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hand of the Creator. We see this, for example, in
the law of the Sabbath. On the seventh day, God
rested from all his work. He commanded Israel
to set aside each seventh day as a day of rest,
a Sabbath, (cf. Gen 2:2-3; Ex 16:23; 20:10). Simi-
larly, every seven years, a sabbatical year was set
aside for Israel, a complete rest for the land (cf.
Lev 25:1-4), when sowing was forbidden and one
reaped only what was necessary to live on and
to feed one’s household (cf. Lev 25:4-6). Finally,
after seven weeks of years, which is to say for-
ty-nine years, the Jubilee was celebrated as a year
of general forgiveness and “liberty throughout the
land for all its inhabitants” (cf. Lev 25:10). This law
came about as an attempt to ensure balance and
fairness in their relationships with others and with
the land on which they lived and worked. At the
same time, it was an acknowledgment that the gift
of the earth with its fruits belongs to everyone.
Those who tilled and kept the land were obliged
to share its fruits, especially with the poor, with
widows, orphans and foreigners in their midst:
“When you reap the harvest of your land, you
shall not reap your field to its very border, neither
shall you gather the gleanings after the harvest.
And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither
shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard;
you shall leave them for the poor and for the so-
journer” (Lev 19:9-10).
72. The Psalms frequently exhort us to praise
God the Creator, “who spread out the earth on
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54
the waters, for his steadfast love endures for ever”
(Ps 136:6). They also invite other creatures to join
us in this praise: “Praise him, sun and moon, praise
him, all you shining stars! Praise him, you highest
heavens, and you waters above the heavens! Let
them praise the name of the Lord, for he com-
manded and they were created” (Ps 148:3-5). We do
not only exist by God’s mighty power; we also live
with him and beside him. This is why we adore him.
73. The writings of the prophets invite us to
find renewed strength in times of trial by con-
templating the all-powerful God who created
the universe. Yet God’s infinite power does not
lead us to flee his fatherly tenderness, because in
him affection and strength are joined. Indeed, all
sound spirituality entails both welcoming divine
love and adoration, confident in the Lord be-
cause of his infinite power. In the Bible, the God
who liberates and saves is the same God who cre-
ated the universe, and these two divine ways of
acting are intimately and inseparably connected:
“Ah Lord God! It is you who made the heavens
and the earth by your great power and by your
outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you…
You brought your people Israel out of the land
of Egypt with signs and wonders” (Jer 32:17, 21).
“The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator
of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or
grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the
powerless” (Is 40:28b-29).
37
55
74. The experience of the Babylonian captivi-
ty provoked a spiritual crisis which led to deeper
faith in God. Now his creative omnipotence was
given pride of place in order to exhort the people
to regain their hope in the midst of their wretched
predicament. Centuries later, in another age of tri-
al and persecution, when the Roman Empire was
seeking to impose absolute dominion, the faithful
would once again find consolation and hope in a
growing trust in the all-powerful God: “Great and
wonderful are your deeds, O Lord God the Al-
mighty! Just and true are your ways!” (Rev 15:3).
The God who created the universe out of noth-
ing can also intervene in this world and overcome
every form of evil. Injustice is not invincible.
75. A spirituality which forgets God as
all-powerful and Creator is not acceptable. That
is how we end up worshipping earthly powers,
or ourselves usurping the place of God, even
to the point of claiming an unlimited right to
trample his creation underfoot. The best way to
restore men and women to their rightful place,
putting an end to their claim to absolute domin-
ion over the earth, is to speak once more of the
figure of a Father who creates and who alone
owns the world. Otherwise, human beings will
always try to impose their own laws and inter-
ests on reality.
iii. t
he
mystery
of
the
universe
76. In the Judaeo-Christian tradition, the word
“creation” has a broader meaning than “nature”,
33
56
for it has to do with God’s loving plan in which
every creature has its own value and significance.
Nature is usually seen as a system which can be
studied, understood and controlled, whereas cre-
ation can only be understood as a gift from the
outstretched hand of the Father of all, and as a
reality illuminated by the love which calls us to-
gether into universal communion.
77. “By the word of the Lord the heavens were
made” (Ps 33:6). This tells us that the world came
about as the result of a decision, not from chaos
or chance, and this exalts it all the more. The cre-
ating word expresses a free choice. The universe
did not emerge as the result of arbitrary omnip-
otence, a show of force or a desire for self-asser-
tion. Creation is of the order of love. God’s love
is the fundamental moving force in all created
things: “For you love all things that exist, and de-
test none of the things that you have made; for
you would not have made anything if you had
hated it” (Wis 11:24). Every creature is thus the
object of the Father’s tenderness, who gives it its
place in the world. Even the fleeting life of the
least of beings is the object of his love, and in
its few seconds of existence, God enfolds it with
his affection. Saint Basil the Great described the
Creator as “goodness without measure”,
44
while
Dante Alighieri spoke of “the love which moves
44
Hom. in Hexaemeron, I, 2, 10: PG 29, 9.
