Seeking Divine Mercy
Reflecting on God’s Creations
On a day-to-day
basis, we give little to no thought about how we truly
affect the world around us. We acknowledge pollution and talk about “going
green” but that seems to be the average depth of our recognized responsibility.
We claim we believe in our Heavenly Father and in the Word of God but do we? Do
we really understand our responsibilities under God, our Creator?
In seeking to
know our Heavenly Father, what He wishes for us and from us, we must begin with
our taking up the Holy Bible, actually reading it and learning from it. What we
cannot understand we must seek understanding where it may exist and what is
beyond man’s comprehension we must accept with faith and trust in God. In
referring to the Holy Bible it is the interpretation generated from the Latin
Vulgate we refer to. Not a “version” that has been altered over time through
edited or misinterpreted context to fit a more recent or convenient or easier
to follow philosophy. Although merciful, God’s word is not suggestive or
flexible and in “Truth” there are no “versions”, only the One Word.
With this kept
firmly in mind, who can recall relating to our responsibilities to nature and
our environment as an obligation under God, The Creator? In all His creation
inclusive of the air, earth, sea and every living creature He bestowed upon or
within, there is no release from the responsibility that each and every one of
us share since the beginning. We have been and remain appointed by our Heavenly
Father as custodians of His creations. Beginning with the fundamental
readings in the Old Testament, Genesis, it cannot be clearer that the LORD was
very pleased with all the living animals of the land, the birds of the air and
the creatures of the sea, declaring them as very good and BLESSING THEM.
These He created and man He created in His image and
likeness.
How many of us
realize that in the beginning we as human beings were not intended to be flesh
or meat eating, but were to eat of the fruits and vegetation of the garden. It
wasn’t until after the original sin of man that change took place. Regardless,
we were given dominion over them and remained the custodians to His creations.
Those creatures that were thence to be taken for food were considered
sacrifices to our God of all Creation and treated as such. Now today many will
say this is extreme to think along these lines and maybe even unrealistic. That
opinion doesn’t matter at all as we are referring to God’s design, not man’s
determinations.
Lets take a look at just the last 200 years
for instance and reflect on the custodial care we have provided to all that God
has created, taken pleasure in and BLESSED (Keep in mind HE created and
Blessed). Who alive today can actually describe how beautiful, colorful and
clear a sunset might have been just 200 years ago in comparison to today with
the changes in the atmosphere brought on by man’s carelessness? How many
species of wildlife have become forever extinct from this earth due to man’s
ignorance and carelessness, quest for convenience and greed? How will we
explain these to our Heavenly Father? How many natural habitats have been
destroyed and how much damage have we caused to the atmosphere for the same
reasons. How will we explain these to our Heavenly Father?
The basis of it
all simply put is primarily due to man’s on going quest for ultimate
“convenience” along with industry’s greed, generating as much profit from the
production of those conveniences as worldly possible. Many food related
industries produce and often over produce including the mass breeding and
deplorable treatment of animals often bred exclusively for meat to a point of
great waste, once again for consumer convenience and industry greed.
Whether as an industry
or individual, we’ll find ways to justify stripping the earth of it’s forests and killing off indigenous wildlife simply to
make it more convenient to use land we choose to occupy, farm or grow
agricultural products. We’ll kill animals because we may not like their
appearance, we seek a “trophy”, they’re a nuisance or bother us, we see no
known purpose for them or just because we are entertained by the destruction or
the power of the device we use to kill them. We’ll over fish until a species no
longer inhabits the sea and in the process kill other species that happen to be
in the way of our boats, nets or equipment. Yet with all the modern day wisdom
and intelligence we believe we possess how many times have we
experienced the reality that due to our destruction of environments or the
elimination of species in various geographic areas, entire ecosystems have been
irreparably damaged or destroyed. Subsequently, further damage results in that
remaining wildlife dies off either directly or indirectly due to lack of there
natural food source or from overpopulating due to the human based extinction of
what was at one time their natural predator. But we still haven’t learned.
On any given
day, a person can drive along the highway and take notice to how many animals
large or small that lay dead on or along the road struck by vehicles. If you
really want to take notice of this, try saying a short prayer asking
forgiveness of our carelessness or make the sign of the cross for each one you
see. After all, it is a creature of God killed as a result of modern
convenience. Of course you can say some are unavoidable no matter how we may
try to be cautious but are we as cautious as our responsibility under God
dictates?
Like a roller
coaster gliding along on closed tracks we are a society living each day in an
automatic state striving for our earthly goals rarely stopping to think about
what has been bestowed to us or what truly awaits us. If as individuals we
don’t once again awaken, realize and respect God’s gifts, what chance do we
have to realize and develop that ultimate relationship with our LORD?
Peace and God’s
Blessing be with us all.
