The Gospel parable is about a man entrusting his servants with his property, and the point it makes concerns the need for fidelity in caring for what belongs to the master.

God our master has left us with the earth, not to do with it what we want but to care for it even as we live off of its abundant riches.

God created the land to support living things: What will happen when God returns to find so much land strip-mined, strip-cleared, eroded, and burdened with toxic waste?

God created the waters to support living things: What will happen when God returns to find the oceans and rivers polluted with our garbage and chemical by-products?

God created the air to support living things: What will happen when God returns to find smog and holes in the ozone?

God created plants and animals to live on this wonderful earth and revel in its beauty: What will happen when God returns to find so many of them driven to extinction by our destructive practices?

Men and women bear a unique responsibility under God to safeguard the created world and by their creative labor even to enhance it.

Safeguarding creation requires us to live responsibly within it, rather than manage creation as though we are outside it.

The human family is charged with preserving the beauty, diversity and integrity of nature as well as fostering its productivity.

U.S. Bishops, Renewing the Earth, 1991