{"id":3528,"date":"2015-11-01T08:00:06","date_gmt":"2015-11-01T00:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=3528"},"modified":"2021-11-26T08:54:04","modified_gmt":"2021-11-26T00:54:04","slug":"139-laudato-si-%e2%80%93-creation-as-sacrament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=3528","title":{"rendered":"139. Laudato Si \u2013 Creation as Sacrament"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>\u201c<span style=\"color: #008080;\">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<\/span>\u201d<\/strong> [<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Romans 1:2<\/span><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">0<\/span>, <span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>NRSV<\/em>].<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Beauty-of-Nature.Zhangjiajie.China_.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-3529\" title=\"Beauty of Nature.Zhangjiajie.China\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Beauty-of-Nature.Zhangjiajie.China_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"875\" height=\"382\" \/>\u00a0<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> Beauty of nature in Wulingyuan Scenic Area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site of Zhangjiajie [\u5f20\u5bb6\u754c], China.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>1. Creation is a Sacrament<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In the hands of the psalmist, nature points to the glory of God and sings praises to God:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cThe 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\u201d [Ps. 19:1-4].<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cPraise the Lord.\u00a0Praise the Lord from the heavens,\u00a0praise him in the heights above.\u00a0Praise him, all his angels,\u00a0praise him, all his heavenly hosts. Praise him, sun\u00a0and moon, praise him, all you shining stars.\u00a0Praise him, you highest heavens\u00a0and you waters above the skies.\u00a0Let them praise the name\u00a0of the Lord, for he commanded\u00a0and they were created.\u00a0He set them in place for ever and ever; he gave a decree\u00a0that will never pass away\u201d [Ps. 148:1-6].<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Bible is dotted with verses on experiencing God through His creation. So Job tells of b<strong>o<\/strong>th animal and human life reflecting God\u2019s creative power.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cBut ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky,\u00a0and 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\u00a0Lord\u00a0has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind\u201d [Job 12:7-10].<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Creation, Paul suggests, was God\u2019s first missionary:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cEver 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\u201d [Romans 1:20].<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">So creation is identified in <em>Laudato Si\u2019<\/em> as a sacrament. Christians, it says, are called:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cto 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\u2019s creation, in the last speck of dust of our planet\u201d [LS, 9].<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">As the &#8220;seamless garment&#8221; language is applied to our whole ecological life, the identification of creation as a sacrament becomes an empowering and challenging thought. \u00a0There is a lot of depth to be mined from that way of thinking.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>2. Christians start and end with the incarnation and the sacraments<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">God is God and <em>only<\/em> 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 &#8211; the created things and creatures of the material universe &#8211; 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. <em>Laudato Si&#8217; brings this out nicely: <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cThe 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\u2019s 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. &#8216;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&#8217;\u201d [LS, 164].<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">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 <em>sacramental theology<\/em> would avoid such a neat dichotomy. Again, <em>Laudato Si\u2019<\/em> says it well:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cChristianity 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\u2019s salvation\u201d [LS, 235].<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">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 \u201cnot only to marvel at the manifold connections existing among creatures, but also to discover a key to our own fulfilment.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cThe 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\u201d [LS, 240].<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><strong>3. The Eucharist demonstrates the hope of all the world<\/strong><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">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, \u201ccreation is projected towards divinization, towards the holy wedding feast, towards unification with the Creator himself\u201d. The created world of God returns to its Creator in \u201cblessed and undivided adoration\u201d. So we read:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cItis 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: \u201cYes, 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\u201d [LS, 236].<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Hence, <em>Laudato Si\u2019<\/em> stresses the importance of our participation in Sunday worship. Inthe Eucharist, we can find \u201ca source of light and motivation for our concerns for the environment, directing us to be stewards of all creation\u201d. Not only will the \u201cmemoria\u201d of the Eucharist help neutralize our forgetfulness of creation, our worship in \u201ceucharistia\u201d within our Sabbath rest will contribute towards an inclusion within our work \u201ca dimension of receptivity and gratuity\u201d. We shall steer clear of inactivity as well as empty activism, unfettered greed and wanton neglect of the Poor [LS, 237].<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Copyright \u00a9 Dr. Jeffrey &amp; Angie Goh, November 2015. All rights reserved.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">You are most welcome to respond to this post. Email your comments to <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a style=\"color: #000000; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"mailto:jeffangiegoh@gmail.com\">jeffangiegoh@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/span><\/strong> You can also be dialogue partners in this <em>Ephphatha Coffee-Corner Ministry<\/em> by sending us questions for discussion.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cEver 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\u201d [Romans 1:20, NRSV]. \u00a0 Beauty of nature in Wulingyuan Scenic Area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site of Zhangjiajie [\u5f20\u5bb6\u754c], China. 1. Creation <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=3528\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Dr. Jeffrey &amp; Angie Goh","author_link":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?author=1"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?cat=1\" rel=\"category\">From Our Perspective<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"\u201cEver 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\u201d [Romans 1:20, NRSV]. \u00a0 Beauty of nature in Wulingyuan Scenic Area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site of Zhangjiajie [\u5f20\u5bb6\u754c], China. 1. Creation&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3528"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3528"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6831,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3528\/revisions\/6831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}