In today’s first Mass reading, we hear the completion of the Genesis creation story, the first part of which we heard proclaimed yesterday. The reading, which we also hear each year as the first reading of the Easter Vigil, is one I love to hear proclaimed.
I sometimes think that arguments about the lack of literal truth of the creation story blind people to its beauty and to its truth, neither of which depend on how long it actually took for all of creation to come about.
God spoke and when God did God created all manner of things – the sun, the moon, the stars, water and earth, all manner of plants and trees, animals and fish, and, finally, human beings – made in God’s image. God breathed life where life did not exist before. And then God looked at all that had been created and judged it good.
Although I tend, when I pray with this passage, to focus on our creation in the image of God, what struck me as I prayed with it this morning was the reality of everything that exists being a creation of God. Everything we touch, everything we encounter is, at its core, a creation of God. All I touch has been touched by God’s hands, has been breathed into life by God. All I encounter has been judged by God to be good.
If we take that to heart, it ought to color how we view everything (and everyone). It calls for a response of reverence, and invites us to cherish all of God’s creation. And it invites us to take seriously our role as stewards of creation.
Creo en Dios! 