Pope Francis Reminds Us to Keep Faith First.

To hope and act with creation, then, means to live an incarnational faith, one that can enter into the suffering and hope-filled “flesh” of others, by sharing in the expectation of the bodily resurrection to which believers are predestined in Christ the Lord. – Message of His Holiness for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation.

The Holy Father’s latest eco-statement, issued last week in preparation for the September first World Day of Prayer for Creation, may not be what some expect. But it is exactly what it should be.

The statement grounds our eco-efforts in our faith, which should always be the foundation on which we seek to build or protect anything.

Moreover, the statement provides a sort of catechesis of what our faith proposes that is different from worldly eco-voices—and such catechesis is part and parcel of evangelization.

Why is there so much evil in the world? Why so much injustice, so many fratricidal wars that kill children, destroy cities, pollute the environment and leave mother earth violated and devastated? Implicitly evoking the sin of Adam, Saint Paul states: “We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now” (Rom 8:22). The moral struggles of Christians are linked to the “groaning” of creation, ever since the latter “was subjected to futility” (v. 20). The entire universe and every creature therein groans and yearns “impatiently” for its present condition to be overcome and its original state to be restored. Our liberation thus includes that of all other creatures who, in solidarity with the human condition, were placed under the yoke of slavery. Creation itself, like humanity, was enslaved, albeit through no fault of its own, and finds itself unable to fulfill the lasting meaning and purpose for which it was designed. [4]

Long a theme of this blog, the priority of faith gives Catholics a voice that must be integral to our efforts at ecological protection. No other can offer an authentic theology and anthropology to understand best the state of the world and society today. No other voice can adequately explain the why of issues such as the overuse of resources or the weighty impacts of all that waste on the other side of our consumption. And no other voice can offer hope when things seem darkest, or guarantee the grace to counter the foundational causes of our eco-crises.

Too often, Catholic eco-advocates see themselves as just more of the same. By that, I mean we may see ourselves as joining worldly eco-efforts in a way that makes us ... well, worldly. We may hide our faith as we prioritize politics rather than the Gospel. We may rely too much on our efforts rather than the promises of God. We may focus too much on nature and not enough on grace, which perfects it.

The protection of creation, then, is not only an ethical issue, but one that is eminently theological, for it is the point where the mystery of man and the mystery of God intersect. This intersection can be called “creative”, since it originates in the act of love by which God created human beings in Christ. That creative act of God enables and grounds the freedom and morality of all human activity. We are free precisely because we were created in the image of God who is Jesus Christ, and, as a result, are “representatives” of creation in Christ himself. A transcendent (theological-ethical) motivation commits Christians to promoting justice and peace in the world, not least through the universal destination of goods. It is a matter of the revelation of the children of God that creation awaits, groaning as in the pangs of childbirth. At stake is not only our earthly life in history, but also, and above all, our future in eternity, the eschaton of our blessedness, the paradise of our peace, in Christ, the Lord of the cosmos, crucified and risen out of love. [8. Italics original.]

And to this, one can only pause, give thanks, and say a resolute AMEN. After which, we can boldly go forth in faith to care for the garden and the neighbors that God calls us to protect and nurture—not by ourselves, but with the hope and life-giving grace that comes from our faith in the Creator of all that is.