| Written by Michael Swan, The Catholic Register,
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 Ecotheology, a spirituality deeply connected to nature, reverence for the Earth, a strong conviction that the environmental crisis is a religious crisis of faith and morals — none of this should seem exotic, revolutionary or unorthodox to practising Catholics, according to University of St. Michael’s College liturgy professor Chris McConnell. In fact, it should be as familiar as the Mass.
“Just the fact that we are employing these fruits of the Earth, this material stuff, as sacramental signs that become means of grace — that’s kind of an affirmation of the goodness of God’s creation right there,” McConnell told The Catholic Register.
The anti-gnostic rhetoric of the Mass makes human reconciliation with the Earth an ethical imperative in McConnell’s view. The gnostic movements within early Christianity, Judaism and pagan belief systems held that the material world is evil and that the only hope for humanity is for people to transcend the physical world of their own bodies and of nature.
At the preparation of the gifts, the Mass uses a prayer based loosely on the Jewish berakhah prayers — standard meal prayers that bless God and thank Him for the Earth and the land which has provided for your family.
“Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation. Through your goodness we have this bread to offer, which Earth has given and human hands have made. It will become for us the bread of life,” says the prayer.
The first reconciliation invoked as the church begins the liturgy of the Eucharist is between what “Earth has given” and what “human hands have made.” As long as what human hands have made is at war with what Earth has given, the ultimate reconciliation which the Mass invokes remains unfulfilled.
“What is the meaning of all these words and symbols that we’re using? What are these things saying?” asked McConnell.
If people ask themselves about the sacramentality of bread and wine it should lead to conclusions about the sacredness of the Earth, he said.
“Automatically, by the fact that we dare to say this stuff can be the means of an encounter with God, then we’re immediately affirming its goodness,” said McConnell. “It’s a very anti-gnostic thing to do. You can’t then turn around and say, ‘Who cares about that stuff.’ ”
It means that Sunday morning Mass is telling us something about what we do to the Earth the other six days of the week, according to the theologian.
“If we’re actually going to assert that the stuff that the Earth has given is capable of bearing that kind of weight as a sacramental sign, then we’re saying it has a kind of goodness — and one would be hard pressed to say it doesn’t carry ethical consideration,” McConnell said. “If this stuff is good, to be perfectly blunt, then treating it poorly has got to be an ethical problem. That is implicit in the very action (of the Mass) itself.”
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Michael Swan, The Catholic Register |
| About the author: |
| Michael Swan is Associate Editor of The Catholic Register. He is an award-winning writer and photographer and holds a Master of Arts degree from New York University.
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