Rather than reading about the new encyclical, let us commit to reading and reflecting on Laudato Si itself. Please read the paragraph from the encyclical (below). If you'd like to make a comment that reflects your thoughts on this portion of the encyclical, please go to the blog (click here) and click on "Comments" under the post. In this way, perhaps we can begin a conversation about the encyclical.
236. 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. 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.
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