At the Altar of the World

Today, the first day in the Season of Creation marks an important moment in the Church's annual observance of prayer and care for creation.  We are mindful of the creative power of God in creating all that is seen and unseen.  Christ, the eternal Word through whom all things were made, has entered creation to redeem, sanctify and bring it to its fulfilment.

 In the celebration of the Eucharist we return thanks for all that we are and have.  Not just that, but we are united in a mysterious way with Heaven and Earth in one single chant of praise, adoration and thanksgiving.  Immersed in the universe we are joining a chorus that lifts up the world.

Over a century ago, a French priest, Fr PierreTeilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) wrote a short and remarkable piece of work entitled The Mass on the World. Finding himself in the Ordos desert in Mongolia, in 1923 without bread, wine or altar, Fr Teilhard de Chardin was moved to write this piece that captures his mystical and scientific insights into a beautiful piece of prose. As a Jesuit priest, scientist, paleontologist, philosopher, mystic and teacher he was able to bring a unique synthesis of insight in a unity that stretches our understanding and concepts.

Church authorities viewed aspects of his work with suspicion and imposed restrictions on publication, while later issuing cautions regarding what it believed to be certain theological ambiguities. His language and thinking was regarded as, at best, ambiguous and, at worst, doctrinally wrong especially in the area of Original Sin.  In time, his insights would prove significant in deepening the Church’s understanding of its place in the drama of creation and salvation.  His system of thinking and language was never endorsed by the Church but certain ideas and insights proved very helpful.  In 2015, Pope Francis would acknowledge, indirectly, the contribution of the French Jesuit in LaudatoSi’ (236) (with emphasis added by me):

It is 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.

Pope Francis went on to directly cite Saint Pope John Paul II from his encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia (in bold):

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”.  The Eucharist joins heaven and earth; it embraces and penetrates all creation. The world which came forth from God’s hands returns to him in blessed and undivided adoration: in the bread of the Eucharist, “creation is projected towards divinization, towards the holy wedding feast, towards unification with the Creator himself”. Thus, the Eucharist is also a source of light and motivation for our concerns for the environment, directing us to be stewards of all creation.

Fr Teilhard de Chardin

While not providing a substitute for the celebration of the sacrament as is clear from the context in which he wrote this, Fr Teilhard de Chardin wrote, in The Mass on the World:

I, your priest, will make the whole earth my altar and on it will offer you all the labors and sullerings of the world.

He goes on to say:

Yet in the very depths of this formless mass you have implanted - and this I am sure of, for I sense it - a desire, irresistible, hallowing, which makes us cry out, believer and unbeliever alike: “Lord, make us one."

He had a wonderful intuition of the heart and mind that the whole of creation was evolving and moving forward towards a unity of some sort.  Tomorrow, I will explore a little more how Fr Teilhard de Chardin understood Creation as a stream of becoming in Christ who draws all things together and how this might help us to deepen our understanding and practice of the Eucharistic mystery.