The earth, like ourselves, needs saving. From what? For what? In a proper Christian understanding of things, the earth is not just a stage for human beings, a thing with no value in itself, apart from us. Like humanity, it too is God’s work of art, God’s child. Indeed, the physical earth is our mother, the matrix from which we all spring. In the end, we are not apart from the natural world; rather we are that part of the natural world that has become conscious of itself. We do not stand apart from the earth and it does not exist simply for our benefit, like a stage for the actor, to be abandoned once the play is over. Physical creation has value in itself, independent of us. We need to recognize that, and not only to practice better eco-ethics so that the earth can continue to provide air, water, and food for future generations of human beings.
How will the earth be transformed? It will be transformed in the same way we are, through resurrection. The resurrection brings into our world, spiritually and physically, a new power, a new arrangement of things, a new hope, something so radical (and physical) that it can only be compared to what happened at the initial creation when the atoms and the molecules of this universe were created out of nothingness by God. In that initial creation, nature was formed and its reality and laws shaped everything from then until the resurrection of Jesus.
The resurrection was not only spiritual. In it, the physical atoms of the universe were rearranged. Teilhard [de Chardin] was right. We need a vision wide enough to incorporate the cosmic dimension of Christ. The resurrection is about people, and the planet.
--Fr. Ron Rolheiser OMI
Happy Earth Day!
What will you do for the planet today?
Image source: https://spb.hse.ru/soc/illuminated/news/363052560.html
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