ANIMALS & SCRIPTURE
What does the Bible teach us about God's love for Animals?
The creation story of Genesis suggests that God's love and care extend to all Creatures.
Would not God's very act of creating the earth, as well as the plants and animals,
imply an unwritten covenant that the Creator will not suddenly stop loving
or caring for them?
The story of Noah's ark leaves little doubt in my mind that God wants all creatures
to be saved, not just the humans. For me, the ark is a wonderful symbol of God's
desire to save the whole family of creation. The story suggests to me that it is not
God's plan to save humankind apart from the other creatures. We are all in the same
boat, so to speak. As St. Paul writes to the Romans (8:22), "All creation is groaning"
for its liberation.
After the waters of the flood go away, God makes a covenant with all living creatures.
The covenant is not simply between God and the humans, but also, as the Bible says,
with "all the birds, and the various tame and wild animals....Never again shall all
bodily creatures be destroyed by the waters of a flood" (Genesis 9:10-11,).
God's putting a rainbow in the sky emphasizes the point one more time. God tells Noah:
"This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all mortal creatures
that are on earth" (9:17). Isn't it interesting that God takes much more care than we
humans to include the animals and other creatures in the plan of salvation?
The story of Jonah teaches us the "all-inclusive nature" of God's saving love.
The amazing mind-set of the Jonah story is that animals participate in God's saving
intentions. The Book of Jonah almost reads like a children's story: There's a furious
storm at sea. The sailors throw Jonah into the raging water. A big fish swallows the
prophet and spits him out on the shore. Jonah has been trying to run far away
from the task God has assigned him, namely, to preach to the city of Nineveh.
Like his fellow Jews, Jonah despises the people of Nineveh. Jonah does not like
the fact that God's saving love includes the likes of them.
The story is really a parable of God's all-embracing love. Significantly, even
the animals are included in God's saving plan. When Jonah proclaims that
Nineveh will be destroyed because of its sins, the king of Nineveh is very responsive:
He announces a fast, which includes not only humans but animals as well:
"Neither man nor beast, neither cattle nor sheep, shall taste anything," orders
the king. "They shall not eat, nor shall they drink water. Man and beast shall
be covered with sackcloth" (3:7-8).
Much to Jonah's disappointment, God's mercy is very inclusive and reaches
far beyond the Chosen People. God spares the city from calamity because of its
repentance. And the last line of the Book of Jonah clearly reveals that God's saving
love extends to all living creatures, not just to humans: "Should I not be concerned,"
God asks Jonah, "over Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than a
hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot distinguish their right hand
from their left, not to mention the many cattle?" (4:11).
In the Book of Psalms, we find prayers in which other creatures are called upon
to praise God along with the humans, suggesting that creatures are meant to
share our prayerful journey into the presence of God. These are very inclusive kinds
of prayer. Listen to Psalm 148. It is a Hymn of All Creation to the Almighty Creator:
"Praise the Lord from the heavens....Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you
shining stars....Praise the Lord from the earth, you sea monsters and all depths;
Fire and hail, snow and mist, storm winds that fulfill his word; You mountains and
all you hills, you fruit trees and all you cedars; You wild beasts and all tame
animals....Let the kings of the earth and all peoples....Young men too, and
maidens, old men and boys, Praise the name of the Lord..." (v. 1-13).
A similar hymn of praise to God is sung by the three youths in the fiery furnace in
the Book of Daniel (Chapter 3). In the midst of their distress, they invite the whole
family of creation to praise the one Lord of all. Just to give a little sampling of this
long hymn, the three youths sing: "Sun and moon, bless the Lord....Every shower
and dew, bless the Lord....All you winds, bless the Lord....All you birds of the air,
bless the Lord....All you beasts, wild and tame, bless the Lord" (v. 52-81).
Do not biblical prayers of this kind suggest that all of us creatures are meant to
walk side by side in one common journey to God? Do these prayers not imply that
all creatures are included in God's saving plan?
St. Francis gave us a similar style of prayer. It seems obvious that, when he wrote
his "Canticle of the Creatures" (sometimes called "Canticle of Brother Sun"),
he based its style of prayer on such passages of Scripture as I just cited.
But he added a special personal touch: He gave the titles of "Brother" and "Sister"
to the various creatures, as if to emphasize all the more his heart-warming insight
that we all form one family of creation under one loving Creator in heaven. "Sister"
and "Brother" are familial terms.
Francis had the amazing intuition that we are not meant to come to God alone,
as if in proud isolation from our brother and sister creatures. Rather, we are to form
one family with them—and to lift up one symphony of praise to our common Creator.
All praise be yours, my Lord,
through all that you have made.
And first my lord Brother Sun,
who brings the day....
How beautiful is he, how radiant in
all his splendor!
Of you, Most High,
he bears the likeness.
All praise be yours, my Lord,
through Sister Moon and Stars;
In the heavens you have made them,
bright and precious and fair.
All praise be yours, my Lord,
through Brothers Wind and Air....
All praise be yours, my Lord,
through Sister Water,
So useful, lowly, precious and fair.
All praise be yours, my Lord,
through Brother Fire,
through whom you brighten up the night....
All praise be yours, my Lord,
through Sister Earth, our mother,
Who feeds us...and produces various fruits
With colored flowers and herbs...
Praise and bless my Lord,
and give him thanks,
And serve him with great humility.
-- St. Francis of Assisi
Turning to the Gospels, we see how reverently and closely
Christ worked with creatures
One thing is clear: The Eternal Word did not hold himself aloof from our created
world in his efforts to save it, but literally entered the family of creation at the
Incarnation. God made this world his home, thus giving all creatures a
whole new dignity.
Jesus interacted very naturally and respectfully with the created world, whether
on the lakeshore or in the desert or on a mountainside or crossing a wheat field
or the Sea of Galilee. In his preaching of the good news of God's saving love,
Jesus easily used images of the birds of the air and the lilies of the field, also foxes,
pearls, salt, fig trees, mustard seeds and lost sheep, to name a few.
Jesus used created things in his saving work—wet clay on the eyes of the blind man
to bring healing (John 9:6-7). He used the products of wheat and grape—
bread and wine—to convey his very presence in the Eucharist.
Finally, after his resurrection, Jesus seemed to leave another hint, near the end of
Mark's Gospel, that the whole family of creation is included in God's saving love.
After his death and resurrection, he tells his disciples: "Go into the whole world
and proclaim the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15). Mark doesn't say
"to every human being," but "to every creature"!
In the final book of the Bible—the Book of Revelation—the inspired writer
presents to us a heavenly vision in which all creatures are standing before the
throne of God. Obviously, that glorious gathering is not composed exclusively
of saved humanity: "Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and
under the earth and in the sea, everything in the universe, cry out: ‘To the one
who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor, glory and might,
forever and ever'" (Revelation 5:13). In this picture of heaven all creatures
are present and praising God together.
|  |
