There is an old hymn written by Maltbie D. Babcock, published after he died in 1901, entitled “This is My Father’s World.” The words to this hymn epitomize the seven themes of Catholic social teaching.
The first verse of the hymn is: “This is my Father’s world, and to my list’ning ears all nature sings, and round me rings, the music of the spheres. This is my Father’s world; I rest me in the thought of rocks and trees, of skies and seas – His hand the wonders wrought.”
It’s not just any world, it’s Our Father’s world. When we care for Our Father’s world, we show our love for Our Father. The songwriter went on to say with simplistic words, “This is my Father’s world; oh, let me ne’er forget that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.” Sometimes we forget, and think the world should revolve around us.
Genesis 1: 27-31 tells us: “God created mankind in His image; in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them. God blessed them and God said to them: Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that crawl on the earth. God also said: See, I give you every seed-bearing plant on all the earth and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food; and to all the wild animals, all the birds of the air, and all the living creatures that crawl on the earth, I give all the green plants for food. And so it happened. God looked at everything He had made, and found it very good. Evening came, and morning followed – the sixth day.”
Here is where God told Adam and Eve, I put everything in motion. I have freely given you all the necessary resources such as animals, seeds, soil, sunlight and water, but it is your responsibility to care for what I have given you. Not only are you responsible and accountable, but so are all the generations that follow.
Brothers and sisters, that includes us – we are not exempt. Even Pope Francis has addressed this in his encyclical “On Care for Our Common Home (Laudato Si’).”
Pope Francis wrote, “I do not want to write this encyclical without turning to that attractive and compelling figure, whose name I took as my guide and inspiration when I was elected Bishop of Rome. I believe that St. Francis is the example par excellence of care for the vulnerable and of an integral ecology lived out joyfully and authentically. He is the patron saint of all who study and work in the area of ecology, and he is also much loved by non-Christians. He was particularly concerned for God’s creation and for the poor and outcast. He loved, and was deeply loved for his joy, his generous self-giving, his openheartedness. He was a mystic and a pilgrim who lived in simplicity and in wonderful harmony with God, with others, with nature and with himself. He shows us just how inseparable the bond is between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society, and interior peace.”
There are seven themes to Catholic social teaching: dignity of the human person, call to family, community and participation, rights and responsibilities, option for the poor and vulnerable, dignity of work and the rights of workers, solidarity, and care for God’s creation. How can we personally commit to all of these things? Easy, and here are three suggestions:
- Give to your local parish’s and the diocese’s ministries, which know the needs of those in the local Church, and donate your time, talent and money to not-for-profit organizations that work on behalf of the themes of Catholic social teaching. By doing so, you will make your community a better place to live.
- Give to the Diocesan Support Appeal. The Diocese of Charlotte’s website (www.charlottediocese.org) points out: “The purpose of the Diocesan Support Appeal (DSA) is to help provide the annual funding necessary to carry out the mission of our diocese – namely, to fulfill our call to “grow ever more perfectly into a community of praise, worship and witness, and to become a leaven of service and sign of peace through love in the Piedmont and Western North Carolina.’ The DSA provides funding for the ministerial arm of the diocese.”
- The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ website (www.usccb.org) states; “The bishops of the United States established the national collections to support the Church’s works of social justice, evangelization, and education, both domestically and around the globe. Jesus reminds us that the two greatest commandments are to love God with our whole heart, our whole mind, and our whole soul; and to love our neighbor as ourselves. The national collections offer us an opportunity to help our neighbors in the light of the Gospel. In doing so, we act as faithful stewards of the gifts God has given us.”
We must remember that we live in Our Father’s world – “let me ne’er forget.”
Barbara Case Speers is a writer who lives in Hickory.