The battle for conservation will go on endlessly.
It is part of the universal battle between right and wrong.
(John Muir)
SIGN: The coat of arms of the Congregation and the inscription “Copiosa Apud Eum Redemptio.”
- From an ecological perspective, what reading can I make of these signs?
- How can the elements of our Redemptorist spirituality help us to nurture ecological awareness?
- In what way is the natural world also a recipient of the proclamation of the abundant redemption of Jesus Christ?
In dialogue with the emerging ecological reality
The current climate crisis is of unprecedented magnitude and constitutes one of the greatest challenges facing humanity today. The delicate balances that have so far sustained our ecosystems are showing significant deterioration, generating a series of chain reactions whose consequences have not yet been measured or quantified. Some refer to this reality as an uncomfortable truth (Al Gore) that offers us no alternative but to assume the consequences of our actions in relation to the natural world and to act promptly. Some scholars define this crisis as a crisis of imagination (Lawrence Buell), not only in terms of the recognition of the threats we face, but also of the possibilities before us. Recognizing the causes and consequences of human action on the systems that sustain life on our planet should lead us to also recognize our responsibility for a future that, to a large extent, depends on us.
Behind a well-known saying of popular wisdom lies a dynamic that can help us understand how our actions are a reflection of our values and beliefs. The saying reads: “Watch your thoughts, they become words. Watch your words, they become actions. Watch your actions, they become habits. Watch your habits, they become your destiny.” Thus, in the exercise of recognizing the causes of the current ecological crisis, we could question to what extent an inadequate interpretation of nature and our relationship with it could be contributing to the current environmental degradation. Some scholars have already pointed out that the ecological crisis, in addition to being a moral or value crisis, is essentially also a religious and spiritual crisis. Perhaps one of our best contributions is to recover the Christian sense of the sacredness of nature. To this end, we have the treasure of a rich Christian tradition and a wonderful symbolic capital that can help us to read and interpret the environmental reality, and to reestablish the broken relationships with our Common Home.
The logic of the market economy that has managed to implant itself in people’s consciousness today is based on the idea of a massive production of goods and services that must be consumed quickly, as a necessary condition for maintaining economic growth. In this model, the ultimate instance or value that defines human behavior is represented by the triad: produce, consume and accumulate. In contrast, the conservation of natural resources, sobriety, recycling and reuse are not considered values, since they do not favor production, consumption or accumulation. This is a model that establishes no limits and is based on a fallacious idea of perpetual progress which, in turn favors a “throwaway culture” and stimulates the voracity of natural resources.
Our value system and our beliefs shape not only our words, but also our actions, our habits and, ultimately, our understanding of who we are in the world. It is precisely here that religion in general, and our Redemptorist charism in particular, come into play, as they have the fundamental role of being generators of values and meaning. Moreover, as formators of conscience, Redemptorists can have an important impact on the care of the Common Home. In this sense, the Social Doctrine of the Church (SDC) is a tool that helps us to reimagine our faith and our charism in the face of ecological reality. As a matter of fact, care for the common home has been articulated as one of the guiding principles of the SDC.
The Church’s Magisterium has distanced itself from the anthropocentric vision that has permeated our theology and our relationship with the worldview and moves us to explore anew the richness of our Christian tradition. And, since there is no single way of interpreting and transforming reality, Laudato Si calls us to enter into a dialogue with different forms of knowledge, including our theological and Redemptorist tradition.
Redemption through the lens of Laudato Si
All of us who participate in the Redemptorist charism, as its name suggests, are collaborators in the work of Redemption carried out in the person of Jesus, who became incarnate to restore the broken relationships between the created world and its Creator. Since Laudato Si, we Redemptorists have felt called to find new accents and nuances in the formulation and experience of the work of Redemption that embraces the whole of creation. Hence the importance of deepening our faith assumptions and our values, as the way we interpret them will determine our actions, that is, the way we live our charism and Christian morals. So, the realization that redemption has effects that extend beyond the human person into the whole created world, will help us to reestablish the broken relationships with the created world. It also has major implications on the way we think about ourselves as Redemptorists and members of the human family
Christian redemption aims at a cosmic and supernatural liberation, but it does not lose sight of the here and now, nor is it reduced only to liberation in the spiritual or socio-political sphere. It also touches the suffering and oppressed nature, since it also falls within the category of the poor (cf. LS 49) whom Christ calls blessed (Mt 5:3) and who are the preferential recipients of the abundant redemption.
