Care for the Earth - July 12, 2026

Van Gogh - The Sower

Good morning, brothers and sisters. It is a beautiful morning today, which is fitting given today’s readings, which all align along the theme of nature -- God’s gift of creation.

Let’s start with the second reading. St Paul writes to the Romans that [quote] “all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now…”  The created world, the universe as we know it, is waiting for a re-birth. This is an important doctrine we sometimes forget about– that, at the end of time, the material world that God created will not be annihilated, but transformed – there will be a new Heaven and a new Earth. Recall Jesus’ teaching to Nicodemus that we need to be ‘born again’ (Jn 3:5) – similarly, Paul here is saying that creation itself is waiting to be born again – something similar to the resurrection of the body.  We don’t know exactly what that will look like, but Jesus gave us a clue, in that his body was the first to be resurrected- and His body was a marvelous thing, truly super-natural, passing through locked doors. Thus, the entire cosmos will somehow be transformed in an analogous way. This ancient doctrine of the re-creation of the cosmos isn’t just fancy theology – it shows how much God loves the universe he has created. God will not allow his creation to be annihilated, but will transform it. Recall in the book of Genesis, how on each of the six days God looks at what He has created …and finds it good – and on the final day he finds it ‘very good’. Clearly, God loves His creation, including planet Earth; clearly, we should do the same.

All right, so we’ve looked at the 2^nd reading. Let’s look at the other readings – all of them hit on a similar theme. In the first reading from Isaiah, the prophet describes basic natural phenomena: how snow and rain fall from the sky and water the ground—and how this natural irrigation from the Heavens allows farmers to grow crops. Thus, God shows his love for us by sustaining us through the natural world. The Responsorial Psalm is quite similar: the psalmist gives thanks to God who waters the furrows and the earth: at God’s mere touch the earth comes alive with vegetation and flocks. Again, God acts through his creation to sustain us. Finally, we heard in our Gospel today how Jesus relates the famous parable of the sower: how the seed that falls on rich soil produces fruit a hundred fold, whereas the seed that falls on rocky or thorny or packed-down soil could not grow properly. Although Jesus’ major point here is about how we should be receptive to the Gospel… there are other themes… for example, Jesus echoes the theme of God sustaining us through nature-- through the gift of rich soil. The natural world – including the sunshine and rain and rich soil – is a gift from God for our benefit.

Knowing that God has created the cosmos and that he loves and sustains it, what should our response by?

I’d like to focus on two appropriate responses: gratitude and careful stewardship.

First, we should be grateful to God for the marvelous, beautiful gift of his creation. Most of us here today are urban dwellers, and it’s all to easy to forget about the beauty and wonder of the cosmos, as we sit in our insulated, air conditioned houses – or perhaps sweat in a non-air-conditioned church. Nothing can compare with the beauty of the cosmos, as God is the artist par excellence. Yes, we humans, imitating our Creator, have crafted beautiful technical and architectural marvels – whether July 4th fireworks or the Sagrada Familia cathedral– but nothing we’ve made can ever surpass the beauty of God’s creation… whether the Grand Canyon or Rocky Mountains or simply a star-filled sky far from the city. Or we can even look at something quite small, like the delicate beauty of an Easter lily. Jesus reminds us: “I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them…” 

But how often have we stopped to admire this beauty, to stop and smell the roses? In our fast-paced technological age, we’ve lost our childlike wonder at God’s creation, whether the dew on the grass, or the spiderweb on the railing, or the butterfly on a plant.

So that’s my first suggested piece of homework for all of us: to stop and smell the roses. Some time this month, I hope each of us can stop to appreciate some part of God’s beautiful creation, whether a star-filled night sky or calm beach or a zoo or Natural History museum. Such admiration can be a prayer of gratitude for the Creator who made it.

To quote from a hymn…

“For the fruit(s) of all creation,

thanks be to God;

… for the ploughing, sowing, reaping,

silent growth while we are sleeping,

future needs in earth's safe-keeping,

thanks be to God.”

So our first move should be towards gratitude. Our second move should be towards careful stewardship of creation.

To give a metaphor: imagine that a parent goes out of their way to give an expensive gift to their child: like a new bicycle or a set of colored pencils. Hopefully, the child’s first reaction will be to say, ‘wow, thanks, Dad!’ or ‘thanks Mom!’, and then the 2^nd step would be to use this gift well. To try to ride the bike well, or to draw beautiful pictures. Imagine instead of showing respect for the gift, if the child just threw the bicycle in a pond, or threw the colored pencils in the trash. This would be to mis-use the gift, and would break the parent’s heart.

We must recall that God’s creation is God’s-- not ours. We are merely the stewards, the caretakers. Look back to Genesis, when God puts Adam in the Garden to [quote] “cultivate and care for it”. The Earth is God’s; we must care for it.

So yes, that means we should support efforts like recycling and environmental conservation, and avoid wastefulness and a throwaway mindset.

Popes for the last 60 years have preached this message, reminding us of our duty as Christians to be good stewards of the Earth.

Most recently and strikingly, Pope Francis wrote the encyclical Laudato Si, which was subtitled ‘on care for our common home’. Francis wrote that: “Living our vocation to be protectors of God's handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or secondary aspect of our Christian experience."

In other words, to be a good Christian, you should care for the Earth, you should be environmentally conscious.

It’s interesting – this is one of the few areas where the dominant secular mindset actually overlaps with Christian thinking. Jesus says, “If they are not against us, they are for us”. So rather than give a false kneejerk reaction that equates environmentalism with atheism, we should find common ground and follow Christian teaching. Yes, it’s true – and a bit ironic – that many in the West today have abandoned traditional religion for a new religion of the environment; many people want us to save the baby whales but not the baby humans. This is a false prioritization, and certainly it’s possible to take environmentalism to far. But we Catholics are not ‘either/or’ extremists: we want ‘both/and’. Let’s save the baby whales and the baby humans – obviously the latter possess souls so have the greater value, but we love whales too and want our children to grow up to be able to enjoy a sustainable Earth.

So this is the 2^nd piece of homework. I think we can all think of examples, ever since we learned in grade school about ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ and avoiding unnecessary waste. We might not have considered that there’s considerable overlap in traditional Christian ascetic practices – the sort of thing we’d do for Lent – and care for the planet. So we’re told we should eat red meat sparingly, take a shower that is shorter and cooler than we’d like, walk or bike instead of drive, and tolerate the thermostat in our house to be a little higher or lower than room temperature. There are other practices which are basically just small sacrifices or inconveniences: like using re-usable water bottles, washing our clothes in cold water, turning off the thermostat when not in the house … et cetera, et cetera. I’ll admit that as a parent who is often in ‘survival mode’ these tips are not my top priorities. But it is good to keep them in mind, and perhaps to focus on starting one good habit.

To be clear: love of God and love of neighbor are the greatest commandments: but you could argue that care of creation shows both our love for the Creator, and also our love of neighbor - in respect to fellow humans, who share this common home. “No man is an island”, and damaging the Earth can certainly hurt our fellow humans, particularly the most vulnerable and least insulated.

This week, may we all stop to smell the roses or admire the spider web, and may we all be careful stewards of God’s wonderful gift of creation.

Amen.