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Chapter 4. 1991-1992
- Franciscan Institute Publications
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Chapter 4 1991-1992 1991 21. “And God saw”—The story of a new creation Background: One account in the Book of Genesis describes God’s creation of the world in six days. Each day ends with the verse, “And God saw that it was good.” With deep gratitude to t h e biblical writer, the author has adapted that format in an effort to describe how humans could move toward the unity which God built into creation at the beginning. And God saw how human beings throughout the earth, from East and West, from North and South, without distinction of race, religion, or sex began to weave close bonds of friendship. Nations chose their best men and women and sent them to that famous glass palace on the island of Manhattan, which is open to all the nations on the earth. There they began to listen to one another, to learn from each other’s history, to understand each other, and to elaborate common projects. And God said: “It is good that it be so.” And this was the first day of a new era. And God saw how peacekeeping soldiers separated armies of the nations still at war; how disagreements were healed by prudence and negotiations rather than by arms; how the leaders of the nations began to listen to the voice of their people and how a l l jointly began to prefer the good of the whole universe and the peace of a united world over private and national interests. And God said: “It is good that it be so.” And this was the second day of the new planet. And God saw how human beings began to love and protect creation rather than exploit it—the air and the ozone layer, water in rivers and oceans, the earth and all that lives and germinates. And God also saw that human beings no longer dominated or exploited one another but, recognizing themselves as children of one Father, treated each other as equals. 94 Fioretti for Our Times And God said: “It is good that it be so.” And this was the third day of the era of new thinking. And God saw how human beings throughout the earth began to search out and eliminate the causes of hunger, sickness, ignorance, suffering and debasing poverty; how they began to share in common that which belongs to all; how in view of the common good and of life at world level, they began to see the positive aspects and the points of convergence of all races and religions. And God said: “It is good that it be so.” And this was the fourth day of the new creation. And God saw how with an admirable sense of responsibility and without the thirst for power, human beings began to utilize the natural resources which had been entrusted to them, particularly combustible material taken from the earth and atomic energy; how their conscience was always alert and prompted them to consider whether all the new projects were in accordance with the service of God and of humanity and especially of the poor; how they abandoned arrogance for sensitivity, greed for unselfishness, egoistic individualism and nationalism for the spirit of a new and lasting solidarity. And God said: “It is good that it be so.” And that was the fifth day of a more human world. And God saw how human beings on all the continents set about dismantling and destroying their rocket launching pads, their arsenals of bombs and munitions, their chemical and biological weapons of destruction as well as their spy satellites and detection systems; how they disbanded their armies and, consequently, initiated in all their schools and education systems a pedagogy of peace so evident and logical that conflicts could be solved by peaceful means. And God said: “It is good that it be so.” And it was the sixth day of a new heaven. And God saw how human beings finally began to recognize him as the God in love with life; how they considered the struggle for peace, justice, and the integrity of our wounded creation a true worship of the living God; how each time that one of their ideologies failed, when proposing a new constitution they would write: “Let us never lose sight of the one God, who is the beginning and the center of a just and human world. And as human beings, alive and free, peaceful and without arms, let us be...