Called to be Mediators Between God and Creation

In recent years, many Catholic leaders, including several Popes, have taken an active interest in environmental concerns. Not only do they understand the bleak situation humanity might have to face in the near future, but they are witnesses of the devastation that is currently all around us. Moreover, in her dialogue with fellow Christians, the Catholic Church finds this concern is one which we share in common with the rest of Christendom. Thus, we read in the important declaration issued by Pope John Paul II with Patriarch Bartholomew on June 10, 2002: “In our own time we are witnessing a growth of an ecological awareness which needs to be encouraged, so that it will lead to practical programs and initiatives. An awareness of the relationship between God and humankind brings a fuller sense of the importance of the relationship between human beings and the natural environment, which is God’s creation and which God entrusted to us to guard with wisdom and love (cf. Gen 1:28).” When the Pope and Patriarch can find concordance on any issue, this is a cause for celebration. It is a monumental moment in the long history of Catholic-Orthodox dialogue. When they continue to reiterate, in other encounters, this same message, as they have when it comes to environmental concerns, faithful Catholics should pause and listen. Pope Benedict XVI, in his visit to Turkey, in his own declaration with the Patriarch, found it was as important now as it was under the reign of Pope John Paul II to state, on November 30, 2006, “As religious leaders, we consider it one of our duties to encourage and to support all efforts made to protect God’s creation, and to bequeath to future generations a world in which they will be able to live.”

Few can deny the impact that drought, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and other similar disasters have had upon us, not only in recent times, but throughout the scope of human history. Scientific projections suggest that the frequency and scope of these disasters, at least for the foreseeable future, is on the rise, and everyone will soon feel their impact upon their lives, even as now many, such as those suffering from drought in Australia, currently do.

The response that many give to this crisis is disheartening. Why is it that many, who would otherwise listen to the Church when it comes to doctrinal issues such as the two natures of Christ, have a rather apathetic, or even hostile, response to the Church when her leaders show environmental concerns? That is, of course, if they even pay any attention to what a Catholic official has to say on the environment. Why is it that so many people ridicule environmental concerns, and even dare to label those who are interested in the welfare of the earth as followers of a new “religious cult?”

Let us, for the sake of the argument, even agree with them; people have become religiously concerned about the environment. Certainly we can’t deny this, because, as has been said above, religious leaders, such as the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople, believe there are serious faith-based reasons why a faithful Christian should be concerned about the environment. Therefore those who are not even Christian, and yet maintain some sort of religious interest in the welfare of the earth, are not out of order when they do so. Indeed, if we truly want to call their reaction religious, then there is, as a consequence to it, an even further need for Christians to heed this concern, find out why it is there, and respond to it: Christ, after all, is the expectation of the nations. The cry of the human heart is a cry which the Church hears. Christ certainly is the answer given in return. To understand why Christ is the answer, even in regards to environmental concerns, is important, because it will help us understand how that answer should be applied in our own lives.

As Scripture indicates, we were made in the image and likeness of God. Our lordship, or stewardship, over the earth can be seen as a consequence of this. “Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth’” (Gen 1:26 NRSV).

What exactly does this dominion entail? For Christians, the best example of human authority is to be found in none other than Jesus Christ. As man, he is also Lord and God. Satan tempted him, trying to get him to act as one expects of a lord, to take direct, dictatorial control over the earth (Mat 4:8-9). Rejecting this, Jesus went out to show the world his true lordship, which he proved to us by his self-sacrificing acts of servitude. He rejected the sham of authoritarianism, a temptation which many never overcome. He put in its place the true example of leadership: “The greatest among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted” (Mat 23:11-12).

The dominion that humanity was given over the world was meant to be exercised by acts of selfless servitude. Authority was not given to us to satisfy our own selfish desires, but to act as God’s agents upon the earth (as suggested by the parable of Matthew 21:33-46). In that honor we were called not only to preserve the integral beauty of the earth, but also, in our own creativity, to increase it, as a fitting sacrifice of praise to God our Creator. “It is not the mission of an absolute and unquestionable master, but of a steward of God’s kingdom who is called to continue the Creator’s work, a work of life and peace. His task, described in the Book of Wisdom, is to rule “the world in holiness and righteousness” (Wis 9: 3)” (John Paul II, General Audience1-17- 2001).

As a consequence of this relationship between humanity and the world, our sins have a trickle-down effect upon the earth. Placed upon the earth to be mediators between God and the rest of creation, our sins sully not only ourselves but our ward as well. Indeed, at several points in Scripture, we find that moral disorder creates chaos; sin, at the root of human suffering, plays a major part in natural disasters. Certainly this idea can be seen in our expulsion from paradise. “And to the man he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Gen 3:17-19).Paradise lost, we find ourselves in a harsh, unfriendly environment, filled with many hardships, and requiring much labor on our behalf to keep it under control. When sin abounds, so does natural disaster; do we not find this to be represented in the story of Noah?

