Ten years ago, my wife and I had the privilege of hearing the famous Dutch conductor, Bernard Haitink, conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the CSO Chorus and three soloists in F. J. Haydn’s famous “Creation” oratorio. It was one of the most glorious musical performances we have ever experienced. The musical piece portrays creation: Three archangels recite the words of God which created the universe one day at a time and then break into arias which combine their voices with a larger chorus. One of the most dramatic parts of the music occurred on the first day, after Raphael sings “And there was light!” Haydn’s striking orchestral music evokes light in an unforgettable WAKE UP moment. At the end of the third day, the archangel and chorus, as the heavenly host, praise God in awe of the glorious attire of the heavens and the earth. “With shouts of joy your voices raise! In triumph proclaim the might of the Lord!”
Our hearts were filled with joy and awe for God’s creation after this marvelous musical masterpiece. We had never before thought about the joy and praise that God’s heavenly host must have felt, as they praised the Creator for his majestic universe with voices and musical instruments. The beauty of God’s creation and this musical experience had fused and touched our inmost souls.
“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” (Ps 8:1 RSV-CE)
In this responsorial psalm, King David waxes poetic about God’s creation, echoing the creation story of today’s reading from Genesis. The world which was “without form and void” has been beautifully structured and filled with galaxies and suns and stars, fish, great sea monsters, birds, cattle, and wild animals. God spoke and they were created. And God blessed them all telling them to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. God saw that “it was good.”
The crowning point of the creation is the creation of man and woman in Genesis 1:26-28. “God created man in his own image, in the image of God, he created him; male and female he created them.” v 27 He blessed them and told them to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it. What does this mean, to be created in the “image and likeness” of God? The Catechism (CCC, 355-58) expounds at great length on this amazing statement that gives every human person incredible dignity. Ultimately, it means that man was made to worship God, to love and serve Him and to be a part of His family through the covenant first signified by the seventh day, on which God rested. Man is given an intellect and a will, a knowledge of the God who is good and has beautifully created everything out of love. He calls man to enter into loving communion with the Trinity. God has shown man that he was not made only to work, but especially to worship the God who breathed his Spirit into humans. We are to take all these gifts that God has given us, the beauty of his creation, the abundance of material goods that sustain us, the family where we first experience love and gratefully re-gift them to God and neighbor.
For further reflection: Consider blessing God today for the beauty of His creation as poetically proclaimed in the canticle of Daniel 3:51-90 by Hananiah, Azariah and Mishael. Or consider watching (II) F. J. Haydn: (The Creation) Oratorio/Die Schopfung, Oratorium (Christopher Hogwood) on YouTube.
[Readings: Gen 1: 20-2:4a; Mk 14:7-13]
