gospel”, he
said.
Christian key to ecology
“The Pope, in referring to creation in terms of a Gospel,
invites us to recognize in creation a great act of God which is beneficial to
the human race”. This is, furthermore, a key with which to read the entire
Encyclical because it forms the basis for why ecology and care for the earth is
important for Christians. “It invites us to consider creation as an act of God,
with a design and a purpose that is not based on the human person, but based on
God’s own design for creating everything.”
In addition, it is an invitation for the Christian to seek
God’s design in everything that is created. Genesis tells us that God designed
creation so that it would be our home. Thus, the subtitle of the Encyclical,
“On Care for Our Common Home.”
Connection with worship
Our care for this common home that is creation has a direct
link with worship, Cardinal Turkson went on to explain. Since the Christian is
invited to view all of creation as an act of God, then how creation fits into
how we worship the God who created it is the next step. It helps us in “our
recognition of who God is and helps us raise our minds and hearts and
everything in worship to God”, the Cardinal said.
Genesis expresses the role God entrusted to the human person
in the “garden” He created. The word used in the Hebrew has a connotation of
“service” and is also used in terms of the “service” the human person pays to
God in worship. “So the human person’s working of everything that God has
created in creation also represents his way of worshiping God, his way of
serving God.”
Thus, all human activity ultimately has a “sense of
worshiping God”, the Cardinal continued. Therefore, serious questions arise “if
our work or use of the earth does not contribute to our worship and
glorification of God”.
Earth belongs to everyone, present and future
A third element that we can derive from the fact that
creation is an act of God is that it does not belong to any one particular
portion of humanity to exploit “creation any way they want”. This applies both
in terms of space but in terms of time as well. We are meant to take care of
our present needs with a view to those who will need to take of their needs in
the future as well. This is called “intergenerational solidarity”, he said.
Creation leads to contemplation
“The sense of the Gospel of creation leads to a
contemplation”, which was developed by St Francis of Assisi, “who sees creation
as an instrument for his own sense of prayer and meditation”. He also
encouraged his brothers to use creation in their communities as an element
through which they could worship God, the Cardinal explained.
Creation reveals God’s presence
In this way, St Francis is consonant with the Book of Wisdom
and St Paul, who maintained that creation reflects God. He referred to Psalm 19
that says that the heavens and firmament proclaim “the might works of God”.
This shows that creation has the capacity of narrating and revealing God’s
presence. “This is very crucial”, the Cardinal noted.
“When St Francis saw in creation a means of contemplating
the presence of God, it was in that sense.” Thus, what St Francis said can
teach us a lot about care for creation, “preserving everything that God has
made”.
Brothers and sisters to creation
“Creation, indeed, as Francis would say, is a brother, a
sister. There is Brother Sun, but there is Sister Moon, Mother Earth.” Francis
used terms regarding “kinship” to express our relationship to what God created.
This means that “our relationship to creation is in terms of ‘kinship’.”
It was this way from the beginning, the Cardinal insisted.
When God introduced man to His garden, the literal meaning of the Hebrew
command He gave Adam was to “keep it”. “The LORD God then took the man and
settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for
it”, or "keep it" (Genesis 2:15). It is the same word used by Cain
when he asks if he is his brother’s keeper. “The relationship
between brothers is reflected in the relationship between the human family and
creation. Creation is for us, a kin, to be kept like we keep a brother… We
vindicate our brother, we protect their lives. We safeguard everything they
have”.
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