37
57
the sun and the stars”.
45
Consequently, we can
ascend from created things “to the greatness of
God and to his loving mercy”.
46
78. At the same time, Judaeo-Christian thought
demythologized nature. While continuing to ad-
mire its grandeur and immensity, it no longer saw
nature as divine. In doing so, it emphasizes all the
more our human responsibility for nature. This
rediscovery of nature can never be at the cost of
the freedom and responsibility of human beings
who, as part of the world, have the duty to culti-
vate their abilities in order to protect it and devel-
op its potential. If we acknowledge the value and
the fragility of nature and, at the same time, our
God-given abilities, we can finally leave behind
the modern myth of unlimited material progress.
A fragile world, entrusted by God to human care,
challenges us to devise intelligent ways of direct-
ing, developing and limiting our power.
79. In this universe, shaped by open and inter-
communicating systems, we can discern count-
less forms of relationship and participation. This
leads us to think of the whole as open to God’s
transcendence, within which it develops. Faith
allows us to interpret the meaning and the mys-
terious beauty of what is unfolding. We are free
45
The Divine Comedy, Paradiso, Canto XXXIII, 145.
46
B
enediCt
XVI, Catechesis (9 November 2005), 3: Inseg-
namenti 1 (2005), 768.
45
58
to apply our intelligence towards things evolving
positively, or towards adding new ills, new causes
of suffering and real setbacks. This is what makes
for the excitement and drama of human history,
in which freedom, growth, salvation and love can
blossom, or lead towards decadence and mutual
destruction. The work of the Church seeks not
only to remind everyone of the duty to care for
nature, but at the same time “she must above all
protect mankind from self-destruction”.
47
80. Yet God, who wishes to work with us and
who counts on our cooperation, can also bring
good out of the evil we have done. “The Holy
Spirit can be said to possess an infinite creativi-
ty, proper to the divine mind, which knows how
to loosen the knots of human affairs, including
the most complex and inscrutable”.
48
Creating
a world in need of development, God in some
way sought to limit himself in such a way that
many of the things we think of as evils, dan-
gers or sources of suffering, are in reality part
of the pains of childbirth which he uses to draw
us into the act of cooperation with the Creator.
49
47
i
d
., Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate (29 June 2009),
51: AAS 101 (2009), 687.
48
J
ohn
P
aul
II, Catechesis (24 April 1991), 6: Insegnamenti
14 (1991), 856.
49
The Catechism explains that God wished to create a
world which is “journeying towards its ultimate perfection”,
and that this implies the presence of imperfection and physical
evil; cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 310.
54
59
God is intimately present to each being, with-
out impinging on the autonomy of his creature,
and this gives rise to the rightful autonomy of
earthly affairs.
50
His divine presence, which en-
sures the subsistence and growth of each being,
“continues the work of creation”.
51
The Spirit
of God has filled the universe with possibilities
and therefore, from the very heart of things,
something new can always emerge: “Nature is
nothing other than a certain kind of art, name-
ly God’s art, impressed upon things, whereby
those things are moved to a determinate end. It
is as if a shipbuilder were able to give timbers
the wherewithal to move themselves to take the
form of a ship”.
52
81. Human beings, even if we postulate a pro-
cess of evolution, also possess a uniqueness
which cannot be fully explained by the evolution
of other open systems. Each of us has his or her
own personal identity and is capable of entering
into dialogue with others and with God himself.
Our capacity to reason, to develop arguments, to
be inventive, to interpret reality and to create art,
along with other not yet discovered capacities,
are signs of a uniqueness which transcends the
50
Cf. s
eCond
v
atiCan
e
CumeniCal
C
ounCil
, Pastoral
Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et
Spes, 36.
51
t
homas
a
quinas
, Summa Theologiae, I, q. 104, art. 1 ad 4.
52
i
d
., In octo libros Physicorum Aristotelis expositio, Lib. II,
lectio 14.
30
60
spheres of physics and biology. The sheer novel-
ty involved in the emergence of a personal being
within a material universe presupposes a direct
action of God and a particular call to life and to
relationship on the part of a “Thou” who ad-
dresses himself to another “thou”. The biblical
accounts of creation invite us to see each human
being as a subject who can never be reduced to
the status of an object.
82. Yet it would also be mistaken to view other
living beings as mere objects subjected to arbitrary
human domination. When nature is viewed sole-
ly as a source of profit and gain, this has serious
consequences for society. This vision of “might is
right” has engendered immense inequality, injus-
tice and acts of violence against the majority of
humanity, since resources end up in the hands of
the first comer or the most powerful: the winner
takes all. Completely at odds with this model are
the ideals of harmony, justice, fraternity and peace
as proposed by Jesus. As he said of the powers
of his own age: “You know that the rulers of the
Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men
exercise authority over them. It shall not be so
among you; but whoever would be great among
you must be your servant” (Mt 20:25-26).
83. The ultimate destiny of the universe is in
the fullness of God, which has already been at-
tained by the risen Christ, the measure of the
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