The whole earth is a living icon of the face of God. // Saint John of Damascus (source)

Many are surprised when I describe my high school experience: visiting melting glaciers in Alaska, riding horseback on the Lewis and Clark Trail, spending a summer as an intern in Yellowstone National Park, conducting pond studies, completing my winter outdoor survival unit in a snow quinzee in the woods of Minnesota, reading Jack London, and submitting environmental impact assessments of household chemicals. 

Experiences like these are among the most cherished and formative of my coming-of-age years. They deeply shaped the way I understand and respect the created world.

The opportunity to attend an environmental high school had a tremendous impact on how I appreciate the gift of the environment and how I choose to steward the gifts of the natural world in my own life. 

Given this unique background, my concern for the environment surprises no one. What does surprise folks is that care for creation is something I hold particularly dear because of its deep theological roots.

Stewardship: A Biblical Call to Care

The word “steward” is used just under thirty times throughout Scripture. We can recognize the responsibility of humanity as stewards of God’s creation from the second chapter of Genesis, when God entrusts the Garden of Eden to Adam and Eve’s care (see Genesis 2:15). The parable of the unjust steward highlights one who does not reciprocate the mercy that has been shown him (see Luke 16:1-13). The steward at the wedding feast of Cana is the one who announces the replenished wine after Jesus’ first miracle (see John 2:9-11). Finally, Peter offers instructions to share the gifts God has given as good stewards:

Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:10-11)

Understanding the created world as God’s gift to humanity is essential in cultivating a solid foundation for a stewardship of creation. It makes sense that, as a loving Creator, the Lord would set into motion the provisions upon which creation would rely. In fact, the very first words of the Bible describe God’s creative act in bringing the universe to birth:

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.  And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.  God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. (Genesis 1:1-5)

Anyone who has ever given a gift understands the pleasure it brings to see the gift cared for and well loved. Likely, we have also experienced giving a gift that was quickly discarded or left in disrepair. In this light, we can imagine the heart posture that God might wish to foster among those to whom creation was a gift.

Beyond Time, Talent, and Treasure

While I wholeheartedly support the explanation of good stewardship as the tri-fold “Time, Talent, and Treasure,” there is tremendous opportunity for deeper engagement in our role as stewards.

Environmental stewardship is a hallmark of the Catholic Chrisitan and always has been. 

By operating from a theology of dominion, rather than a posture of humility and gratitude to God for the created world, we not only run the risk of hypocrisy, but also take for granted our common home and our call to cultivate and care for it. 

As Pope Saint John Paul II wrote in Centesimus Annus (On the Hundredth Year):

Equally worrying is the ecological question which accompanies the problem of consumerism and which is closely connected to it. In his desire to have and to enjoy rather than to be and to grow, man consumes the resources of the earth and his own life in an excessive and disordered way . . . Man, who discovers his capacity to transform and in a certain sense create the world through his own work, forgets that this is always based on God's prior and original gift of the things that are. Man thinks that he can make arbitrary use of the earth, subjecting it without restraint to his will, as though it did not have its own requisites and a prior God-given purpose, which man can indeed develop but must not betray. Instead of carrying out his role as a co-operator with God in the work of creation, man sets himself up in place of God and thus ends up provoking a rebellion on the part of nature, which is more tyrannized than governed by him. (no. 37) 

So What Does This Look Like?

What are the practical next steps of a faith that sees the created world as a gift to be well cared for? The good news is that the invitation is to begin where we are. Noticing the connection between the why and the what can make the biggest difference. The changes I make reflect my love and gratitude for the Lord. For example, my small effort to return plastic bags to the grocery store for recycling reflects my heart posture toward the Giver of all good gifts. 

If you could use some ideas of where to start, here is a non-exhaustive list of practical places to begin:

• Use only what you need, especially water.
• Switch from products like Styrofoam that will never break down to paper that will break down or plastic that can be recycled. Bonus points if you can do this at your parish!
• Use electronic billing to cut down on paper, postage, and emissions from delivery trucks.
• Opt for eco-friendly delivery times to reduce trips by drivers.
• Commemorate the Jubilee Year of St. Francis by reading Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical Caritas in Veritate (paragraphs 48-52), or Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si.
• Pray for the vulnerable who are most impacted by pollution, waste, and poor stewardship.
• Pray for those who govern to make wise decisions with a long-term vision.
• Learn about the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ Climate Change Justice and Health Initiative or the Catholic Climate Covenant.
• Celebrate the Season of Creation (September 1–October 4) by planting bulbs on the feast of Guardian Angels or planting a tree. 
• Ask if there are parishes nearby celebrating the Mass for the Care of Creation in honor of the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi.

There are no limits on where to begin, no effort too insignificant, and no time like the present. Small changes are the fertile soil of transformation. In so doing, we participate in the life-giving work of cultivating a world where we give as we have received.