Last Sunday, following our reflection on the Anointing of the Sick, I had promised to focus this week’s column on the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I promise you that we will turn our attention to Reconciliation in the pastor’s column next weekend.
The reason for this is a special pastoral invitation from our shepherd. Bishop John Dolan has issued an indult requesting priests throughout the Diocese of Phoenix to celebrate the Mass for the Care of Creation, substituting the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Because of this meaningful diocesan initiative, this weekend's column centers entirely on this urgent and sacred theme.
Our Catholic faith teaches us something fundamental that modern society often forgets: creation is God’s gift, and humanity has been entrusted with the solemn duty to care for it. In the very first chapter of Genesis, after God creates light, sky, land, seas, plants, animals, and humanity, Scripture tells us that "God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good" (Genesis 1:31). Creation is not an accident of nature; it is a masterpiece spoken into being by divine love.
Because God made it, He remains its rightful sovereign. As the psalmist proclaims with absolute clarity, "The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it" (Psalm 24:1). That single verse should radically change the way we live. The earth does not belong to any single corporation, nation, or human being. Its vast resources are not ours to exploit without limits.
We are not absolute owners of the world; we are stewards. Scripture reminds us of our original vocation when the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden "to till it and keep it" (Genesis 2:15). In the original biblical language, to "till" implies cultivating and working with the earth, while to "keep" means to guard, protect, preserve, and watch over it with fidelity. We are invited to use its fruits responsibly, never to strip it bare or plunder it out of greed.
Tragically, we know that widespread environmental destruction has caused profound wounds across our common home. Polluted waters, depleted topsoil, scorched lands, and toxic waste show what happens when human beings forget our role as humble caretakers and act instead as reckless masters. When we poison the earth, we also hurt the most vulnerable among us who depend directly upon clean water and fertile soil to survive.
Pope Francis addressed this reality powerfully in his landmark encyclical, Laudato Si'. The Holy Father taught that the earth itself cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted by our irresponsible use and abuse of God’s goods. He reminds us that authentic faith requires an ecological conversion, an inner change of heart where our encounter with Jesus Christ bears fruit in our relationship with the world around us. Francis insists that everything is deeply connected: our care for creation, our defense of human dignity, and our worship of God.
This reality becomes wonderfully clear every single time we celebrate the Holy Eucharist. In the Mass, ordinary elements of creation—wheat and grapes, bread and wine—are brought to the altar. They are called the "fruit of the earth and work of human hands." We receive these humble gifts from God's hands, and through the priest, we offer them right back to the Father in thanksgiving, where they become the Body and Blood of Christ.
The Eucharist teaches us the ultimate pattern of Christian life: creation is a gift received from God with gratitude, handled with reverence, and returned to Him with deep love. When we care responsibly for our neighborhoods, conserve our scarce desert water, eliminate waste, and honor the natural world, our stewardship becomes a living expression of our Eucharistic gratitude. Every reverent choice we make can be a daily way of saying, "Thank you, Lord, for this good earth."
We also carry a sacred moral responsibility toward those who will inherit our choices. We must leave a healthier, more vibrant world for our children, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren, and all future generations. What kind of legacy do we wish to pass on to them? We cannot simply look the other way while resources are depleted for short-term gain.
We must not be a generation that merely consumes what others preserved for us. God did not place us here just to exhaust the storehouse. Instead, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, we are called to preserve, restore, and enrich God's creation for those who will walk this earth long after we have gone home to the Lord.
May God give us the wisdom to till and keep His garden with love, so that all generations may praise His holy name.
God is good, all the time!
Fr. Williams Abba
“The only thing that counts is faith working through love” – Galatians 5:6