If our understanding of redemption is centered exclusively on the human being, disconnected from the whole of creation, our morality will likewise be centered solely on the search for the good of the human being, at the expense of other creatures. Some views suggest a “theological anthropocentrism” that should promote fraternity among creatures and reject any claim of dominion and utilitarianism on the part of the human being against other forms of life; it is an anthropological vision that must recognize, above all, the sovereignty of God on Earth through Jesus Christ the Redeemer.
We have come to recognize the degree of interconnectivity and interdependence of all creatures within the created world, in such a way that it is no longer possible to continue to assume a redemption that excludes our Common Home and the other species that inhabit it. These links help us to understand ourselves as creatures within the same creation, and to recognize the inherent dignity of each creature, as we all share the same origin and the same destiny.
Reimagining our charism in light of the current ecological crisis should lead our spirituality, and particularly our theology, to move its center of gravity from selfish anthropocentrism to its true center: the Triune God, the principle and foundation from which life, existence and the redemption of the cosmos emanate. The proclamation of abundant redemption implies the reestablishment of authentic relationships with God the Creator, so that all creatures may be beneficiaries of the abundant life that the mystery of Jesus Christ the Redeemer offers us. For redemption, as witnessed by Redemptorists, is Good News, not only for all time and all times, but for each and every creature.
There is a Redemptorist culture that offers us a worldview, a way of seeing, interpreting and interacting with the world. To redeem means to restore, to recover, to heal, to liberate. These are actions that touch the depths of pain and suffering in the world, not only of the human race, but of all forms of life; all of creation is involved in the work of Redemption, Pope Francis has affirmed (June 25, 2024). Therefore, the sensitivity of Redemptorists to the abandonment and the suffering of the most abandoned also touches the abandoned and impoverished Earth. In this way, we seek to read redemption in the key of the integral ecology of Laudato Si.
To believe in God the Creator and in his Redeemer Son who through the Holy Spirit communicates abundant Life, means to recognize the dignity of creation, as well as the redemptive offer that touches every creature. In other words, as religious and lay people, the Redemptorist charism demands that we recognize the scope and breadth of the redemptive project. The groaning of creation of which St. Paul speaks is not only human groaning, it is the groaning of all creation awaiting its redemption: even creation will be set free from its bondage of decay to share in the glorious freedom of the children of God (Cfr. Rom 8:21). And so, ” thanks to Christ’s redemption, it is possible to contemplate in hope the bond of solidarity between human beings and all other creatures.” (Francis), because everything is connected (cf. LS 34).
Reclaiming the Theology of Creation and Redemption
A partial interpretation of the theology of Creation based on the description of the first chapter of the book of Genesis could have favored the separation of the human being from the rest of creation, and his positioning as the dominator of the other created species (cf. Gen 1:28). Leonardo Boff affirms that an understanding of God without the world is equivalent to a world without God. In this separatist perspective, the order of the natural is seen only as a background scenario on which human history is built. But this is a narcissistic reading that betrays not only the essence of the Christian message, but also our common vocation as creatures. It is a vision that has turned us into spiritual autistics and renders us incapable of listening to the natural world.
The (theology of) creation, conceived in the biblical narratives, places the human being within the totality of the creative work that is beautiful and good. The Bible also presents redemption as a divine plan that embraces the whole of creation; the restoration of all things (Acts 3:21, Eph 1:10), the reconciliation in Jesus Christ of everything visible and invisible. It is a plan of redemption with a broader scope than the reality of sin, for where sin abounded, grace abounded much more (Rom 5:20-21).
This is a notion of creation that already indicates that the world does not appear out of chaos or by chance, but as a manifestation of the love of God the Creator, who makes us sharers in the Trinitarian communion. God creates, and in creating God establishes a fundamental relationship with his created work. The progressiveness of creation in the biblical account finds parallels with the evolution of life and of human beings on earth. Our planet, more than 4.5 billion years old, is witness to the appearance of the human species (homo sapiens) only 120,000 years ago, at the rear of the evolutionary chain. This means, as the biblical account also expresses, that the human being is not found at the beginning of creation, and that the world has existed without him and before him (Cfr L. Boff). That is to say, at the basis of our theology of creation is the idea that the created world belongs to God alone, because it is in God that creation finds its origin and its fullness. Therefore, the world belongs to God the Creator alone. We are part of Creation and as such, we also belong to God. That is why we recognize ourselves as part of this creation; not above it, but within it.
