20170207 ECOLOGY RESPECTS BOTH NATURE AND HUMANITY
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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Genesis 1:20-2:4
©
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God said, ‘Let the
waters teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth within the
vault of heaven.’ And so it was. God created great sea-serpents and every kind
of living creature with which the waters teem, and every kind of winged creature.
God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful, multiply, and
fill the waters of the seas; and let the birds multiply upon the earth.’
Evening came and morning came: the fifth day.
God said,
‘Let the earth produce every kind of living creature: cattle, reptiles, and
every kind of wild beast.’ And so it was. God made every kind of wild beast,
every kind of cattle, and every kind of land reptile. God saw that it was good.
God said,
‘Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves, and let them
be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all the
wild beasts and all the reptiles that crawl upon the earth.’
God created man in
the image of himself,
in the image of God
he created him,
male and female he
created them.
God blessed them,
saying to them, ‘Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and conquer it. Be
masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven and all living animals on
the earth.’ God said, ‘See, I give you all the seed-bearing plants that are
upon the whole earth, and all the trees with seed-bearing fruit; this shall be
your food. To all wild beasts, all birds of heaven and all living reptiles on
the earth I give all the foliage of plants for food.’ And so it was. God saw
all he had made, and indeed it was very good. Evening came and morning came:
the sixth day.
Thus
heaven and earth were completed with all their array. On the seventh day God
completed the work he had been doing. He rested on the seventh day after all
the work he had been doing. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy,
because on that day he had rested after all his work of creating.
Such were
the origins of heaven and earth when they were created.
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm 8:4-9 ©
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How great is your
name, O Lord our God, through all the earth!
When I see the
heavens, the work of your hands,
the moon
and the stars which you arranged,
what is man that you
should keep him in mind,
mortal
man that you care for him?
How great is your
name, O Lord our God, through all the earth!
Yet you have made him
little less than a god;
with
glory and honour you crowned him,
gave him power over
the works of your hand,
put all
things under his feet.
How great is your
name, O Lord our God, through all the earth!
All of them, sheep
and cattle,
yes, even
the savage beasts,
birds of the air, and
fish
that make
their way through the waters.
How great is your
name, O Lord our God, through all the earth!
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Ps118:24
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Train me, Lord, to
observe your law,
to keep it with my
heart.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Ps118:36,29
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Bend my heart to your
will, O Lord,
and teach me your
law.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Mark 7:1-13 ©
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The Pharisees and
some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered round Jesus, and they
noticed that some of his disciples were eating with unclean hands, that is,
without washing them. For the Pharisees, and the Jews in general, follow the
tradition of the elders and never eat without washing their arms as far as the
elbow; and on returning from the market place they never eat without first
sprinkling themselves. There are also many other observances which have been
handed down to them concerning the washing of cups and pots and bronze dishes.
So these Pharisees and scribes asked him, ‘Why do your disciples not respect
the tradition of the elders but eat their food with unclean hands?’ He
answered, ‘It was of you hypocrites that Isaiah so rightly prophesied in this
passage of scripture:
This people honours
me only with lip-service,
while their hearts
are far from me.
The worship they
offer me is worthless,
the doctrines they
teach are only human regulations.
You
put aside the commandment of God to cling to human traditions.’ And he said to
them, ‘How ingeniously you get round the commandment of God in order to
preserve your own tradition! For Moses said: Do your duty to your father and
your mother, and, Anyone who curses father or mother must be put to death. But
you say, “If a man says to his father or mother: Anything I have that I might
have used to help you is Corban (that is, dedicated to God), then he is
forbidden from that moment to do anything for his father or mother.” In this
way you make God’s word null and void for the sake of your tradition which you
have handed down. And you do many other things like this.’
ECOLOGY
RESPECTS BOTH NATURE AND HUMANITY
In the first reading, we
read of the beauty of God’s creation. The magnificent works of God are
seen in His creation. The author in a simplistic manner suitable to
his time described the various stages of creation, the sea creatures, the birds
that fly in the air; the creatures of the land and finally, the creation of
human beings as the summit of creation. But unlike the rest of
creation, “God created man in the image of himself, in the image of God he
created him, male and female he created them.” Clearly, man has a
special place in God’s creation. He is distinguished from all creatures
and creation. His special dignity lies in the fact that man is like God,
sharing the life of God and yet not divine like God.
Because he shares in the
life of God, he is given special authority to exercise dominion on behalf of
God. God said, “Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of
ourselves, and let them be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of the
heaven, the cattle, all the wild beasts and all the reptiles that crawl upon the
earth.” “God blessed them, saying to them, ‘Be fruitful, multiply, fill
the earth and conquer it. Be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of
heaven and all living animals on the earth.’” Man, then, is given powers
over the rest of creation. Man did not create the world and so he is not
the creator but only a steward. We do not have full authority over
creation to do what we like, but to exercise stewardship on behalf of God for
His creation. We are therefore not absolute masters but merely exercising
stewardship in the name of God.
What is proper stewardship
of God’s creation? Firstly, God created the world for the service of
human beings and for their good. God said, “See, I give you all the
seed-bearing plants that are upon the whole earth, and all the trees with
seed-bearing fruit; this shall be your food. To all wild beasts, all birds of
heaven and all living reptiles on the earth I give all the foliage of plants
for food.” Creation is therefore for the service of man.
Other creatures and plants exist to serve humanity. In this sense,
we have a right over creation and we can make use of them for our needs and
growth. Yet, there are limits as to how we can use them for our purpose.