Indeed, God confirms this truth in the covenant he established with Moses. According to the book of Leviticus, those who had lived in the land of Israel before the Israelites had committed many grave sins, from sexual depravity to the horrendous act of sacrificing their children to Molech. This caused the land to revolt against them. “Thus the land became defiled; and I punished it for its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. But you shall keep my statutes and my ordinances and commit none of these abominations, either the citizen or the alien who resides among you (for the inhabitants of the land, who were before you, committed all of these abominations, and the land became defiled); otherwise the land will vomit you out for defiling it, as it vomited out the nation that was before you” (Lev 18:25-28). This was not an empty threat. Whenever Israel fell into sin, we see the effects of this upon the land. Biblical historians and prophets alike saw the connection between the two, as, for example, represented in these two passages: “Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David inquired of the LORD. The LORD said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death” (2 Sam 21:1). “For the land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land mourns, and the pastures of the wilderness are dried up. Their course has been evil, and their might is not right” (Jer 23:10).

Having abrogated their responsibility over the earth, humanity continued its downward spiral into sin. The earth, and all of its inhabitants, suffered the consequences of human depravity. “We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now” (Rom 8:23). The earth waited with us for the time of Christ and our salvation. “He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross” (Col 1:17-20). Christ restored the original integrity and order of humanity within himself, including the relationship humanity is to have with the rest of God’s earthly creation. Christology is not primarily concerned about facts of knowledge that one can recite, but descriptions of the work of Christ, how that work was accomplished, who it was accomplished by, the effects of that work, and the expectations given to those who wish to share in the fruit of that labor. In our baptism, we are formed by Christ, through his death and resurrection we are restored to a proper communion with God. But in that communion we are called to be imitators of Christ, to truly put on Christ and to see all things in and through Christ. We are to see the world in the eyes of Christ, in the eyes of love, which is the love that the Creator has for his own creation.

While the first fruits of Christ’s work can now be experienced, it is only a foreshadowing of the glory which is to come. Communion with God has been opened, but, thanks to concupiscence, we still encounter sin in our lives, and until we find ourselves purified inside and out, until we have become transfigured partakers of the divine glory, we will experience the world and the world will experience us in the tension of the old, fallen nature we are leaving behind, with the new, restored humanity we are becoming. To the living saint, filled with holiness by their ascetical retreat from sin, the earth is filled with radiant glory, beautiful to behold, worthy of our loving devotion. “The genuine Christian ascetic is essentially connected with al creation and does not despise anything that belongs to creation. But, in his case, in his feelings for creation, there is no lust. He penetrates deeply into the mysteries of heaven and earth and is not deprived of their knowledge, but, in his knowledge of the mysteries, there is no pride. The bad infinity of unrestraint, both in the material world and in the intellectual world, is absolutely expelled from him, for it is cut at its very root, in the heart” Pavel Florensky, The Pillar and Ground of the Truth.trans. Boris Jakim (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997), 199. The helps explain why great saints, such as Francis of Assisi, Anthony of Padua or Seraphim of Sarov, have a mission not only to humanity but to animals, and the attraction, the loving devotion, animals have for them in return.

But for those continuing in sin, the earth is dark and deadly, furious and hateful, something to be manipulated and controlled lest it destroy us instead. Sin continues to call out to God; sin continues to bring chaos into the world; sin continues to manifest itself in the response of nature to humanity. And in its strength, it continues to destroy all that is around it, blaspheming God and denigrating God’s creation in the process. “It places everything in a single plane, making everything flat and vulgar. For what is vulgarity but the inclination to tear everything that is visible from its roots and to view it as autonomous and therefore bereft of reason, that is, stupid” (Florensky, ibid, 133).

When we see the rise of violent, destructive tendencies in nature, these should be warning signs for all of humanity that something is not right. “The recent floods in Europe, India and Russia, as well as those proceeding during the current year and the previous ones in various other parts of the earth, bear witness to the disturbance of the climatic conditions caused by the overheating of the atmosphere of our planet. These disasters have persuaded even the most incredulous persons that the problem is real, that the cost of repairing its damages is comparable to the cost of preventing them, and that there is no margin left anymore for continuing to remain quiet” Patriarch Bartholomew, Protocol 756, 9-1-2002.