This leads us to recognize that our way of being in the world as creatures is relational, because God is relational. That is, our fulfilment as a human species depends on the kind of relationships we establish with our Creator, with the world and with other creatures. Thus, “Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience” (LS 217). Mutuality and interdependence are characteristics of the created world, as it is also of the redeemed world. Salvation happens not for isolated individuals but for individuals as part of a community. For our origin, like our destiny as a human species, is intimately intertwined, and is not distinct from that of all creation.
Reclaiming the basic foundations of our theology of creation will help us to reestablish relationships with God and with the created world. The doctrine of creation describes the loving and constant action of the Triune God who from the beginning creates; and during the evolutionary process sustains the created universe, redeems it and leads it to its ultimate restoration in Jesus Christ. A proper understanding of the theology of creation from this perspective helps us to understand the redemptive action of Jesus Christ and the action of the Holy Spirit within the whole spectrum of the profound history of creation. The God who creates is the same God who redeems and sanctifies. It is this Trinitarian reference that allows us to appreciate our interconnectedness and interdependence within the immense web of relationships in the universe.
Created out of love
In the drama of redemption presented in Scripture, creation is presented as the first act. The biblical narrative of Genesis describes how God, after creating out of nothing, sees that everything created is good. By saying that God creates out of nothing (ex nihilo) underscores the gratuitousness of God, who creates out of love. Thus, creation is good because it is created as an act of love. It is a creation where God manifests and projects Himself and His intra-Trinitarian love. God creates a world distinct from Himself, maintaining a close and continuous relationship with it.
And since love is the only reason and force that gives origin to the created world, with creation God is also involved in advance in the Redemption of the world. Through love, God creates and through love God redeems. The mystery of Christ (his life, death and resurrection) is the irrevocable “Yes” of God to his creation, in which God from the beginning was pleased. Love was the presence that hovered over the waters, whose glory was manifested in creation, and which in Jesus Christ is now definitively manifested to human beings. The Bible as a whole is the testimony of a creation redeemed and oriented to its fullness by love.
Rediscovering and appreciating the theology of creation-redemption and the sacredness of the created world has become an imperative for us today and almost a condition for the Christian message to find its relevance in the midst of the current ecological crisis. A proper understanding of the theology of creation and redemption will also depend on the effectiveness of our ministry for the care of the Common Home. If we understand the natural world as God’s primordial revelation, we can also glimpse its value and dignity. The existence of every creature in the universe, as T. Berry affirms, is a way in which the Divine Presence manifests itself. It is a revelation from a Creation that is continuous and dynamic. And if we manage to place our understanding of redemption within this dynamic evolutionary process, we will be able to promote better relations with the environment.
The significance of this sacred and active character of creation-redemption is that the more the Creator is present, the more the creature is perfected in the image of his Creator. And the more the creature allows himself to be affected by his Creator, the more his Creator and the sacred and dynamic character of his creation are manifested. It is a matter of “mutual enrichment” in which the relations between the human creature and his Creator, and of the creatures among themselves, become mutually beneficial (cf. T. Berry). It is, as T. De Chardin would say, the Christification of the world. In Christ, the Redeemer, the broken relationships between the Creator and creatures are restored; in him is manifested the perfection to which all creation is called to participate because in him life is abundant.
Redeemer of All Creation
In the Creed, we profess that the God who creates also redeems and sanctifies. This affirmation points to the very heart of the Trinity and presents creation not as an event of the past, but as a dynamic act that affects the present and extends into its fulfilment into the future. Jesus Christ is the Redeemer of Creation and the catalyst of this dynamic; in Him, everything has been created, in Him everything subsists and in Him, everything will be consummated. Christ, the Redeemer, is the fullness of Salvation: Jesus’ Redemption is not only a past or future act, it becomes present also here and now, because “in Him all things find their foundation and through Him, we exist” (1 Cor. 8:6; cf. Col. 1:15 – 29; Phil. 2:5 – 11).
The mystery of Christ (his incarnation, life, death and resurrection) reintroduces into creation the principle of vitality that restores the dignity lost because of sin, so that creation can once again enjoy the privilege that Adam and Eve had and then lost in the garden. Thus, creation is the foundation of Redemption and Redemption is the fullness of Creation (cf. Rom. 8:19-22). The world that is created is the same world that is Redeemed, and it is the Redeemer who reveals to us the definitive truth of creation.
