Fr Hugh O’Donnell’s Eucharist and the Living Earth (New and Revised Edition) was launched recently by Eco-Congregation Ireland chairperson, Sr Catherine Brennan.
In the book Fr Hugh, a member of the Salesian community based in inner city Dublin, explores how the cosmic dimension of the Eucharist draws us into communion not alone with Christ and with one another but with the whole creation.
Sr Catherine congratulated Fr Hugh on the book, which she said ought to be compulsory reading for seminary courses, training courses in spiritual guidance and courses for training religious education teachers etc.
“I admire Hugh’s courage in bringing together in this book the evolutionary story of Creation and the Christian story as expressed in the Eucharist – the source and summit of who we are and who we might be together,” she said.
“To quote Hugh: ‘By being in communion with Christ, the human community is
filled with the Holy Spirit and comes to rest within the created world’.”
Sr Catherine explained that Fr Hugh had been one of the first students of the MA course in Ecology and Religion developed by Fr Séan McDonagh in Dalgan Park, Navan. He had also studied at An Tairseach, the Dominican Ecology Centre in Co Wicklow, and was an independent assessor for Eco-Congregation Ireland awards.
“More importantly,” she said, “Hugh is a very fine poet. Would that the language he uses in this book was the language of liturgy and homilies in our churches today.”
Sr Catherine said she must not finish without drawing attention to the Appendix, ‘A Cosmic Calendar’. “Here Hugh points to how naturally our cosmic and Christian calendars inform and enrich each other,” she said, before adding, “It is worth buying the book for these four reflections alone.
“We cannot truly understand the great Christian festivals of Easter, Pentecost, Christmas etc without an understanding of their origins in the earth and the cosmos.”
“Eucharist and the Living Earth” is published by Columba Press and costs €9.99.
See http://www.columba.ie/Eucharist_and_the_Living_Earth_/401/.
Below are a few quotes from “Eucharist and the Living Earth” to whet your appetite!
“Only when taken together in a rich diversity of expression can the whole community of life adequately give praise! What is required from priest and people is that they bring an ecological sensitivity to the celebration of the Eucharist, a task primarily of evocation, awareness, witness. This is not simply about ‘adaptation’ or ‘innovation’. It is a question of thinking ecologically, recognising that everything that exists is related to everything else. Only in this way can we release the wisdom and energy of our spiritual traditions for the work before us: namely, to celebrate with the earth, to be part of its healing.”
“Eucharist means embracing difference, respecting the integrity of every living being and rejoicing in communion.”
“Every living thing breathes. All of us share the originating and loving Spirit-Breath of life from bacteria to the whale, to the trees and green plants which supply us with the oxygen we need to live …. From such communion, compassion grows. From such compassion, communion grows.”
“Food … is central to the Eucharist and to life. The bread of life binds human beings with the nourishing earth, and it binds human community. How our food is produced should concern us as indeed the journey much of it makes to arrive at our table …. buying locally, organically and fairly is following Jesus in living simply.”
“The call to an ecological conversion includes a call to contemplation; to look not only upwards to the mountain top but also into the deep, to bring the whole of creation with its terror and beauty into view.”
“To live a eucharistic spirituality is to live in awareness that all is one: that God is in all – from dandelion to human to the teeming life in a spoonful of earth. It is a mystical way, essential not only for the disciple of Jesus, but for everyone. Of course it will take the discipline of love to give time each day to simply be and to ‘let be’; to utter praise by just being still and letting the world come to us.”
“To participate in the Eucharist is to be drawn into the web of life. In our communion with the risen Christ we are woken into that stillness enveloping all being.”
“Silence and pacing are to be prized. They witness to a double call on us to be mystic and prophet, to be prayerful in action. In the silent space, we breathe in the loving Spirit that dwells in creation so that our political commitment on its behalf is clarified and seasoned.”
“At this hour of disconnection from the natural world, our Christian festivals need to recover their earthly roots. These great feasts make plain the dove-tailing of Eucharist and creation. An Easter Mass at dawn, celebrated outside, can speak more profoundly than fine words. The Easter fire on a hill lights up the darkness and registers as primitive praise. In this respect the proposal by the Irish bishops that we join with other Churches to celebrate a Season of Creation, from 1 September to the Sunday following the feast of St Francis of Assisi, is particularly welcome.”
“In the wisdom of the Eucharist we are confirmed as celebrants of life, commissioned to act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with our God on the earth.”
~ copyright Hugh O’Donnell