Some people might want to ignore them and say “that’s how nature is, sometimes it hits us with random destruction.” They have yet to engage the depth of human relationship with the environment, and the manifold ways we have an influence upon it. The empirical scientist, concerned about immediate causes, might be able to map out the relationship about human’s interaction with the environment with the way the environment reacts to humanity, but he too will never be able to penetrate the depth of that relationship with his methods. What is it that causes humanity to act in ways which is detrimental to its own wellbeing? The deepest, most fundamental answer is sin, and the way a society embraces sin, in that way the society will embrace those factors which generate a terrible response from nature.

There are eight principal sins which we all need to fight against: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, anger, envy, pride, and dejection. When society, in its embrace of freedom, embraces one of these factors, such as lust, that society will have to face the unforeseen consequences of its action. There will be a breakdown of the integral dignity of humanity, because we will treat each other merely as objects of desire instead of subjects in their own right. This objectification of the other will not end in our maltreatment of our fellow human, but it will spread in our relationship with the world; our objectification will grow as our lust is left unchecked, and it will form the way we view and understand the world around us. If we do not stop, we will be transformed into mere brutes enslaved by desire: slowly but surely we will destroy all that is around us, and the world, devastated by our rape, will fight back violently, trying save itself from human tyranny. Of course, all of the faults are connected with each other, so that as we cave into one, we will cave in to others. Cave in to lust, greed and envy easily follow. What then are we to make of a society which embraces the passions, telling humanity that it is in their pursuit we shall find happiness? Shall it be able to survive without wreaking the earth? How can it? And how can the Christian sit back, when they see this going on?

Yet this is what happens in most Western societies. Christians are more in tune with the way of concupiscence than they are in the way of Christ. Following the inclination to put everything underneath themselves, they recite declarations of liberty and freedom as justification for what they will to the earth – and even, as far as law allows, to each other – in a way of life which merges many, if not all, of the great sins together. It comes to no surprise how, in such a society, we treat each other when we put our focus on economic concerns. A price tag is put upon the value of human life, and natural beauty, and if one has accumulated enough wealth, they can, if they want, degrade others with that wealth, as we see, for example, with the rampant increase in prostitution. “As we witness the abuse of economic power, as we witness the cruelties of a capitalism that degrades man to the level of merchandise, we have also realized the perils of wealth, and we have gained a new appreciation of what Jesus meant when he warned of riches, of the man-destroying divinity Mammon, which grips large parts of the world in a cruel stronghold” Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus Of Nazareth. trans. Adrian Walker (New York: Doubleday, 2007), 98.The earth is seen as a natural stockpile of resources to use for our will, and our will is to follow the passions and wherever they take us. If the earth suffers, do we care? If future generations will have to face the brutal reality of a pock-marked land which does not provide for them welfare, but only violent retribution, do we care?

It is the duty of humanity to care; it is a part of who we are to mediate, to preserve, to protect the earth and all its inhabitants. Recognizing the possibility of earthly retribution and revolt when we do not adhere to our vocation, the Christian must repent, turn back to Christ and follow him as his friends and fellow-workers across the earth. “The Christian must turn to these new perceptions in order to take on responsibility, together with the rest of men, for a destiny which from now on is shared by all” Pope Paul VI, Octogesima Advenians (Vatican, 1971), para. 21.It cannot be emphasized enough: the Christian response is the response of Christ, the response of a loving mediator. Because of the terrible, unhealthy situation we face ourselves in, we have to deal with the root causes of the modern ecological crisis, which is sin, but we also have to respond to the symptoms in front of us. When someone is sick with a fever, one tries to do something about the fever, while eliminating the illness which is causing that fever. Our work includes, but is not to, the way we live our daily lives and how we manage the resources within our own individual control. “However insignificant the contribution of every individual to the averting of new catastrophic natural phenomena may appear, we are all obliged to do as individuals whatever we can, because only then we shall be able to pray to God boldly to supply what is lacking in our own efforts and possibilities” (Patriarch Bartholomew, Protocol 756).

The stakes are great. “At stake, then, is not only a ‘physical’ ecology that is concerned to safeguard the habitat of the various living beings, but also a ‘human’ ecology which makes the existence of creatures more dignified, by protecting the fundamental good of life in all its manifestations and by preparing for future generations an environment more in conformity with the Creator’s plan” (John Paul II, John Paul II, General Audience, 1-17-2001). The prosperity of humanity requires us to turn against our sinful ways and all that we use to justify our inaction. As much as a Christian knows what their vocation is, that is as much as they will have to answer for in the future. We have been led to recognize the inherent beauty and goodness of the earth. To abandon it is to abandon one of the greatest gifts that God has given us.