Pope Francis, in his post-synodal exhortation, cites a towering figure of the West:
74. Similarly, a relationship with Jesus Christ, true God and true man, liberator and redeemer, is not inimical to the markedly cosmic worldview that characterizes the indigenous peoples, since he is also the Risen Lord who permeates all things.[Saint Thomas Aquinas explains it in this way: “The threefold way that God is in things: one is common, by essence, presence and power; another by grace in his saints; a third in Christ, by union” (Ad Colossenses, II, 2)]
This relationship thing–absolutely essential to Christianity. When I read this passage citing Laudato Si’, I think of the Great Commission as described by Saint Mark.
In Christian experience, “all the creatures of the material universe 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”.[Laudato Si’ 235] He is present in a glorious and mysterious way in the river, the trees, the fish and the wind, as the Lord who reigns in creation without ever losing his transfigured wounds, while in the Eucharist he takes up the elements of this world and confers on all things the meaning of the paschal gift.
This document is © Copyright – Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Catholic Sensibility 