Proper stewardship also
means that we do not destroy their existence. They are created by God and
we have a duty also to protect them and help them to fulfill their roles in
creation, be they plants or animals. Everything has a finality. We
are created for a purpose. Dogs are given to humanity so that they can protect
and guide us; and be our companions. All creatures exist for something or
someone. The meaning of life is when we fulfill our finality in
life. Otherwise, we live our lives in vain. Women are created for
motherhood and they find the most fulfilling task in bearing children and
looking after them. Of course, some are also called to serve humanity in
leadership roles. But fundamentally, women are given a nurturing nature
to look after the young. This explains why most women choose family over
their career if a choice has to be made, even when they are doing well in
life. As for the case of the Father, he finds himself when he gives
himself to his wife and family by being their protector, defender and
provider. Of course, such conventional roles are not exclusively the role
of any particular sex. The point remains that unless we fulfill our roles
in life, and this goes for all of creation, we cannot find fulfillment.
Hence, the greatest joy of a dog is to serve his master or mistress.
Accordingly, we cannot
abuse creation. The failure to respect ecology is a serious sin in
today’s world when many, especially multinational corporations, exploit
creation out of greed, profit and selfishness. Instead of being wise
stewards, we have destroyed creation.
The severe climate change
we are experiencing today, resulting in freak typhoons, floods, extreme
temperatures, etc is a consequence of our neglect and irresponsible
exploitation of creation. Hence, the rallying call today, not just
by religious leaders but all of humanity, to protect creation, especially
plants, animals and the environment. The truth is that there is a deep
and intrinsic relationship between human beings and creation. When we
manipulate creation, and do not respect the laws of nature, we will suffer the
backlash of nature. Nature has its own natural laws to govern them.
By upsetting the ecosystem, the principle of cause and effect sets in.
Nature is blind and will respond according to its own set of laws. The
uncontrolled and irresponsible treatment of nature will cause the entire
creation to suffer because we are inter-related and inter-dependent as
creatures of God.
This was the case of the
Jews as well. They were manipulating the laws for their own
self-interest. Jesus reprimanded them for acting hypocritically because
they used the laws not to glorify God or to help their fellowmen or fulfill
their obligations to their loved ones, but in order to escape
responsibility. Citing from Isaiah, Jesus answered, “It was of you
hypocrites that Isaiah so rightly prophesied in this passage of scripture: This
people honours me only with lip-service, while their hearts are from me. The
worship they offer me is worthless, the doctrines they teach are only human
regulations.” The hygienic laws are in themselves good but they are means to an
end. They are meant to help foster healthy lifestyles; not to separate
people from God or hinder them from coming to God. Most of all, the
practice of such rituals without understanding will not achieve its
purpose. This is true for other practices like the
Sabbath. The true meaning of Sabbath is to ensure that man rests
properly, not so much that God needs to rest. Rather, it is to remind us
that God ultimately is in charge of His creation. We should not think
that we are in full control. We are to cooperate with Him and do what we
can to protect and use His creation to glorify Him. When we take the
Sabbath rest seriously, we are reminded that God is our creator and that all we
have come from Him; and that we are called to use them for the good of our
brothers and sisters. We should not have a blind observance of the laws.
Slavery to the laws is no better than not observing them. Those who
observe them could do so for wrong motives, selfishness and for their ego and
escape from a wrathful and unreasonable god.
So we must use the gifts of
God rightly, according to what nature determines. We must have respect
for natural laws. Even then, this is not enough. The world is quite
short-sighted. It does not go beyond respect for nature to human
nature. The world only speaks of the environment and the other creatures
but fail to consider human ecology as well. Increasingly, recent popes
have been warning of the danger of seeing nature as more important than human
beings. It is not enough to protect the natural environment. We must also
protect the human environment. Environmental ecology suffers only because
human ecology is not respected. The weakening of humanity, especially in
human virtues, will affect the way we treat the environment.
It is
for this reason that we need to pay attention to the ecology of the human
family, marriage and social life. The social role of the family is to
build a civilization of love. John Paul II wrote, “The first and
fundamental structure for a ‘human ecology’ is the family, founded on marriage,
in which the mutual gift of self as husband and wife creates an environment in
which children can be born and grow up” (Centesimus Annus, No. 39). The
complementarity of man and woman must be underscored in fostering a new human
ecology. Both have an indispensable contribution to society. When
the family and marriage are subjected to redefinition by ideologists, we forget
that the family is an anthropological fact, not something left to be determined
by concepts based on some preconceived ideological notion that changes with
time. Because of individualism marriage as a permanent institution is no
longer embraced by many, nor is marriage seen as a union between a man and a
woman. When this human ecology is not respected, we will have many
problems in the future with respect to the raising of holistic children and
families.
Human ecology also extends
to the care and respect for life in all its stages. Every human life
must be respected from conception to old age and death. The dignity of
every human person, because he or she is created in God’s image and likeness,
must be protected. An authentic human ecology restores the balance
between creation and the human persons. We must never forget that persons
live in environments, natural, social and economic. So stewardship is
necessary if we are to restore the integrity of creation. When the human
person is in danger because he forgets his place in creation, the person will
abuse creation as well. The crises affecting the natural world, society,
marriage and the family are manifestations of the loss of our dignity and
vocation in life.
The real problem affecting
ecology today is not simply a question of economics, but ethics and morality
and most of all, our understanding of anthropology. Who is man?
This is the ultimate question in ecology. Once we appreciate that man is
created in God’s image and likeness and has been entrusted by God with the task
of helping creation to realize its fulfillment by protecting and caring for it,
we would pay attention to every human person, the importance of the family, the
dignity of life, the culture of solidarity, the danger of a culture of
consumerism and waste. When everyone and everything is in right
relationship and in the right order, there will then be world peace.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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