![\"Sebago](\"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2014\/02\/09302013_sjc-6.jpg\")
<\/a>Sebago Lake, Saint Joseph’s College of Maine<\/p><\/div>\n
No one deserves a star or merits a sunset. The universe, if created by God, is a vast metaphor saying that it is God\u2019s gift. It has been said, very cynically, that \u201cBlessed is he\u00a0that expecteth nothing, for he shall not be disappointed.\u201d And such a person will have nothing to be thankful for. Chesterton wrote in his St. Francis<\/i>, \u201cBlessed is he who expecteth nothing, for he shall enjoy everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is a tendency when speaking of metaphors to say that something is a \u201cmere\u201d metaphor. But if God created the universe, then it is no \u201cmere\u201d metaphor. The Catholic analogical imagination imagines that everything speaks of God and everything is a gift of God. If God saw that everything was good, then human beings must see everything as a gift, a gift for which human beings are responsible and accountable. This gift deserves our gratitude, a gratitude that can be put into environmental action. Gratitude may be the \u201creal skill\u201d with which Thomas Berry hopes \u201cto raise the sails and to catch the power of the wind as it passes by.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since Fall, 2001, our College has offered the course, \u201cEcology and the Environmental Challenge,\u201d required of all the students of the Sebago Lake Program. The course is a teaching challenge not just for the professors, but also for the whole College community. It is not just about self-preservation. We need to go much further. As Pope John Paul II stated, \u201cAn education in ecological responsibility is urgent: responsibility for oneself, for others and for the earth . . . A true education in responsibility entails a genuine conversion in ways of thought and behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n
I would add that a genuine conversion of imagination, one consonant with the Catholic imagination, is needed if we are going, as a College, to contribute solutions for our environmental crisis. A universe that is good, that is filled with real things that are good, and that speaks of God, surrounds us. If it is so, we are indebted to God for it, an infinite debt that can only be repaid by an everlasting hymn of gratitude. Dante Gabriel Rosetti said somewhere that \u201cthe worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful and has nobody to thank.\u201d Every Earth Day, we should remind ourselves that our \u201cAttainable\/Sustainable\u201d efforts need to be grounded in the deepest Catholic identity of the Mission of the College. Gratitude is a greater motive for environmental action than self-preservation. In Chesterton\u2019s words, all \u201cgoods look better when they look like gifts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel Sheridan<\/strong>\u00a0is Professor of Theology at Saint Joseph\u2019s College of Maine and former Director of the Online Theology Program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Thoughts for Earth Day 2014 In Kris Kristofferson\u2019s poignant song, \u201cMe and Bobbie Magee,\u201d there is the haunting line, \u201cFreedom\u2019s just another word for nothin\u2019 left to lose.\u201d Let me transpose the idea: \u201cFreedom\u2019s just another word for everythin\u2019 left … Continue reading