Creation Care Team

First Commandment: I am the Lord you God; You shall not have strange gods before me.

What does this mean? Have faith, hope, love, and worship of God; reverence for holy things; prayer. Avoid: idolatry, superstition, spiritism, tempting God, sacrilege.

Reflection: Read Matthew 5:45. Jesus makes a promise of sun and rain. How does this promise of the basic needs of life help you love and trust God? What leads you to put your trust in other things besides God?

Action: Give thans for all the things you encounter in creation today as a way to remember that God is the source of everything, blessing us with all that we need to live. How many can you recognize today?

Second Commandment: You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in Vain.

What does this mean? Speak reverently about God and holy things, keep oaths and vows. Avoid: blasphemy, ireeverent use of God's name, breaking vows and false oaths.

Reflection: Our Prayers can make a huge difference. How is our reverence for God reflected in our treatment of his creation?

Action: Say a prayer that God's presence be with you today.

Third Commandment: Remember to Keep Holy the Lord's Day

What does this mean? Going to church on Sundays and holy days of obligation. Gladly hear, learn, and keep God's word holy. Avoid: missing Mass throught one's own fault, unnecessary work on Sundays and holy days of obligation.

Reflection: Read Leviticus 25:1-12. Even creation needs rest. Why does God want souls to reast and "all inhabitants" of a place to have the chance to return? How do you keep the Lord's day holy?

Action: Learn about or visit a place that has been used and given a chance to reast. Ideas include a  vacant lot, a Superfund site https://www.epa.gov/superfund, or Conservation Reserve Program farmland http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/crp.

 

Fourth Commandment: Honor your father and your mother.

What does this mean? love; respect; obedience on the part of children; care on the part of parents for the spiritual and temporal welfare of their children; obedience to civil and religious superiors. Avoid: hatred of parents and superiors; disrespect; disobedience.

Reflection: More than both parents or even a village, our lives are nurtured and shaped by our interaction with the whole world. Reflecting on the Earth as a mother, how can we treat her with more honor?

Action: Water a plant, turn the soil and plant some seeds, delight in the weather forecast for today. Love and respect the plant in some way.

Fifth Commandment:  You shall not kill
 
What does this mean? The safeguarding of one's own life and bodily welfare as well as that of others.  Avoid: unjust killing; suicide; abortion; sterilization; endangering the life and limb of self or others.
 
Reflection: Climate change is affecting our planet and all its inhabitants. Why might our destruction of biodiversity-from polar bears to coral reefs to dwarf crocodiles be a concern?
 
Action: Research how communities around the world are mitigating and adapting with the changing weather patterns. 
 
 

Sixth Commandment: You shall not commit adultery.
 
What does this mean? Live pure and decent lives in word and deed. Love and honor his or her spouse.  Avoid: obscene speech; impure actions alone or with others.
 
Reflection: Think about how we care for our closest relationships. How can that love and care ripple through the ecosystem? Example: Some flowers can only be pollinated by a single species of insect or bird. How might the world be different without bees to enable plants to reproduce?  ⅔ of our calories come from corn, soybeans, wheat, and rice. How can we diversify our diet?
 
Action:  Buy or plant heirloom varieties of plants. Try a new or organically grown food. 
 
 

Seventh Commandment: You shall not steal.
 
What does this mean? Respect the property of rights and others; pay debts; pay just wages to employees; value integrity in public office.   Avoid: theft; damage to the property of others; not paying debts; not returning found or borrowed articles; raising the price of goods unjustly; not paying just wages; bribery; graft; cheating; fraud; accepting stolen property; not giving an honest day's work for wages received; breach of contract.
 
Reflection: There are close to 8 billion people on the planet. The goods of the earth have been created by God to be wisely used by all. Think about all that you consume on a daily/weekly basis and the resources needed to sustain these choices. Reflection on the universality of the earth’s resources orients us to deal with the complex relationship between ecology and poverty. 
 
Action: Do an online search for “environmental refugees,” “climate refugees,” and/or “disaster displacement” and learn about how climate change will cause millions of people to be without food, water, or homes. 
 
 

Eighth Commandment: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
 
What does this mean? Speak the truth; respect the good name of others; speak well of others; interpret the actions of others in the best possible light. Truthfulness entails honesty and discretion. Avoid: lying, injuring the good name of others, slander, rash judgment, bragging, contemptuous speech and violating a secret.
 
Reflection:  Collaboration is needed to protect the environment and make impactful laws and agreements that are guided by the common good. We in society have a right to information that is based on truth, freedom, justice and solidarity. What way today can you gently but firmly encourage care for creation?
 
Action: Inform yourself, using multiple sources of research based information.  Become a defender of wildlife and an advocate for justice. Lobby your government officials to speak out against threats, speak up on behalf of creation, from children to polar bears to clean air, and act in ways that benefit the needs of all. Or contact the media and ask that climate change be presented based on overwhelming scientific consensus.
 
 

Ninth Commandment:  You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
 
What does this mean? Christians are called to cultivate a purity of heart–to treat all with love and respect. Treating desire as part of the moral life indicates that both emotion and action are important.  Purity requires modesty which is ordered to chastity and an integral part of temperance. It enables us to look at and interact with others in a way that is respectful of the human person. In Hebrew, “covet” can be translated to mean greed or craving.  A consumer society encourages both kinds of coveting and makes it more difficult to be satisfied and live up to the demands of the commandment.
 
Reflection: We are called to live lives of virtue both at the personal and social levels. Virtue is what helps us to love God and live in a way that forms and maintains thriving marriages, a strong family life, and authentic friendships with others. This lifestyle would be helped by a greater understanding of the interdependence shared between all peoples. 
 
Action: Read and reflect on how to live a more virtuous life.
 
Suggestion: The book The Art of Living, by Edward Sri (a recent gift from the parish)
 
 

Creation Care Team - Ecological Christianity through the Ten Commandments
 
Tenth Commandment:  You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.
 
What does this mean? Respect the rights of others. Avoid: greed, envy, and avarice, the desire to take, keep, or damage the property of others. 
 
Reflection: Desire for true happiness frees man from his immoderate attachment to the goods of this world so he can find fulfillment in the vision and beatitude of God. (ccc 2548) Think about how the habitats of people and animals are changing. Agricultural land is drifting toward higher latitudes and desertification affects over 2 billion people. Trash clutters our neighborhoods, landfills, and oceans. According to the US Census, the average house was 1660 square feet in 1973 and 2,261 square feet in 2020.  Why have we become accustomed to feeling we need so much and aren’t  satisfied without more? 
 
Action: Find ways to make your home simpler and less cluttered. Donate/sell items you don't need.  Make your home better with an energy audit or Energy Star appliances and Water Sense products when needed. Make thoughtful purchases, being mindful of need vs want and the product’s impact on the earth and humanity.