Communion and Labor: The Human Being at the Service of Creation

Abstract

Due to the environmental crisis in which we find ourselves submerged, largely due to human beings’ actions of exploitation of natural resources on the planet, it is worth asking ourselves, not only as individuals and as citizens, but also as baptized Christians, sons and daughters of the same Church, what is the spiritual and theological perspective to which we are invited to mitigate and reverse, as far as possible, the damage we have done to our common house. It is on the horizon of this question in which the present writing emerges as a way to enrich current theological reflections on ecology and care for the environment. Thus, this article presents three theological categories that are proposed as elements that can illuminate a reflection on creation, namely: communion as a symbol of the harmony of creation; the work of God and the work of the human being; and the centrality of the human being in the created world. To develop this proposal, a dynamic and dialogic exercise is carried out, in three sections, between the two creation stories of Genesis and contemplation to reach love of the Spiritual Exercises of San Ignacio de Loyola, from which the most important aspects are extracted to feed the understanding of each one of the categories proposed from the biblical aspect and from the spiritual-Christian contribution. In the end, it concludes that the human being is essential in creation, not as its dominator nor as its excessive exploiter, but as the one who works for its care from the perspective of communion and respectful love.