It is no coincidence that John’s Gospel begins by evoking the Genesis account of creation: “In the beginning was the Word…“. The evangelist emphasizes the redemptive work of Jesus as a new Creation. The evangelist uses similar expressions, such as “being born again” (3:3), or “being born of God” (1:12-13) to show that the God who acted in creation is the same God who acts in Jesus to restore creation. St. Paul will also speak of “a new creation in Christ” (2 Cor. 5:18) as a reference to the new life that all those who believe in him receive in Christ. This is the redemptive program which, at the same time, is cosmic (cf. 8:19-21) and which extends in time until the definitive liberation at the consummation of time. The whole of creation participates in this redemptive work that restores the original plan affected by sin and projects it towards its definitive consummation.
God’s participation in human history manifests the divine will to enter into the great history of the created universe, into the “deep history” that spans from the origins of the universe described by evolutionary theories to the final consummation of time. Our faith in creation, incarnation and redemption leads us to affirm that our life and the existence of the Cosmos is the participation of life in God. Not only that, but in Jesus Christ, the new Adam, the co-creative potential of the human being is also manifested, “ for in him were created all things in heaven and on earth… because God wanted all perfection to be found in him and all things to be reconciled through him and for him, everything in heaven and everything on earth, when he made peace by his death on the cross.” (Col. 1:16, 19 – 20). Thus, in Jesus Christ the Redeemer the created world is “re-created,” death and evil are assumed in him and life finds its fullness, its redemption.
The Gospels show us Jesus who restores lost health, delivers from the possession of evil, forgives sins, feeds the hungry, teaches his followers, and gives the same authority for his own to do the same (cf. Lk 9:1-10). These are the signs that bring healing to a wounded world. Death on the cross assumes and manifests the suffering of the Earth, because the flesh of Jesus is the flesh of the world (Col. 1:18), his cross is our cross, and his victory is the victory of the world; a world that was created out of love, and that can only be recreated, healed and advance towards its perfection through love. Jesus Christ the Redeemer is the head of “all that is in heaven and earth” (Eph. 1:10), the “Fullness that fills everything in every way” (Eph. 1:23; Col. 1:19); for in him all things were created and reconciled (Eph. 1:23, Col. 1:20) and “in him all things find their unity” (Col. 1:17). The life, death and resurrection of Jesus is a Trinitarian act of cosmic proportions (Frank Macchia), which is based on the work of the Father who creates and calls into existence, the work of the Son who redeems out of love and the work of the Spirit who gives life. From faith and the following of Christ the Redeemer flows our mission to communicate abundant life not only to the human species but to the entire created world in general. In this way, one can also appreciate the cosmic scope of the Redemptorist charism that recognizes that the benefits of redemption reach the entire created world. Thus, reimagining our charism in today’s world might include being able to articulate the integral ecology of Laudato Si, where all things find their restoration and fullness of life through Christ the Redeemer.
“In the first creation, God gave me my own self, as the image and likeness of his own Self. But in his New Creation, realized in Jesus Christ, God gave me his very Self, thus restoring my being that had been lost because of sin. I have been created, and I have been restored. Thus, I am doubly indebted to my Creator and Redeemer. But what can I offer, in payment for these gifts, if all that I have and am I have received from Him? Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, has already done that for me.
(Inspired by the thoughts of St. Bernard).
Questions for Reflection
- Many institutions are taking steps forward raising awareness about the care of our Common Home. This is the case of religious communities that have adopted the Laudato Si Platform, an initiative led by the Dicastery for Integral Human Development. How can we as a Congregation move in the same direction?
- How can we incorporate into our liturgy, the values and approaches of Laudato Si to express and invigorate our sense of responsibility for the created world?
PRAYER FOR OUR COMMON HOME
Praise be to you, Creator God! In You we live and move and exist (Acts 17:28). In your Son Jesus Christ, you have redeemed us, and in the Holy Spirit, you have given us the fullness of life. You call us to continue the presence of your Son, Jesus Christ, and his redemptive mission in the world. Help us to hear the silent cry of the poor who suffer as a result of environmental degradation; help us to hear the silent cry of the earth in the species that have become extinct because of human behaviour.
As we gaze in wonder at the wonders of your creation, may we recognize that we are not masters of the world but part of it. Help us to reestablish relationships with you, Father, and with other creatures.
You who cast down the mighty from their thrones and exalt the lowly, correct our pretensions to dominate the Earth and help us to be faithful stewards of your manifold grace. Fill us with your Spirit that renews the face of the earth and grant us the gift of ecological conversion.
In those countries that should be making the greatest changes in consumer habits, young people have a new ecological sensitivity and a generous spirit, and some of them are making admirable efforts to protect the environment. At the same time, they have grown up in a milieu of extreme consumerism and affluence, which makes it difficult to develop other habits. We are faced with an educational challenge (LS 209).
