Reinert-Alumni Library
Laura Weber
"God in All Things"
Laura Weber (Campus Ministry and Theology) Hymn of the Universe by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J.
Like the great missionaries, mystics, and saints of the Christian tradition, Teilhard de Chardin, S.J., had "sacramental eyesight." He was a "seer" par excellence. He recognized the Incarnation imprinted in molten rock, in the deserts, rivers, fire and trees. He sought and found Christ in the throes of war and suffering, and in the far-flung frontiers of the cosmos. For Teilhard, Christ was the center, the "Omega Point," the purpose and the means of human salvation. He viewed the entire universe as Christ's Body, sacred and passionate Being, progressing toward the "Pleroma," the "fullness," or ultimate fulfillment as unitive love. From France, as a medic on the battlefields, to China, as a paleontologist searching for the antecedents of human history, Teilhard immersed himself in the world of sanctified matter, and discovered in its depths the omnipresence of God. He was a person fully alive, someone on fire with love for God-in-all.
My favorite part of Hymn of the Universe is called "The Mass on the World." This section describes Teilhard's experience of celebrating Eucharist in the Gobi Desert, without the sacramentals of bread and wine at his disposal. Lifting up to God the gifts he does have, the earth and its fruits, the sun, the stars, and the infinite universe, he calls down sacred Fire to consecrate the world, and gives thanks to God for the simplicity and fecundity of the material universe. In this way, he exercises his baptismal priesthood, by consecrating all things and all people of the earth as holy and beloved by God. Only then, after blessing and giving thanks, does he receive holy "Communion" with God-in-all, as he embraces all the suffering and dying of contingent existence, like Jesus. In the total surrender that is selfless-giving love, he concludes his "Mass on the World" with a prayer of affirmation in the Lord of the universe, incarnate and eternal Mystery.
Laura Weber
"God in All Things"
Laura Weber (Campus Ministry and Theology) Hymn of the Universe by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J.
Like the great missionaries, mystics, and saints of the Christian tradition, Teilhard de Chardin, S.J., had "sacramental eyesight." He was a "seer" par excellence. He recognized the Incarnation imprinted in molten rock, in the deserts, rivers, fire and trees. He sought and found Christ in the throes of war and suffering, and in the far-flung frontiers of the cosmos. For Teilhard, Christ was the center, the "Omega Point," the purpose and the means of human salvation. He viewed the entire universe as Christ's Body, sacred and passionate Being, progressing toward the "Pleroma," the "fullness," or ultimate fulfillment as unitive love. From France, as a medic on the battlefields, to China, as a paleontologist searching for the antecedents of human history, Teilhard immersed himself in the world of sanctified matter, and discovered in its depths the omnipresence of God. He was a person fully alive, someone on fire with love for God-in-all.
My favorite part of Hymn of the Universe is called "The Mass on the World." This section describes Teilhard's experience of celebrating Eucharist in the Gobi Desert, without the sacramentals of bread and wine at his disposal. Lifting up to God the gifts he does have, the earth and its fruits, the sun, the stars, and the infinite universe, he calls down sacred Fire to consecrate the world, and gives thanks to God for the simplicity and fecundity of the material universe. In this way, he exercises his baptismal priesthood, by consecrating all things and all people of the earth as holy and beloved by God. Only then, after blessing and giving thanks, does he receive holy "Communion" with God-in-all, as he embraces all the suffering and dying of contingent existence, like Jesus. In the total surrender that is selfless-giving love, he concludes his "Mass on the World" with a prayer of affirmation in the Lord of the universe, incarnate and eternal Mystery.