A Goose, a Friend, and a Gospel Message

Friday, Apr. 29, 2022

On Sunday I had the opportunity to go birdwatching for a few hours between assignments. The weather was beautiful when I first got out, but then a storm rolled in, bringing with it the opportunity to see something that before I’d only read about: a goose spreading its wings over its goslings to protect them from the sleet.

Later, I mentioned to a friend that I was struggling to come up with an idea for this column, and she asked why I didn’t write about the goose, and discuss it in the context of Scripture passages such as Matthew 23:37 – “… how many times I yearned to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her young under her wings .…”

This was a perfect suggestion, particularly because the bulk of my weekend was spent at the Diocesan Council of Catholic Women convention, where the keynote speaker talked about the environment. Dan Misleh, founder of Catholic Climate Covenant, discussed ecology in the context of caring for creation and caring for the poor.

“What Catholic Climate Covenant is trying to do, and I believe the faith community generally but specifically the Catholic Church, is we’re trying to save our planet,” Misleh said.

The science he presented is depressing. Just one example: 19 of the 20 hottest years on record worldwide have occurred since 2002, and the hottest have been the last seven years. As a result, the oceans are warming, causing more severe hurricanes, leading to tremendous damage to human communities. Here in Utah, the number of days that are over 100 degrees has doubled, while since 1970 we have received less rain in the summer, resulting in more severe wildfire conditions.

The very first book of the Bible, Genesis, calls humankind to care for creation, and that call is repeated in Leviticus (“The land itself must be given a rest and not abused”). Numerous verses in both the Old and New Testament confirm that creation is God’s work, and we as Christians are meant to care for it. Papal teaching, particularly that of John Paul II and Francis, reinforces this message. 

Commenting on humankind’s duty to protect creation, JPII wrote in his encyclical Sollicitudo rei Socialis (On Social Concerns) that “when it comes to the natural world, we are subject not only to biological laws but also to moral ones, which cannot be violated with impunity. A true concept of development cannot ignore the use of the elements of nature, the renewability of resources and the consequences of haphazard industrialization – three considerations which alert our consciences to the moral dimension of development.”

More recently, Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si' bore the subtitle “On Care for Our Common Home” and pointed not only to the cry of the Earth but also the cry of the poor, who are disproportionally affected by the rising sea levels  and changes the climate has wrought to farming.

Like care for creation, care for the poor is inherent in the Bible, as I was reminded by this morning’s Scripture reading from Deuteronomy: “The land will never lack for needy persons; that is why I command you: ‘Open your hand freely to your poor and to your needy kin in your land.’”

Jesus repeats this command most famously in Matthew 25, and Church teaching emphasizes it with the Corporal Works of Mercy.

When my friend suggested I write about the goose, she offered the image of each of us as the bird, spreading our wings over the poor to protect them from hunger, from thirst, from nakedness. This was the message I’d failed to see when I first saw the bird, and I am thankful to my friend for opening my eyes to it.