"Let life enchant you again." - Fernando Gros
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Blog // Thoughts
March 14, 2007

The Sanctification Of The World And The Protection Of Creation

Thanks to Mary at Tensegrities for making us aware that the Pope’s Sacramentum Caritatis is available online. The following passages stood out for me, Finally, to develop a profound eucharistic spirituality that is also capable of significantly affecting the fabric of society, the Christian people, in giving thanks to God through the Eucharist, should be […]

Thanks to Mary at Tensegrities for making us aware that the Pope’s Sacramentum Caritatis is available online. The following passages stood out for me,

Finally, to develop a profound eucharistic spirituality that is also capable of significantly affecting the fabric of society, the Christian people, in giving thanks to God through the Eucharist, should be conscious that they do so in the name of all creation, aspiring to the sanctification of the world and working intensely to that end. The Eucharist itself powerfully illuminates human history and the whole cosmos. In this sacramental perspective we learn, day by day, that every ecclesial event is a kind of sign by which God makes himself known and challenges us. The eucharistic form of life can thus help foster a real change in the way we approach history and the world. The liturgy itself teaches us this, when, during the presentation of the gifts, the priest raises to God a prayer of blessing and petition over the bread and wine, “fruit of the earth,” “fruit of the vine” and “work of human hands.” With these words, the rite not only includes in our offering to God all human efforts and activity, but also leads us to see the world as God’s creation, which brings forth everything we need for our sustenance. The world is not something indifferent, raw material to be utilized simply as we see fit. Rather, it is part of God’s good plan, in which all of us are called to be sons and daughters in the one Son of God, Jesus Christ (cf. Eph 1:4-12). The justified concern about threats to the environment present in so many parts of the world is reinforced by Christian hope, which commits us to working responsibly for the protection of creation. The relationship between the Eucharist and the cosmos helps us to see the unity of God’s plan and to grasp the profound relationship between creation and the “new creation” inaugurated in the resurrection of Christ, the new Adam. Even now we take part in that new creation by virtue of our Baptism (cf. Col 2:12ff.). Our Christian life, nourished by the Eucharist, gives us a glimpse of that new world ‚Äì new heavens and a new earth ‚Äì where the new Jerusalem comes down from heaven, from God, “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev 21:2).

[tags] Creation Theology, Eucharist, Pope [/tags]

Responses
brodie 18 years ago

Fernando – thanks for posting this. I’d been thinking similar thoughts today about how we’ve reduced the Cross to ‘Jesus dying for my sins’ rather than Jesus dying to we and the rest of creation would know God’s transformation.

roy donkin 18 years ago

interesting what different folk pick up. Another friend, Bob Cornwall, picked up another portion of the document on his blog – https://pastorbobcornwall.blogspot.com/2007/03/catholics-and-closed-communion.html In this section, also talking about the eucharist, the pope reaffirms the exclusion of divorced and remarried folk from the table as their lives contradict the loving union of Christ and the Church. Bob questions where Jesus’ table practice is reflected in this exclusion.

So, I guess there are positive and negative sections to the document.

Fernando Gros 18 years ago

Brodie – indeed. In fact reading this has also been prompting a lot of thoughts about the nature of baptism as well.

Fernando Gros 18 years ago

Roy – yes it is very revealing what people look for in a document like this. I’ll admit, I read it looking for positives, rather than hunting down the things where the Pope would recind practices I don’t agree with. For me, it is very positive that despite not repudiating the exclusions at the table (and I doubt this Pope ever will do that), he was affirming a very world embracing view of the table.

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