Fr Hugh O’Donnell, Salesian priest, poet and author, presented a workshop on the topic ‘Ecology and the Eucharist’ at Eco-Congregation Ireland’s recent conference. Fr Hugh’s book, ‘Eucharist and the Living Earth: New and Revised’ was published earlier this year.
The following report of the workshop was written by one of the participants:
The workshop began with the display of a beautiful banner reflecting the topic, and a sharing of people’s names and the reason they chose to attend the workshop. The result expressed was the widespread devotion to the Eucharist and the deep reverence for the earth and creation.
The fact that the Eucharist is only ritual if it is not linked to the earth was proposed; and we were taken back to Genesis and the rising to life out of earth/mud of Adam, and this is part of what we celebrate. Jesus was also described as ‘the man whose name is mud’ and all were invited to reflect quietly for a few moments on this and feel the fact that as a ‘child of God’ we are also a ‘child of mud’. This profound reflection was followed by a sharing by some in the group of their earliest memories of nature.
The link to nature is profound and spiritual, as is evidenced by those early memories, but dulled by age and religion. God addresses us first through nature/creation, then secondly in the Bible. As people, closer to the soil perhaps than we are, the disciples were aware of the source of bread and wine from creation, and representing creation, that they remembered in the sharing of meals.
Next we looked at assumptions that we make e.g. the earth is solely for us; Jesus came to bring salvation to the human race; God made flowers to cheer us up; we are in charge of creation; and we were reminded that these things we may believe to be true but they are untested, or even wrong. It might be uncomfortable for some but we share most of our DNA with rats, worms, even plants. Scripture is read normally from a moral/saving point of view but the real earthly context is there also – see Luke 6:1-5.
John Paul II said that we need ecological conversion to keep us from the abyss. Can Eucharist be a stepping stone to such a conversion? Can it send us out to appreciation and action?
Discussion followed on the nature of what is the Eucharist – is it the sharing of crisps, or a group passing around a fair-trade chocolate loaf, or Grow It Yourself sharing of produce by those never in church? We have a duty to reflect on our responsibility and the connection between work on the farm and Mass.
It was then widely voiced and agreed (with disappointment) that there is a huge gap between what was discussed in the workshop and what actually happens in church.
The final thought of this most enjoyable workshop was this: If we are celebrating eucharist as we eat every day, do we need the ritual at all, or does the Eucharist become more important by being connected with attentive eating?
Fr Hugh O’Donnell is a Salesian priest ministering in an inner city Dublin parish. His ‘New and Revised: Eucharist and the Living Earth’ appeared earlier this year in which he makes clear that without the cosmic/creation dimension, the Eucharist is diminished and loses its grandeur. He has also published three collections of poetry, most recently ‘No Place Like It’ (Doghouse).