The creation account in Genesis is a stirring, poetic narration of God — the Divine Artist — fashioning the universe and the world into wondrous being.
Day by day, the Earth, sky, sun, moon, planets, plants, and animals appear in all of their beautiful and varied array.
Then, on the sixth day, the Lord creates man and woman in His own image and likeness as the crown of His handiwork, resting on the seventh day of the week.
In these two Scriptural chapters, we learn that God made everything that exists, that He made it all out of nothing, that the human person bears the imprint of the divine in an absolute and unique way, and that the Sabbath is a holy day of rest for us.
Philosophy and wonder
All of philosophy begins with wonder.
Why does anything exist? Is there a meaning and intentionality to the life of our planet and the universe? If so, can we know what that purpose is?
Science can analyze what exists, but it cannot tell us why anything exists in the first place. Only philosophy can begin that conversation and only theology can complete it.
So, why did God make the world and the universe? Why did He bring you and me into life?
He didn’t have to. He is perfect and complete unto Himself. He needs nothing from us or creation.
This is an important question to consider because ultimately, the only divine rationale for the existence of any created reality is sheer and pure love.
Out of a desire to share His Being, life, beauty, and truth with us, God creates, pouring Himself out in an ongoing action of pure love that creates, redeems, and sanctifies.
We exist because God wills it!
In his letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul tells us that God had already chosen us to be His children before He even created the world. Ponder that remarkable truth.
God has loved us from all eternity, willing us to come into existence at just the right moment, giving us a vocation and purpose, and desiring us to reach eternal life with Him.
We are not an accident of circumstance, a highly-evolved animal, or a mistake.
God has known us forever and our lives are directly willed by Him as an act of love towards His children.
Just the very fact that we are is testimony to the goodness of God!
When we look at the beauty and order of the world, as God made it, we observe a divine, loving intelligence!
The order of the seasons, the majesty of the mountains, the complexity of a flower, the immensity of the oceans, the purity of a wilderness stream, a flock of geese in flight, the exuberance of a fawn, or the dark loveliness of a huge forest speak of a power and love beyond our comprehension or control.
If we immerse ourselves only in the constructs of human design, we will never look up and around to be awed by the dazzling wonder of God’s handiwork.
If we never look up to contemplate the heavens, we will think we are the highest point.
Connecting with God’s creation
In our antiseptic, virtual world of social media, we can easily live disconnected from reality. What appears on a screen can seem more real than the person sitting next to us or the sunlight streaming through the window.
We can pay more attention to what a stranger said on X than to what a loved one told us at breakfast.
We can pass our whole existence without going outside, doing manual labor, or enjoying the immediacy of unfiltered experience.
St. Francis of Assisi, in stark contrast, lived the majority of his life outside, preaching in town squares, dwelling in caves and forests, absorbing the beauty of God manifested in nature, and washing the wounds of lepers.
His beautiful Canticle of the Sun is a prayer of praise to the Lord for the glory and variety of creation, which he intensely embraced as a sacramental of the divine.
One of the tenets of Catholic social teaching is care for creation.
A sober utilization of resources, concrete attempts to reduce waste and pollution, recycling what we can, resisting materialism and consumerism, reducing energy consumption, and using things until they wear out are simple ways of caring for the world around us.
Supporting local farmers, growing our own vegetables, and eating less processed foods also help us to live out this stewardship of the earth and makes for a healthier life.
My parents, who both grew up in the Depression, instinctively embraced all of these practices, as did most of the people of their generation.
We care for the earth, not only to simply preserve it for future generations but also to honor the handiwork of God.
He wants us to take joy in what He has made and to exult in the glory of our life in Him.
The Lord encourages us to ponder the wonder of our existence, immerse ourselves in the beauty of nature, be present in the moment to the people around us, choose to live a simpler and quieter life, value what we have instead of wanting more, and attend to the beauty, truth, and goodness of God revealed in the order of nature, but fully shining forth in the power of Jesus Christ, manifested in the Church.