In our day to day experience, we
sometimes have the difficulty of facing life’s challenges because of the
unexpected situations that bring pain and tribulations to us. We tend to
surrender in overcoming the hurdles of life and be likely to lose hope. But
God, through the people He has placed in our life, has provided for us the kind
of help that we need to survive and continue living in accordance with His
will. God uses people to
reveal Himself and to manifest His intention of saving us from any bondage or
form of slavery. We can only experience this unusual event the moment we intimately
connect ourselves with Him. The intention of God is to re-create and transform
us according to His salvific plans.
This is what the scriptural
message from the letter of Paul to the Colossians would emphasize, “Christ is the
source of all that has life, He served as the fullness of all creation, and the
concrete revelation of God’s redeeming grace to humanity”. He is the head and
we are all his active body, the agents of transforming the whole fabric of the
society.
Moreover,
the Church Fathers also stress out that it is through God’s goodness and wisdom
that He chose to reveal Himself and make known to us the hidden purpose of His
will (DV 2). This is the desire of God that He never failed to save us from
sin. In his deep attraction to all His creation He initiated a way to enter
into the reality of mankind, to the extent that He offered His only begotten
Son, Jesus Christ, as the means of corporate salvation. The salvation of
humanity in God’s most creative way.
Thus, we need to participate into God’s
continuing mission of life’s renewal. We can do something extraordinary by
imitating Christ for the sake of others or being Christ-like. And if we become imitators
of Christ then we can be considered as His co-workers in translating the
message of faith, hope and love to everyone.
This is the essential message presented
in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) that God desires to inculcate
into every person’s heart the goodness, truth and happiness which can only be
seen by man in Him. Further, we can only discover God’s plan for us and all of
His creation if we acknowledge His Divine presence in our daily journey of
life. The Church of today invites us to become Stewards of God’s Creation,
this value serves as the dynamic response of every person in taking care of
God’s creation the best way we can. As God’s stewards, we are tasked to
preserve, conserve, protect, and nourish our environment and to bring out its
greatness and beauty as part of the revelation of His Divinity and Goodness.
The value of Stewardship promotes the responsible usage of all our resources as
part of our primary role in maintaining the richness and dignity of God’s creation.
If we apply it in our own
context, the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines speaks out the need of
becoming stewards of our environment. We, the Church, should develop a special
concern of the social action apostolate down to the parochial level with the
aim of making everyone a true steward of God’s creation (PCP II Art. 31) That
is why part of being God’s extension of valuing the creation, we also become advocates
of practicing responsible consumerism.
Today, we are always encouraged
to live life in accordance to what God intends us to be. We are always challenged
by the situations that can even test our conviction in following the will of
God for mankind. The call will always be directed to our response to the
following questions: How can I be of great help to my environment today? Will I
stand firm in the position of defending God’s will for His creation?
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