The eighth subsection of the Aparecida document treats Care For The Environment. One might think the cause is exclusive to guilt-ridden First Worlders. But not so. The bishops begin with a reminder of human stewardship of creation:
470. As disciples of Jesus, we feel invited to give thanks for the gift of creation, the reflection of the wisdom and beauty of the creative Logos. In God’s marvelous design, man and woman are called to live in communion with Him, in communion between themselves, and with all creation. The God of life entrusted to the human being his work of creation “to cultivate and care for it” (Genesis 2:15).
Reared in Judaism, Jesus was aware of this tradition. While he offers no ecological discourse in the Gospel, we might read between the lines:
Jesus was very familiar with the Father’s concern for the creatures that He feeds (cf. Luke 12:24) and beautifies (cf. Luke 12:27). While he traveled the roads of his land, he not only paused to contemplate the beauty of nature, but invited his disciples to recognize the message hidden in things (cf. Luke 12:24-27; John 4:35).
The link between the created universe and the First Person is part of the Catholic catechetical tradition:
The Father’s creatures give him glory “by their mere existence,” (Catechism 2416) and hence, human beings must make use of them with care and sensitivity.(Catechism 2418)
Remember that English translation of the 2007 document from the Aparecida Conference.
