Embracing Christ, Embracing All Creation
Fr. Carl Chudy, D.Min.
On June 22, friends of The Missionary Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima gathered for lunch and a special mini-retreat for this Jubilee of Hope, deepening the spirit of caring for our common home with all creation. Mr. Leo Racine, pastoral associate of St. Mary’s Parish in Franklin, Massachusetts, led our encounter.
We opened our gathering of eighteen friends with a beautiful video song, “For the Beauty of the Earth” by John Rutter. The opening lyrics created the frame of the day: “For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies, for the love which from our birth over and around us lies. Christ, our Lord, we raise this hymn of grateful praise to you.” The scenes of trees, flowers, and fields that characterize the shrine encircled us as we entered this lush prayer.
The starting point of this reflection began with Catholic Social Teaching. In another video, we watched the then-President of CRS, Carolyn Woo, Fr. James Martin, and Cardinal Turkson speak of their personal experience as Catholics, honoring both the poor and the planet as an evangelical commitment. They spoke of the earth and all living things as an often undervalued gift. The Earth is the common home for all humanity, and it is the most vulnerable and poor, and it usually pays the cost of the global climate crisis. Cardinal Turkson spoke of the reciprocal relationship with the environment and that caring for the poor requires attention to the environment we all live in, with some protected from the dangers of climate change and others who are not.
Our next session allowed us to listen to Fr. Daniel Horan, OFM, an eminent scholar and writer on the subject. He presented more in-depth assumptions about how we envision our relationship with creation. The first way is through dominion as expressed in the bible: human beings’ image of divine dominion when their rule over creation is one of love, care, protection, and vitality, not exploitation and degradation unto death. Just as human beings flourish under the dominion of God, creation must flourish under human dominion, too.
The second is the stewardship model. Here, believers in stewardship usually believe in one God who created the universe and all that is within it. They also think that they must care for and look after creation, including animals and the environment. It is a gift we collectively nurture for the good of all humanity and all creation.
The third refers to our kinship to creation. Finding God in all things calls us to kinship with creation. How we treat the environment is a measure of our stewardship, a sign of our respect for the Creator. The earth is an opportunity, uniquely designed in its revelatory power, to facilitate an experience of God’s grace. Pope Francis calls for Catholic communities to be leaders in ecological education that converts minds and hearts, encourages “the leap towards the transcendent which gives ecological ethics its deepest meaning,” and helps us to grow in solidarity, responsibility, and compassionate care.”
Each of these presentations was followed by talking together in small groups and prayerfully reflecting on ourselves as we took a break to pull away, walk the shrine, or just chat among ourselves. We reflected on how these models of our relationship with creation function throughout history, particularly the kinship model that Pope Francis calls us to in his encyclical of 2015, Care for our Common Home (Laudato Si).
Digging deeper into Pope Francis’s encyclical, Leo shared a film produced in 2022 called The Letter. It tells the story of four “voices” invited by the Pope to the Vatican who are not often heard: the poor, indigenous peoples, the young, and nature itself. Mr. Racine then shared a reflection with us, probing more deeply into some main thoughts of Pope Francis’ encyclical. We shared what we thought were the main concerns of Pope Francis’ teaching, and how we both encounter and embrace Christ through creation. The first chapter of John reminds us: “ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, which was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:1-5)
Finally, we closed with the passage from Ezekiel 37:1-14. “The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he led me out in the spirit of the Lord and set me in the center of the broad valley. It was filled with bones. He made me walk among them in every direction. So many lie on the surface of the valley! How dry they were! He asked me: “Son of man, can these bones come back to life?” We shared what the dry bones represent for us. What does it mean to you to hear the dry bones say: “Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost, and we are cut off?” How do you see yourself as the person prophesying to the dry bones of our time?
The Missionary Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima began the Laudato Si Project some years ago, inspired by Pope Francis’s encyclical. This program has three parts: our Fatima Bee Project, restoration of some portions of the shrine’s land to meadowlands, and propagation and care of our Monarch Butterflies. We continue to explore the profound, Catholic spirituality that underpins them. We have joined the Global Laudato Si Movement of the Church. Their insights and resources are invaluable. You can download their monthly prayer guide here.
Download the handouts of the retreat here
Download the prayer guide for July 2025
Check out some short videos of the event courtesy of Jess McGuire
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