Contemplative theologian Beatrice Bruteau (1930–2014) considers engaging with science as a way of honoring God’s presence in the cosmos:
There are two motivations for including some knowledge of science in our contemplative lives: one, we need to understand God’s artistic work in order to appreciate it properly and relate lovingly to the Creator; two, we need to know something of the work in order to join it, to participate in creating the world from here on. This last is the real way of loving, that is, by joining in the life of the beloved.…
Somewhere deep down, we are all filled with mystical longing, longing for meaningful belonging, for profound union, longing to be securely embedded in the ultimate meaningfulness, and therefore we need to see all our world in that context. We long to feel the ultimate meaningfulness as real, all around us, concrete, real, intimate, tangible, communicating with us. To attain this in today’s climate, we need a new theology of the cosmos, one that is grounded in the best science of our day. It will be a theology in which God is very present, precisely in all the dynamisms and patterns of the created order, in which God is not rendered absent by the self-organizing activities of the natural world, but in which God is actual as the one who makes and the one who is incarnate in what is made by these very self-making activities.
Can our science be seen that way? Yes, I think so, and I would like to show it to you in those terms, so that all the world turns sacred again and we truly feel our unity and our wholeness and our belonging to the all. [1]
Contemplative and physicist Joy Andrews Hayter affirms a mystical oneness at the heart of the cosmos.
Whether you call it Sacred Unity, God, Universe, Ground of Being, the Source, or One, it is not out there somewhere, but is written into what we are and where we are…. Where could the Source of this loving, relational reality, the luminous web connecting all things, ever not be?
When we discover and live from the coherence in our being, we discover that we are in a relational field with all beings, with a mystical spark at the center that connects us all. Merton saw this clearly at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, [when he realized “the gate of heaven is everywhere”] [2] and Teilhard de Chardin saw this and his writings are permeated with it. In Cosmic Life, he said, “To live the cosmic life is to live dominated by the consciousness that one is an atom in the body of the mystical and cosmic Christ.” [3]…
Just as all began (from the Big Bang, or the Word, depending on whether you are talking about physics or the New Testament) and expanded into the myriad forms that are permeated with the One, all returns to Oneness, which could be described as the cosmic Body of Christ. [4]
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| The Idol of Desire: The Problem with Peter Pan |
 J.M. Barrie began his classic book, Peter Pan, with the line: “All children, except one, grow up.” The powers fueling our consumer culture’s idolatry of desire are trying hard to prove him wrong. Statistics reveal more adult children are living with their parents well into their 30s, the average age for marriage has risen steadily among both men and women since 1980, and the age of cosmetic surgery patients is rapidly declining. We are quickly moving toward what one author has called a culture of “perpetual adolescence.”That may not sound horrible to some of us, but consider what is lost by rejecting a transition into adulthood. Psychiatrist M. Scott Peck defines maturity as the ability to delay gratification. He writes, “Delaying gratification is a process of scheduling the pain and pleasure of life in such a way as to enhance the pleasure by meeting and experiencing the pain first and getting it over with. It is the only decent way to live.” The ability to make rational decisions and delay gratification to maximize future benefits, the very ability discouraged by a culture that idolizes desires, is the prescribed road from adolescence to adulthood. But more people are failing to take this journey, opting instead to remain in Neverland indefinitely. Given the extent to which popular Christianity has accepted the deification of desires, we shouldn’t be surprised at the spiritual immaturity evident in the contemporary church. Scripture and tradition tell us that formation into the likeness of Christ—the Christian definition of maturity—is not achieved by always getting what we want. Spiritual maturity is not a product of seeking immediate gratification of our desires. The Apostle Paul compares his pursuit of Christ to competing in a race. It’s a focused effort of self-control and discipline, and Peter calls us to supplement our faith with self-control and steadfastness, and to do it all with diligence.These values are not championed in our consumer culture, and they certainly don’t prove popular among church shoppers seeking a comfortable religious experience. But since the earliest days of the Church, surrendering control and embracing self-denial ensured that believers received what they needed to mature in Christ, not just what they wanted. DAILY SCRIPTURE 1 CORINTHIANS 9:24–27 2 PETER 1:5–10 WEEKLY PRAYERThomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Give us, O Lord, a steadfast heart, which no selfish desires may drag downwards; give us an unconquered heart, which no troubles can wear out; give us an upright heart, which no unworthy ambitions may tempt aside. Give us also, O Lord our God, understanding to know you, perseverance to seek you, wisdom to find you, and a faithfulness that may finally embrace you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. |
