Day 48: Creation in Order (337-343)


Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we know that you love us. We know that you are with us. We thank you for this day. We thank you for all you have created, everything invisible and also everything visible. Everything we don’t see and everything we do see, we thank you because all of it reflects your beauty. All of it reflects your power and your goodness and your love for us. Keep us in your love. Help us to never wander away from it. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”


(https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html)

Scripture References & Reflections

- compiled by Andrew Adamany


Bible Translation - RSVCE


CCC 337 "God himself created the visible world in all its richness, diversity and order. Scripture presents the work of the Creator symbolically as a succession of six days of divine "work", concluded by the "rest" of the seventh day. On the subject of creation, the sacred text teaches the truths revealed by God for our salvation, permitting us to "recognize the inner nature, the value and the ordering of the whole of creation to the praise of God."


Genesis 1:31–2:3 

"And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day. 


Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all his work which he had done in creation."


CCC 338 "Nothing exists that does not owe its existence to God the Creator. The world began when God's word drew it out of nothingness; all existent beings, all of nature, and all human history are rooted in this primordial event, the very genesis by which the world was constituted and time begun."


Wisdom of Solomon 1:14

"For he created all things that they might exist, 

and the generative forces of the world are wholesome"


CCC 339 "Each creature possesses its own particular goodness and perfection. For each one of the works of the "six days" it is said: "And God saw that it was good." "By the very nature of creation, material being is endowed with its own stability, truth and excellence, its own order and laws." Each of the various creatures, willed in its own being, reflects in its own way a ray of God's infinite wisdom and goodness. Man must therefore respect the particular goodness of every creature, to avoid any disordered use of things which would be in contempt of the Creator and would bring disastrous consequences for human beings and their environment."


Wisdom of Solomon 11:24–26 

"For thou lovest all things that exist, 

and hast loathing for none of the things which thou hast made, 

for thou wouldst not have made anything if thou hadst hated it. 

How would anything have endured if thou hadst not willed it? 

Or how would anything not called forth by thee have been preserved? 

Thou sparest all things, for they are thine, O Lord who lovest the living."


CCC 342 "The hierarchy of creatures is expressed by the order of the "six days", from the less perfect to the more perfect. God loves all his creatures and takes care of each one, even the sparrow. Nevertheless, Jesus said: "You are of more value than many sparrows", or again: "Of how much more value is a man than a sheep!"


Psalm 145:9

"The Lord is good to all, 

and his compassion is over all that he has made."


Luke 12:4–7 

“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows."


Matthew 12:9–12 

"And he went on from there, and entered their synagogue. And behold, there was a man with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath?” so that they might accuse him. He said to them, “What man of you, if he has one sheep and it falls into a pit on the sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep!"


CCC 343 "Man is the summit of the Creator's work, as the inspired account expresses by clearly distinguishing the creation of man from that of the other creatures."


Genesis 1:26–30 

"Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so."