8 III The Mystery of the Universe Creation is more than ‘nature: it is God’s loving plan God’s illuminating love calls everything into communion and gives every creature its own significance (76). Our world has not emerged from chaos; God’s love is the fundamental moving force in all created things (77). It is the tenderness of the Father that gives every creature its place in the world, enfolding all with his affection. At the same time, JudeoChristian thought demythologised nature (78), emphasizing human beings’ responsibility for its care. Acknowledgement of both nature’s fragility and our own God-given abilities frees us from the modern myth of unlimited material progress (78) and challenges us to devise creative ways to care for our fragile world. The beauty of what unfolds can then be interpreted by faith and either allows freedom, growth, salvation and love to blossom, or leads towards decadence and mutual destruction (79). By creating a world in need of development, God...draws us into an act of cooperation with the Creator (80). We should take solace in our belief that God’s Spirit has filled the universe with possibilities (80) so that, from the very heart of things something new can always emerge (80). If we cease viewing living beings as objects, as a source of profit and gain (82), we can reverse the immense inequality, injustice and acts of violence (82) which are the result of a ’might is right’...winner takes all mentality (82). IV The Message of Each Creature in the Harmony of Creation The entire universe speaks of God’s love, and of Jesus’ tangible and loving relationship with the world The Pope reminds us that everything is, as it were, a caress of God (84), and that our own relationship with God can often be linked to specific places in nature that assume a very personal meaning in our lives due to the memories and associations with which they are linked. He quotes the Canadian and Japanese Conferences of Catholic Bishops: nature is a constant source of wonder and awe...To sense each creature singing the hymn of its existence is to live joyfully in God’s love and hope (85). We are all connected: creatures exist only in dependence on each other to complete each other in the service of each other (86). In this chapter, Pope Francis includes the magnificent hymn of Saint Francis of Assisi, which praises ‘Brother Sun’ and ‘Sister Moon,’ ‘Brother Wind’ and ‘Sister Water,’ as a reminder that when we can see God reflected in all that exists, our hearts are moved to praise the Lord for all his creatures (87). This discovery leads us to cultivate the ‘ecological virtues’ (88).
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