n. 4
aprile 2010

 

Altri articoli disponibili

Italiano

 

«... what is man?»
A responsible person of creation

KARL GOLSER


  

trasp.gif (814 byte)

trasp.gif (814 byte)

trasp.gif (814 byte)

trasp.gif (814 byte)

The question of the title is taken from Psalm 8 that says exactly, «I look up at your heavens, shaped by your fingers, at the moon and the stars you set firm- what are human beings that you spare a thought for them, or the  child of Adam that you care for him? Yet you have made him little less than a god, you have crowned him with glory and beauty, made him lord of the works of your hands, put all things under his feet».

Thus, the question is an expression of wonder before the power given to man, the power to dominate the works created by God. Psalm 8 echoes the words that we read in the first page of Sacred Scripture, «God said, ‘Let us make men in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves and let them be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all the wild animals and all creatures that creep along the ground”. And God created man in the image of himself, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them. God blessed them saying, ‘Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky and all the living creatures that move on earth’» (Gen 1,26-28).

A wounded and redeemed creation

The first Biblical approach is, therefore, that of a praise to God the Creator and Saviour, of stupor for His wonderful works in the different aspects of the universe and the life of every human being (See Psalms 19, 104, 139, 147, 148). However, the dimension of sin always enters the Biblical vision of creation. Man, whom the Bible speaks of, is the one who sinned, and his sin consists in wanting to be like God, denying of being a creature. Thus, the first sin of man has necessarily some consequences on the relation of man with nature (See Genesis 3,17-19).

The progressive spreading of man’s sin on earth leads us even to what the Biblical anthropomorphic language calls repentance of God –for creating man of earth (See Genesis 6, 6) – and to the universal deluge. However, punishment is not the last word of God: every Biblical talk on sin and its consequences starts always from the vision of redemption.  

Thus, after the deluge, in his covenant with Noah, God solemnly promised, “As long as earth endures: seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.» (Genesis 8,22), and placed a rainbow on the clouds as a sign of the covenant. We may perhaps need to highlight that the reference to God the Creator and the guarantee of life are the foundations in the darkest days of the Israelite history. The Deutero-Isaiah, who writes during the exile of Israel, announcing the freedom to the people, cannot but recall the greatness of God the Creator (See Isaiah 40, 12-27).

We find an analogous argumentation in a personal disaster: before the call of Job, in whom the chaotic powers of sorrow entered and whose faith was strongly tested, God answers with the admirable order of creation (Job, chapters 38-41)   

New relation with God

The writings of the New Testament presuppose faith  in God the Creator and Redeemer developed in the Old Testament. In Jesus himself, in his preaching, his healings, but also in his passion, death and resurrection, the work of God the creator and redeemer is realised in a definitive manner. The reflection of Paul opens us to the conviction that creation is made in view of Jesus Christ. This link is expressed in the first letter to the Corinthians, «..for us, there is only one God, the Father, from whom all things come and for whom we exist; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom all things come and through whom we exist» (1 Cor 8,6; cf Col 1,15-16). The Letter to the Romans, whose first chapter speaks of the possibility to know God through creation (See Romans 1,18-32), in Chapter 8 states that the entire creation enters the saving history worked for men, and assigns to it half participation in the glory of the Risen Lord (see Rom. 8,19-23).

The Bible does not know the modern approach –too much centred on causality- that discusses whether the origin and the development of the universe are due to chance or whether there is a providential design behind everything. The Bible starts from a faith relation with God the Creator, and it asks itself about the scope God had in mind with regard to creation and redemption. The unique answer, repeated in many ways, is: because God is merciful, because He is love, because He wants everything to share his love in the fullness of life.

The specific love pre-supposes a being endowed with reason, but all other created beings, in their own way and existence, reciprocate the love that created them; they are for the glory and praise of God. In other words, the concept of creation is a concept of relation: to say that God has created all beings on earth and in heaven means that God at the same time has entered a relation with them and that the creatures, in their turn, refer to God the Creator.

Man is responsible

If we shift our sight from God the Creator and Redeemer to the created and redeemed man, we find today’s humanity in full crisis with regard to his behaviour towards the created world. In fact, we cannot deny the exploitation of the earth, with its consequent ecological degradation, which undermines the very survival of live. We find the root of all this in the wrong attitude of man towards nature. The Human beings should first of all feel integrated in an admirably ordained cosmos, which allows the life of all men and women, while this relation has become unbalanced in our human history, above all in the Western thought. Man has placed himself at the centre of creation, seeing nature only as a resource to be exploited for his own purposes of dominion and possession.

Modern man must learn afresh how to open his eyes before the wonders of life, particularly of human life, so that behind this stupendous and immense miracle he may recognise its Author to praise and thank Him (See for instance Psalm 8). Here we have the virtues of a respectful approach, as capacity of admiration, praise and thanksgiving. Moreover, the attitude of “care” and the re-discovery of the sciences of life are very important. The world and life are entrusted to our care and custody (See Gen. 2,15) and we know how vulnerable they are in their balances. Lastly, the gravest defect of modern thought is that of conceiving the human subject as totally autonomous, forgetting his relation with God creator and redeemer and with the entire created universe. In the general audience of August 26, 2009, with reference to numbers 48-51 of his encyclical Letter Caritas in veritate, Benedict XVI expressed his concept about it, «Is it not true that the careless use of creation starts from the place where God is marginalised or where they even deny His existence? If the relation between the human creature with the Creator is missing, matter is reduced to a selfish possession, man becomes its “ultimate issue” and the purpose of our existence is reduced to a breathless racing to possess as much as possible». On the contrary, -the Holy Father continued- “the development of the alliance between human beings and environment is indispensable, and must mirror the love of God the creator”, recognising that all of us come from God and are journeying towards Him ». He concluded his speech with the words of St. Francis in the “Cantico delle creature”: «Altissimo, onnipotente, bon Signore, tue so’ le laude, la gloria e l’honore et omne benedictione … Laudato si’, mi’ Signore, cum tucte le tue creature».

Karl Golser
Bishop of Bolzano-Bressanone
Piazza Duomo, 1- 39100 Bozen/Bolzano

 Torna indietro