The Season of Creation provides an opportunity to develop habits to become better stewards, said Bishop John Dolan in his homily on Sunday for the Mass of Creation at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral in Phoenix.
Pope Francis launched the Sept. 1 World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation in 2015, coinciding with the release of “Laudato Si’,” his groundbreaking encyclical on environmental stewardship. The 33-day Season of Creation begins on the day of prayer and ends on Oct. 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of the environment.
“When we create patterns or habits of behavior, we become better stewards. That’s what we’re called to do but we can lose sight of that,” Bishop Dolan said. “If I just focus on creation one day out of the year, I’m not going to be that great of a steward. The challenge is always before us, and so this season, we’re called to really be attentive.”
In his homily, he recalled a campaign from his younger years called “Pitch it in” that encouraged people to, when they see trash, pick it up and “pitch it in” a trash can. Organizers placed trash cans throughout neighborhoods, and the campaign succeeded for a while, until it didn’t, Bishop Dolan shared.
“We grew laxed but it isn’t as if we weren’t warned. We’ve lost that little sense of stewardship because we got out of that campaign mode of pitching in,” he said. “The idea of creation and the care of creation goes even deeper than that. All of a sudden, we’re looking at carbon issues and the ozone layer, and we’re looking at the way in which our planet might be in some ways melting away.”
In his homily, the bishop drew the distinction between the responsibility of dominion over creation versus domination.
“He called us to have dominion over the world, that as human beings we’re set apart to care for the world, to care for all that God has given us, including all the blessings, not only caring for the physical but also the spiritual,” he said. “We’ve moved as a human race toward a level of negligence, toward a level of arrogance, and we adopted not the word of ‘dominion’ and accepted a different word, ‘domination.’”
That difference provided Rosie Hacker, who attended the Mass, with points for reflection.
“That’s where we were meant to be as humanity, as God made us to have dominion over the earth,” she said. “That means we’re supposed to take care of it. We’re not supposed to crush it, and ‘domination’ seems like it’s crushing.”
Abigail Standish, who has served as the diocese’s coordinator of Catholic Social Teaching since January, met with attendees after Mass in the parish hall to discuss practical ways Catholics can do their part to be good stewards. She offered tips such as recycling, using reusable napkins or towels, composting, carpooling and most importantly, prayer.
“These little everyday things are big changes but they’re totally doable for most people,” Standish shared.
“When we pray about creation, we have this conversation with God. How am I moved to care for creation and letting the Holy Spirit work within?” she added. “Also in prayer, we get to thank God. We have this beautiful opportunity to say, ‘Thank you, Lord, for giving us these gifts that You have given us.’”
Standish acknowledged the criticisms some people may have for environmental stewardship but she said it’s important to focus more from a spiritual point of view as opposed to politicizing the issue.
“If we look at it from a spiritual point of view, it is all about respecting God and loving God. God has created everything that is natural in this world, and if God created it, God loves all of His creations,” she said. “While God loves us the most, He still loves all of His creations. He took time to make everything perfectly so that it sustains us. He was intentional with it. He cares for it, and He loves it as His creation, and He loves it because it is able to sustain our human lives, His most beloved creation.”
Kelly Ahern, a parishioner at the cathedral whose children attended Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral School, said she appreciates the call of stewardship and responsibility of serving others.
“It’s important for us to be respectful of all creation and what we’re meant to do here as members of that creation,” she said.
While the Churchwide efforts for environmental stewardship may seem new, many communities have been promoting it for a while.
“As schoolteachers, we were always very particular to teach the children to appreciate all the living things,” recalled Loreto Sr. Elizabeth Carey who used to teach at the cathedral school.
In their statement on the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, Archbishop Borys Gudziak, the U.S. Bishops’ Domestic Justice and Human Development chairman, and Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, the bishops’ International Justice and Peace chairman, the bishops reflected on the importance of the Eucharist in caring for the environment.
“Jesus chose to remain with us in a specific and concrete way, in his Body and Blood. Without the Eucharist, there can be no People of God,” wrote Archbishop Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia and Bishop Zaidan of the Maronite Catholic Eparchy of Los Angeles.
“This is why it should be of no surprise that the poor man of Assisi had a profound reverence and respect for the Body and Blood of the Lord. The ‘root and source’ of St. Francis’ love for peace, poverty and care for creation was Jesus Christ,” they added.
In his Message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation this year, the Holy Father stated that environmental protection is not simply ethical but also theological because it is the point where the mysteries of God and man intersect.
“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,” said Pope Francis. “In Jesus, the eternal Son who took on human flesh, we are truly children of the Father. … In this way, our lives can become a song of love for God, for humanity, with and for creation, and find their fullness in holiness.”
Bishop Dolan concluded his homily by reflecting on the day’s second reading taken from James who exhorted his readers to be “doers of the word and not hearers only.”
“The same thing goes for us. We are called to be stewards, and we can hear that, but are we doers?” Bishop Dolan asked. “As we celebrate this Day of Creation and the Season of Creation, let us listen to God, to wipe out that vice of greed and put on that virtue of love, a love for God, a love for others, a love for creation.”
