BELIEF: GOD IS THE CREATOR [Category - Ultimate Reality]

The Catholic Church, along with other Christian denominations, teaches the belief that God
is the creator. This belief, which concerns the origins of all there is, is expressed through
other aspects, especially sacred stories, texts, ethics and rituals. It is through these
expressions that adherents come to a deeper understanding of this belief.

The opening stories of the Bible (text), Genesis 1 and 2, provide two theological accounts of
how everything came to be. In the first account, this came through God’s action of
breathing into the formless void and saying ‘Let there be light’ (Gen 1:1). Over the following
five ‘days’, everything there was came into existence. On the sixth day, it was humankind,
made in God’s image, that was created. God saw that the creation was good, indeed ‘very
good’. On the seventh day, God rested setting the pattern for human rest and the worship
of God. In the second account, Genesis 2:4-24, a different story is told that tells of man as
God’s creation but as lonely without woman. Having created man from the dust of the
earth, God sees man’s loneliness. Animals are created for man, but these do not meet the
deep human need he has. From man, God creates woman, with the two to be companions
who depend upon each other at the deepest levels. Both stories are theological as they
express beliefs about God (creator), God’s nature (all powerful and all good) and God’s
purpose in creating humans (so humans could come to know, love and worship God). They
are not scientific explanations for how everything came to be. Central to the accounts are
that creation was the work of God and that humans sit at the pinnacle of creation as
conscious, rational beings able to enter into relationship with God.

The Genesis accounts of creation are not the only texts that present God as the creator. The
creeds proclaim belief in “God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth, of all things
seen and unseen” (Nicene Creed). This belief is repeated and developed in other creeds
such as the Creed of the Council of Trent and the Credo of Pope Paul VI published in 1968.
These teachings are elaborated upon in the Catechism of the Catholic Church which sits
current scientific explanations for the how of creation alongside the belief that creation is at
its most fundamental level an act of God. The significance of God as the creator who
brought everything into existence for the development of human life results in humans
having a responsibility to care for creation and utilize it sustainably for all. These themes are
contained in the 2002 Australian Catholic Bishops Conference Social Justice statement, A
New Earth: The environmental challenge, and the 2015 encyclical of Pope Francis, Laudato
Si. In this encyclical, Pope Francis presented the scientific consensus on climate change,
along with a description of other threats to the environment. These include threats to
biodiversity and water supplies. He wrote about the impact of environmental degradation
on human life and society and how global inequality is a factor in the environmental crisis.

The Mass is the source and the summit of Catholic life. During this ritual, the offertory gifts
of bread and wine are brought forward and given to the priest who then prays, “Blessed are
you, Lord God of all creation, through your goodness we have this bread to offer which
earth has given and human hands have made. It will become for us the bread of life.” (The
Mass – Offertory prayers). Similar words are used when the wine is offered. These words in
this ritual remind adherents that it is God who is the source and sustainer of life, providing
humans with their daily needs. In the traditional prayer, Grace before meals, food is
acknowledged as ultimately being a gift from God. The words of the prayer are: “Bless us, O
Lord, and these your gifts which or your goodness you have given to us. Through Christ our
Lord. Amen.” The goodness is the goodness of God the Creator. When Catholics pray the
Our Father, the prayer given to the disciples by Jesus, they pray that God in heaven will
provide them with their “daily bread”. Again, God is acknowledged as being the one who is
able to fulfil of all their needs.

The Pope and Bishops as leaders teaching about the environment, Catholic groups of lay
people committing themselves to the environment and recognized Church organisations,
such as Catholic Earthcare, are part of the structure of the Catholic Church. These provide
adherents with the opportunity to be theologically and practically informed and to
participate with other adherents in living sustainably in recognition of the Earth as God’s gift
to all humanity. By listening to, participating in prayer and discussion, and taking action in
response to the needs of the environment, and people who depend upon it, adherents are
strengthened in their bonds of community and deepened in their understanding of these
beliefs. Taking action for the environment is an ethical response to the belief that God is the
creator who has given creation for the growth of humanity now and into the future.

Official Church statements on the environment often make references to environmental

experiences which take individuals out of the ordinary and into a higher state of awareness.
Gazing at the stars of the night and pondering their vastness and origins; considering the
incomprehensible number of grains of sand on the beach; marvelling at a glorious sunset or
the power of a storm are all capable of being spiritual experiences that take individuals into
this higher state. The writer of Psalm 148 declared, “Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord from
the heavens, praise him in the heights above. Praise him, all his angels, praise him all his
heavenly hosts. Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars. … Let them
praise the name of the Lord, for he commanded and they were created.” (Psalm 148:1-5). In
1225CE, St Francis of Assisi wrote his Canticle of Creation in praise of God in response to a
significant spiritual experience. It begins, “Most High, all powerful, good Lord, Yours are the
praises, the glory, the honour, and all blessing” before identifying wind, water, fire and
Mother Earth as humanity’s brothers and sisters.

The symbol of the Global Catholic Climate Movement is a circle divided into three rows and
three columns. This movement was founded in response to Pope Francis’s Laudato Si. The
four corners of the symbol are green, representing the land, and the five remaining cells are
blue for water. Together, the blue cells form a cross, the symbol of Christianity, and show
that spirituality and the material earth are intimately connected. An adherent, on seeing
this symbol, would recognize the connection between the environment and religion through
the belief that all creation is the work of the Creator God who continues to sustain it.

From 2015, September 1 was declared by Pope Francis to be the annual World Day of Prayer
for the Care of Creation. In a statement on the Vatican website (text) he said all Christians
should work towards resolving the ‘ecological crisis’ facing the world. The day was to offer
“individual believers and communities a fitting opportunity to reaffirm their personal
vocation to be stewards of creation” (Ethics). By calling on adherents to mark this day
(Time) wherever they find themselves, Francis was asking adherents to express in action
their belief in creation as gift from God who is “Father almighty, creator of heaven and
earth” (Nicene Creed).

The belief that God is the creator needs to be more than a piece of information that sits in
the brain and can be produced to answer the big question about where everything came
from. It needs to be put into practice and expressed. These expressions acknowledge that
God is the creator, the source and sustainer of life, and that each of us is called to recognize
this through our actions towards creation. By doing this, adherents deepen their
understanding of the belief that God is the creator.

Mr Roach