CALLED TO CARE FOR CREATION

Homily for the Mass for the care of creation

Fr. Ugochukwu Ugwoke, ISch

Wisdom 13:1-9; Colossians 1:15-20; Matthew 6:24-34

A person can spend an entire day surrounded by the beauty of creation and never really see it. We see the sunrise, hear birds sing, enjoy the rain, breathe the air and eat the fruits of the earth, yet we can forget to ask the deeper question: What does all this tell us about God?

Today, instead of celebrating the liturgy of the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Church invites us to celebrate the Mass for the Care of Creation. It is a fitting opportunity to pause and reflect on creation not merely as something around us, but as a gift entrusted to our care.

The Book of Wisdom which the Church presents to us for reflection today tells us that from the greatness and beauty of created things, their Creator can be recognised. Creation is not God, but it points beyond itself to God. The world is therefore not merely material to be consumed; it is a gift that invites wonder, gratitude and worship. When we destroy creation carelessly, we are not simply damaging things. We are showing a failure to recognise the Giver behind the gift.

It is significant that the Church now has a Mass for the Care of Creation. Pope Leo XIV approved this new Mass, and the Holy See promulgated it on 8 June 2025, adding it to the Roman Missal among the Masses for Various Needs and Occasions. Pope Leo XIV celebrated the first Mass using this new formular on 9 July 2025 at Castel Gandolfo. Let us keep in mind that the Church did not invent a new concern; rather, she gave liturgical expression to something already rooted in Scripture and the Christian tradition.

The second reading takes us deeper. St Paul tells us that Christ is “the image of the invisible God” and that “all things were created through him and for him.” Creation begins in God and finds its centre in Christ. Therefore, caring for creation is not an environmental concern added to Christian faith. It belongs to our faith in Christ. If everything was created through Christ and for Christ, then nothing in creation should be treated as meaningless or disposable.

This helps us understand the Gospel. Jesus tells us to look at the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. He is not encouraging laziness or irresponsibility. Rather, he challenges the anxiety and greed that make us believe that possessing more will finally make us secure. “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.” When our relationship with God is rightly ordered, our relationship with material things is transformed.

This is where care for creation becomes a spiritual matter. We cannot claim to love the Creator while being indifferent to what he has created. Wasting food, polluting our surroundings, destroying forests, abusing water or exploiting the earth without responsibility can become moral failures when they arise from greed and disregard for others, especially the poor who often suffer first from environmental degradation.

As we celebrate the Mass for the Care of Creation, the Church therefore calls us to ecological conversion. We must move from possession to stewardship as God commanded us in the creation account in Genesis (Gen 2:15), from waste to gratitude, and from exploitation to responsibility. The question is no longer simply, “What can I take from creation?” but, “What can I preserve, restore, and hand on?”

Finally, at this Eucharist, we bring bread and wine, fruits of the earth and work of human hands. In Christ, creation is taken up and transformed. May the Eucharist teach us to receive the world with gratitude, use its gifts responsibly, and become faithful stewards of the common home God has entrusted to us.