Homily for June 23, 2024
Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time
Creation Reveals the Creator
I am a
big fan of St. Francis, but I believe he is often misunderstood. The world
often portrays him as a twelfth-century hippie tree-hugger, from all the garden
statues of him which feature him playing with birds. And he did have a number
of very remarkable miracles that involved animals. One time, he was going
through a crisis – should he devote his life to prayer or to preaching the
Gospel? He sends a message to St. Clare to ask her advice, and when she replied
that he is to spend his life preaching to the world of the salvation of Jesus
Christ, he is so excited to carry it out that he wastes no time arising and
taking to the streets. But before he encounters any person, he comes upon a
flock of birds – and he begins preaching to them about how God has created them
beautiful and they are called to glorify God. Much to everyone’s surprise, the
birds fall silent and begin to listen, craning their necks and stretching out
their wings in an attitude of attention! He is able to pass through their midst
without them flying off, and only when he finishes the sermon and gives them
the sign of the cross do they take to the skies!
Another
time he had retired for rest and prayer at a certain hermitage, and there was a
falcon nesting there. The falcon took it upon himself to care for the saint –
he would crow when it was time for the man to arise, and he would often take
off and return with bread in its beak for the holy man.
And
there are many other stories of lambs, fish, wolves and all sorts of creatures
who had great fondness for St. Francis. But these stories are often
misunderstood. St. Francis only loved the creatures because they
reminded him of the Creator! He wrote his famous “Canticle of the Creatures”
praising the sun, moon, stars, water, land, animals…precisely because they
reveal something of Who God is. Creation is good, but is never an end in
itself. Rather, it points to its Maker.
Many
people in our world today are in error about the role of creation and how we
are to deal with it. On one hand, some have fallen into extreme
environmentalism – seeing nature as quasi-divine, and that human beings are a
blight, a cancer on creation. This is an error, but one that has very tragic
consequences! I used to go to a public school until one day in second grade I
came home and told my mom that “my teacher said you can’t have any more kids
because the world is too overpopulated”. That was the end of my public school
career (and my mom had two more kids after that).
The
other extreme is to abuse creation. Creation is not something that we should
just destroy for our benefit. We see this in what Pope Francis calls the
“throwaway culture” – we live in such a consumer culture that we have to have
everything disposable, triple-sealed, shipped from thousands of miles away (did
you know the average apple travels over 1500 miles to get to us?). So many
practices by corporations damage and destroy our common home.
But if
these are the extremes, what’s the right answer? The answer is stewardship.
When God created our first parents, He put them in the midst of the Garden and
instructed them, “Have dominion over the garden, till the ground, protect it
and use it.” We owe it to God, who has given creation to us – and to future
generations, to whom we are going to entrust this world – to use it wisely as
stewards, caring for it.
Remember,
creation is good because it reveals God to us! In what ways? I can think
of four things that creation reveals to us of God.
First,
we see His goodness and love. There is no reason for a vivid sunset, a
newborn’s smile, or a grand mountain – other than sheer goodness. He could have
made this world boring and bland; all food could taste like shredded wheat and
there could have been no such thing as color…but He chose to make it beautiful
solely out of His goodness.
We also
see His power. Have you ever been swimming in the ocean and gotten knocked over
by a wave, tumbled around so that you don’t know which way is up or down?
Amazing that such a simple substance as water has incredible power to give life
or take it – God’s power on display. And yet how beautiful it is that the ocean
is teeming with life – from giant whales to fragile coral to the vast schools
of fish – we can see how God fits all things together for His glory.
At the
same time, creation is incomplete and points to everlasting life. It’s amazing
how many times I’ve been outside on a gorgeous evening, enjoying the sunset,
and then a mosquito comes up and bites me. It reminds me that as good as this
world is, it is always mixed with sorrow until Heaven. So, the world’s
imperfections remind me of a better world that’s coming.
Finally,
creation helps keep us in our proper place in the cosmos. Standing atop a huge
mountain makes us realize that we are not the center of the universe. When we
realize just how small we are, yet how complex and beautiful, we realize both
that we are loved beyond belief, and that we are nothing compared to the
greatness of God.
My
friends, as we spend time outdoors this summer, consider the goodness of God.
Creation was not made to be an end in itself, but rather an insight into the
loving Heart of God. I leave you with this immensely powerful quote from St.
Augustine:
“Question
the beauty of the earth, question the beauty of the sea, question the beauty of
the air, amply spread around everywhere, question the beauty of the sky,
question the serried ranks of the stars, question the sun making the day
glorious with its bright beams, question the moon tempering the darkness of the
following night with its shining rays, question the animals that move in the
waters, that amble about on dry land, that fly in the air; their souls hidden,
their bodies evident; the visible bodies needing to be controlled, the
invisible souls controlling them; question all these things. They all answer
you, 'Here we are, look; we're beautiful.'
Their
beauty is their confession. Who made these beautiful changeable things, if not
one who is beautiful and unchangeable?”
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