The theme for this second day of the novena, Jezuchem Povitr Kalliz, Rochnnechi niga gheunk Ut’tejonn dita (The Sacred Heart of Jesus inspires us to care for Creation), invites us to contemplate the Sacred Heart of Jesus which inspires us to care for His creation. As many of you know, I work through the English language, and when translating, we have the option to consider Rochne as either criação (creation) or natureza (nature). Indeed, I suspect it was nature that was in the mind of those who selected this theme. This evening, in the course of this homily, I would like to reflect on both these words creation, and nature. This choice is based not on some personal predeliction, but also because of the other directions given to me – to make specific reference to the Papal documents Rerum Novarum and Dilexi Te.
In § 19 of Rerum Novarum Pope Leo XIII clearly points out that the Catholic view of the world does not admit of a conflict between classes, as is the case with Marxism, which is predicated upon the clash between the capitalists – the owners of capital, and the proletariat – the owners of labour. Rather recognizing that one cannot live without the other, both have to endeavour to live in harmony.
This call for both the classes to live in harmony, is part of a larger Catholic effort towards reconciliation of the world, of creation, with God, but also a correction against one of the great errors of modernity, and modernism; which is – following the logic of Descartes – to see the world through the prism of binaries, and then – following Hegel – posit a clash between the two. Thus, we have seen the splitting of creation, and the teasing out of a difference between man and nature, suggesting that man is not a part of nature. From the moment we make this distinction, we can see the war between man and creation commence, where man extracts as much as he can, not realizing that he is an integral part of nature.
This understanding of man as an integral part of creation, and not above it, is not antithetical to the biblical understanding of man and his place in nature. It is true, God has placed man above all nature – as the reading from Genesis points out to us.
“Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth” (Gen 1: 28).
But this placing of man above nature is not to be seen through a Cartesian and modernist logic where man is constructed as God. Rather, it should be seen through an authentic Catholic logic, which is hierarchical. Listen to this extract from Rerum Novarum:
It is the soul which is made after the image and likeness of God; it is in the soul that the sovereignty resides in virtue whereof man is commanded to rule the creatures below him and to use all the earth and the ocean for his profit and advantage. "Fill the earth and subdue it; and rule over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and all living creatures that move upon the earth." §40 RN
Man is hierarchically above nature, but not outside of it. Man has to govern nature not in the way of the flesh, but in the way of the spirit. I am echoing here St. Paul’s counsel to the Romans (8: 5-8):
those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Also, remember that the empowerment of Adam over nature was made before the Fall. Therefore the commandment of God should be clear, have authority over nature, yes, but only in the likeness of the Spirit (CCC 378). As the Catechism (CCC 339) teaches us:
Man must therefore respect the particular goodness of every creature, to avoid any disordered use of things which would be in contempt of the Creator and would bring disastrous consequences for human beings and their environment.
It is no wonder, therefore, that with eyes of flesh, that is a vision that is stripped of the transcendent and spiritual, our conflict with creation has caused such a planetary crisis.
In fact, one can see the problems with the abuse of natural resources as a result not only of the Cartesian, and Hegelian – in a word modernist – logic of binary oppositions, but also because of the – potentially deliberate – misunderstanding of hierarchy. The location of a person higher in the hierarchy does not make them superior in dignity to those lower in the hierarchy, nor does this location give them license to abuse. As Pope Leo XII teaches in § 13 of Rerum Novarum “the limits which are prescribed the very purposes for which it exists be not transgressed” [he is speaking here of the natural authority of the father]. This is to say, that all hierarchical authority exists for a reason, which reason places certain limits on this authority, and these limits may not be transgressed. Following the social teaching of the Catholic church, therefore, subsidiarity, and indeed dignity and respect, are not antithetical to hierarchy, indeed, they are integral to it.
Listen to St. Paul once again, this time in his first letter to the Corinthians (12):
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. (12)
And further in the same chapter:
God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. (24-25)
In other words, each are given different missions, some in leadership, some in service, but all are part of Christ’s body.
Meditating, as Catholic thinkers, on a Catholic understanding of hierarchy in the context of this reflection on the word nature, we inevitably arrive at the threshold of natural law. Pope Leo XIII himself points out that natural law recognizes that the person who invests his energy into the soil, is deserving of his labour. And, divine law, or the Ten Commandments, goes on to further elaborate, that one may not covet our neighbours’ property, or the fruits of his labour.
But in Goa, so many contemporary conflicts, and particularly those that result in environmental degradation and a lack of care for what is literally our common home, are the result of the coveting of our neighbours’ property.
Not unrelated to this matter is the way in which the traditional rights of the natural leaders of our society, the natural elite, is envied and coveted by the non-dominant groups. Take, for example, the opposition to the rights of gãocars in the feast of the three kings in Salcette. Too often, the envy of our natural superiors, and the usurping of their rights has been justified as a movement toward equality. But Pope Leo XIII in Rerum Novarum exposes these movements for exactly what they are, the envy and usurpation of the right of others.
One could go so far as to say that it is the coveting and the usurping of our neighbours’ property that has resulted in so much environmental destruction in Goa. The destruction of the comunidade’s rights over village property, i.e. the gãocars collective property, by the Land Reforms and Tenancy laws is the very kind of socialism that Pope Leo castigates in Rerum Novarum. The results of this usurpation are visible for all to see, the bandhs are collapsing, huge acres of fertile land lie fallow, and as a result are eyed by property developers, who come in and change the demography of our land – dechristianising it in slow, but systematic steps. And this state of affairs is not surprising, for listen to what Pope Leo XIII teaches at §15
The door would be thrown open to envy, to mutual invective, and to discord; the sources of wealth themselves would run dry, for no one would have any interest in exerting his talents or his industry
One can lay at the door of the land reforms in Goa, as well as the envy that has been cultivated in our hearts, the reasons for which the environmental integrity of Goa is under threat, and our rich lands, and indeed our very hands, are vacant of any industry.
What then, is to be our response to this crisis in nature and environment that we in Goa face? Pope Leo cautions:
the greed of possession and thirst for pleasure: twin-plagues which too often make a man who is void of self-restraint miserable in the midst of abundance. §28 RN
I have no doubt that these two twin plagues, that animate envy, are at the heart of the ecological crisis in contemporary Goa – and I use ecology in the sense of not just the nature, but also in the sense of the ecology of social relationships – thus I am talking of a crisis in our relationship with all of creation. We come from a land that with right stewardship would overflow with milk and honey, how do we respond?
The response lies in the counsel Our Lord offers us in the Gospel today (Mt 6: 25,32-33), a counsel that springs from His Most Sacred Heart:
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear.
For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
We seem to be back, therefore, at St. Paul’s command that we think spiritually, and this is precisely what we need to do, restrain our desires, our greed, our gluttony and focus on the virtues that flow unceasingly from the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, font of love and mercy, forgive us our trespasses.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, font of love and mercy, oblige us to recognize our errors.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, font of love and mercy, inspire us to care for all Creation.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
(A version of this homily was first preached to the faithful at the Patriarchal Seminary of Rachol, on 7 Nov 2024, the second day of the novena to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.)
(Image reference: Stained glass window of the sacred Heart of Jesus Christ in the Cathedral of Cordoba, Spain, via Wikiecommons.)
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