Earth Day 2026 has come and gone, and this year, at least in the United States, it seems to have come without much fanfare. Yes, there were some Earth Day messages given, even by the USCCB, and there were various Earth Day related activities, but the reporting on them seems to have been muted. I believe that is because many of us have found our focus directed towards Donald Trump and his various wars, from his war in Iran to his “war” against the Catholic Church (with both wars being ones which Pope Leo XIV does not want to engage, leading him to say no to them). While I often write reflections for Earth Day, my focus has, with everyone else, been on those and other similar wars Trump has engaged (like his war against migrants, his war against Democrats, and his war against Republicans who have disobeyed him for any reason). Nonetheless, I still have been interested in seeing what others have said and done for Earth Day, which is how I have noted how quiet the affair has been this year. While this is understandable, it is rather sad, especially since those who have been focused on Trump should have realized that another one of Trump’s wars has been his war against the environment.
When I viewed the USCCB message for Earth Day, I also saw the typical anti-environmental push-back made by many on social media. Most of them gave some variation of the standard response of, “We are not to worship the Earth.” To me, this shows how much an iconoclastic instead of iconophile spirit has taken over those Catholics who reject, or even actively resist, the environmental teachings of the Catholic Church. The notion that the Earth is being given the kind of worship which is due to God alone is utterly ridiculous. I find it similar to, and following the same pretenses, given by those Protestants who claim that Catholic devotions to the saints and Mary are forms of idolatry (and pagan in origin). Behind both of these claims is the same flawed suggestion that honoring anyone or anything other than God is wrong because it must be seen as as adoration, that is, the worship which is to be given to God alone. We have been told in Scripture to honor our parents, to show respect to our neighbor, proving that when we actively give such honor to someone, we are also honoring God, because we are doing what God wants us to do. Respecting the Earth, protecting it, is not adoration; rather, it follows the stewardship God gave to humanity over the Earth, and so is to be similar to honoring our parents and our neighbors.
God created the Earth and said it is good; who are we to deny that goodness, or harm it? Honoring the Earth is honoring that goodness, and so, is a way of honoring God, because it is showing respect to what God has done. Similarly, we honor and venerate the saints because of the grace given to them, the grace which they activated and shared with the rest of the world. This shows that we can and do honor God, not just directly through acts of adoration, but indirectly through others. This helps us understand St. John of Damascus when he said we should honor and show respect to matter itself because of the role matter has in our salvation:
Never will I cease honoring the matter which wrought my salvation! I honor it, but not as God. How could God be born out of things which have no existence in themselves? God’s body is God because it is joined to his person by a union which shall never pass away. The divine nature remains the same; the flesh created in time is quickened by a reason-endowed soul. Because of this I salute all remaining matter with reverence, because God has filled it with His grace and power. Through it my salvation has come to me. Was not the thrice-happy and thrice-blessed wood of the cross matter? Was not the holy and exalted mountain of Calvary matter? What of the life-bearing rock, the holy and life-giving tomb, the fountain of our resurrection, was it not matter? Is not the ink in the most holy Gospel-book matter? Is not the life-giving altar made of matter? From it we receive the bread of life! Are not gold and silver matter? From them we make crosses, patens, chalices! And over and above all these things, is not the Body and Blood of our Lord matter? [1]
God took matter from the Earth for the sake of the incarnation: Heaven joined with Earth, with the Word of God, Jesus, becoming the focal point which unites them together so that, as we pray, God’s will can be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Similarly, our matter comes from the Earth, our material being is given to us through it in such a way it can even be recognized as a kind of mother to us. This is why I have no problem calling the Earth Mother Earth, especially as I have seen throughout Christian history, many great theologians and saints like St. Francis of Assisi have no problem embracing the term. The Earth is indeed our mother; on her, her children are given birth, grow, and die. In his humanity, Christ is one of those who have the Earth as this kind of mother so that in its own way (different from Mary), the Earth can even be said to be the Mother of God. To mistreat the Earth, to defile it, to deny it the honor God intends us to give it, is an affront on the God-man. Yes, Mary, the Theotokos, is considered the Mother of God in her own, unique, way, as she is the human person who carried Jesus in her womb before giving him birth, but that fact does not undermine the way others can be and are called to be Christ’s mothers, such as those who give birth to him in their spiritual life (as Meister Eckhart, among others, explained). This is why it is a shame to see so many Catholics being hostile to the Earth, for in and with their hostility, they are like the Gnostics, undermining the role material creation has in the incarnation.
Of course, there is more than a theological element to Earth Day, as there are many moral and practical reasons which can be given to show why we must respect the Earth. What we do to it affects us. Ignoring the environmental destruction we done allows us to look away from the harm we are causing, if not to ourselves, than to others. At this point, the only way someone can deny the harm we have caused is through ignorance, which, for many, is sadly wilful, making them culpable. Just this year, many have experienced far more extreme storms than normal; the wind is stronger, the gusts last longer, and the damage they cause has often been similar or equivalent to the damage caused by tornadoes and hurricanes, without being either. Extreme heat follows extreme cold, extreme cold follows extreme heat, and in their wake, we come those extreme storms, just as climate scientists have said would happen. And yet, instead of taking the warning signs seriously, Trump and his administration make war against the Earth, dismantling environmental protections; they are even ignoring the damage being done to endangered species, showing the lasting damage his administration will bring to the world. He is willing to strip the Earth bare for his own profit. Trump has long shown us that this is who he is; he rapes the Earth with his greed. What I don’t understand is why there is not a massive push back against him and the potentially permanent damage he will once he is long gone. This is why this Earth Day, though it seems not to have had as much reach as previous years, remains an important one and one to reflect on after the official day has come and gone. We must not forget its point, for that point should not be the focus of only one day, but every day, so long as the Earth and all that is on it is threatened by our destructive activities.
* This Is Another Post From My Personal (Informal) Reflections And Speculations Series
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[1] St. John of Damascus, On The Divine Images. Trans. David Anderson (Crestwood, NY: 1980), 23-4 [First Apology 16].
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