“Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse” [Romans 1:20, NRSV].
Beauty of nature in Wulingyuan Scenic Area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site of Zhangjiajie [张家界], China.
1. Creation is a Sacrament
In the hands of the psalmist, nature points to the glory of God and sings praises to God:
- “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world” [Ps. 19:1-4].
- “Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights above. Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his heavenly hosts. Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars. Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for he commanded and they were created. He set them in place for ever and ever; he gave a decree that will never pass away” [Ps. 148:1-6].
The Bible is dotted with verses on experiencing God through His creation. So Job tells of both animal and human life reflecting God’s creative power.
- “But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you: or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind” [Job 12:7-10].
Creation, Paul suggests, was God’s first missionary:
- “Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse” [Romans 1:20].
So creation is identified in Laudato Si’ as a sacrament. Christians, it says, are called:
- “to accept the world as a sacrament of communion, as a way of sharing with God and our neighbors on a global scale. It is our humble conviction that the divine and the human meet in the slightest detail in the seamless garment of God’s creation, in the last speck of dust of our planet” [LS, 9].
As the “seamless garment” language is applied to our whole ecological life, the identification of creation as a sacrament becomes an empowering and challenging thought. There is a lot of depth to be mined from that way of thinking.
2. Christians start and end with the incarnation and the sacraments
God is God and only God is God. But God is able to use the material to embody and communicate the spiritual, or the physical the invisible, and the natural the supernatural. Hence, the definition of a sacrament as an outer sign of an inner grace. For Christians, all that which constitutes creation – the created things and creatures of the material universe – find their true meaning in the incarnate Word, for the Son of God has incorporated in his person part of the material world, planting in it a seed of definitive transformation. Laudato Si’ brings this out nicely:
- “The Sacraments are a privileged way in which nature is taken up by God to become a means of mediating supernatural life. Through our worship of God, we are invited to embrace the world on a different plane. Water, oil, fire and colours are taken up in all their symbolic power and incorporated in our act of praise. The hand that blesses is an instrument of God’s love and a reflection of the closeness of Jesus Christ, who came to accompany us on the journey of life. Water poured over the body of a child in Baptism is a sign of new life. Encountering God does not mean fleeing from this world or turning our back on nature. This is especially clear in the spirituality of the Christian East. ‘Beauty, which in the East is one of the best loved names expressing the divine harmony and the model of humanity transfigured, appears everywhere: in the shape of a church, in the sounds, in the colours, in the lights, in the scents’” [LS, 164].
Christians therefore will not give in to a superficial distinction of nature and supernature, or matter and spirit, or even religious and profane. Any good sacramental theology would avoid such a neat dichotomy. Again, Laudato Si’ says it well:
- “Christianity does not reject matter. Rather, bodiliness is considered in all its value in the liturgical act, whereby the human body is disclosed in its inner nature as a temple of the Holy Spirit and is united with the Lord Jesus, who himself took a body for the world’s salvation” [LS, 235].
The sacramental nature of all of creation teaches us to be dependent on the world that the Creator-God has made. Once we are awakened to this reality, we can experience an icon of the divine every time we take a drink and every time we fill our lungs with air. It is simple theology at its nascent best when we are conscious that every part of life connects us to a reality outside of ourselves and offers a reminder of God as Trinity. We are led “not only to marvel at the manifold connections existing among creatures, but also to discover a key to our own fulfilment.”
- “The human person grows more, matures more and is sanctified more to the extent that he or she enters into relationships, going out from themselves to live in communion with God, with others and with all creatures. In this way, they make their own that trinitarian dynamism which God imprinted in them when they were created. Everything is interconnected, and this invites us to develop a spirituality of that global solidarity which flows from the mystery of the Trinity” [LS, 240].
3. The Eucharist demonstrates the hope of all the world
The pride of place, as usual, is accorded to the Eucharist. The Eucharist penetrates all of creation, for in the Eucharist, heaven and earth are joined. In view of the Incarnation, death and resurrection of Christ, in the bread of the Eucharist, “creation is projected towards divinization, towards the holy wedding feast, towards unification with the Creator himself”. The created world of God returns to its Creator in “blessed and undivided adoration”. So we read:
- “Itis in the Eucharist that all that has been created finds its greatest exaltation. Grace, which tends to manifest itself tangibly, found unsurpassable expression when God himself became man and gave himself as food for his creatures. The Lord, in the culmination of the mystery of the Incarnation, chose to reach our intimate depths through a fragment of matter. He comes not from above, but from within, he comes that we might find him in this world of ours. In the Eucharist, fullness is already achieved; it is the living centre of the universe, the overflowing core of love and of inexhaustible life. Joined to the incarnate Son, present in the Eucharist, the whole cosmos gives thanks to God. Indeed the Eucharist is itself an act of cosmic love: “Yes, cosmic! Because even when it is celebrated on the humble altar of a country church, the Eucharist is always in some way celebrated on the altar of the world” [LS, 236].
Hence, Laudato Si’ stresses the importance of our participation in Sunday worship. Inthe Eucharist, we can find “a source of light and motivation for our concerns for the environment, directing us to be stewards of all creation”. Not only will the “memoria” of the Eucharist help neutralize our forgetfulness of creation, our worship in “eucharistia” within our Sabbath rest will contribute towards an inclusion within our work “a dimension of receptivity and gratuity”. We shall steer clear of inactivity as well as empty activism, unfettered greed and wanton neglect of the Poor [LS, 237].
Copyright © Dr. Jeffrey & Angie Goh, November 2015. All rights reserved.
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