Chapter Two: Gospel of Creation
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LAUDATO SICHAPTER TWO: GOSPEL OF CREATIONTHE LIGHT OFFERED BY FAITH 63. Solutions to ecological crisis will not emerge from interpreting and transforming reality. Respect must be shown to everyone and everything. 64. Humans need to realize “their responsibility within creation, and their duty towards nature and the Creator, are an essential part of their faith”THE WISDOM OF BIBLICAL ACCOUNTS Human life is grounded in three fundamental and closely intertwined relationships—with God, with our neighbor and with the earth itself—yet these relationships have been broken, both outwardly and within us, by sin. As a result, the originally harmonious relationship between human beings and nature became broken and conflicted. The earth was here before us and it has been given to us by God. “Dominion” over the earth is not an excuse for “unbridled exploitation” but rather a command to be stewards of natural resources. (
81. Each human person possess a unique quality that cannot be fully explained by evolution. 82. When nature is viewed solely as a source of profit and gain, this has serious consequences for society. This caused immense inequality, injustice and acts of violence against the majority of humanity. 83. The ultimate purpose of other creatures is not to be found in us. Rather, all creatures are moving forward, with and through us, towards a common point of arrival, which is God.THE MESSAGE OF EACH CREATURE IN THE HARMONY OF CREATION 84. Just because we are made in the image and likeness of God does not mean that other creatures have no purpose and that we do not depend on them. 85. No creature is exempted from the manifestation of God. To sense and experience the existence of other creatures is to live joyfully in God’s love and hope. 86. The universe and all its relationships show the inexhaustible riches of God. All creatures complete each other; and God wills the interdependence of creatures. 87. When we see that all that exists reflects God, our hearts are moved to praise and worship Him. 88. The spirit of life dwells in every living creature and calls us into a relationship with it. Discovering this presence leads us to cultivate ecological virtues.A UNIVERSAL COMMUNION 89. Humans are “linked by unseen bonds and together form a kind of universal family.” 90. Humans continue to accept that some consider themselves more human than others, as if they had been born with greater privileges.