Catholica Commentary by Fr Peter Dresser: God is Big .... Real BIG! (Chapter 9: God, Our Universe and Ourselves Part 1)

"God is Big ..... Real BIG!" by Fr Peter Dresser (Chapter Nine - Part 1)

Fr Peter Dresser subtitled his book "A Theology for the Third Millennium" and he meant it as we explore in today's excerpt. He suggests "contemporary theologians are suggesting a return to the biblical Wisdom Christology as opposed to two thousand years of Fall and Redemption theology", and begins his presentation of what that might look like.

Chapter Nine (Part 1): God, Our Universe and Ourselves

We have to let God be God...

At the Hearts on Fire National Catholic Conference held in Brisbane in 1999 key speakers outlined a number of reasons that lapsed Catholics give for ceasing their participation in formal religion. Heading the list was the observation that people are not experiencing God in Catholic ritual. This has been a concern of mine for some time. But not only do many Catholics fail to experience their God in the Church; in many cases our institutionalised religion and static doctrine fail to speak to people where they are at. Moreover the minds and hearts of many in the Church have been seriously hurt and indeed religion itself has been the cause of wars and rebellions. This is a cause of great sadness and concern for me. Sadness for what has passed and concern because I know it continues. I am also concerned that so many people are still being passive followers, loyal and obedient servants of the hierarchical church and are suffering trauma and unfulfilment as a result. Matthew Fox, now an Episcopalian minister sees the Pope "making such a fool of himself over issues like birth control."[72] Indeed there are so many areas where our Church and religion have quite plainly got it wrong and all kinds of people are being alienated — the young, the handicapped, homosexuals and those divorced and remarried. Heaps of God's little ones who are really searching for spiritual sustenance are not finding this sustenance or indeed their God within the institution. It was the Bishop of Chichester who in 1590 noted that the nearer the Church, the further from God!

For many long years we have had to endure the reactionary ramblings of a Vatican supposedly much concerned with the intrinsic worth of human life, yet seemingly little concerned with the quality of human life as actually lived. Recently the Vatican prohibited the Sisters of Charity from working with the NSW government in operating safe injecting rooms for heroin users. Somebody commented that in so doing the Church was maintaining the appearance of respectability at the expense of sound moral and pastoral guidance. The freeing and healing message of Jesus has not been mediated to those at the coalface of human endeavour. The ordinary man and woman are not experiencing it, and in many ways the beautiful freeing message of Jesus is being thwarted by the very people commissioned to preach this message. As Church, ministers and people, we are called upon to mediate, to transmit and to nourish this healing and freeing spirit in our own lives and in the lives of those we encounter. In this context it might be apposite to reflect on the words of Song of Jubilee, an initiative of the National Liturgical Commission for the Jubilee Year 2000:

Come Father come, possess our hearts,
Come to our narrow days.
Give us the will to judge our past
Accept new words of praise.

Come Jesus come, open our hearts
Come to our narrow days.
Teach us to find you in the poor,
And strength in gentleness.

Come Spirit come, prepare our hearts,
Come from the light above.
Help us discern each hidden truth,
Help us to grow in love.

It is time that we came to see and experience God's presence in everything that is, in the order and chaos of the universe, to take a positive view of sex and love and to experience the divine vibrance in everything imaginative, beautiful and creative. Football and other sporting enthusiasts – experience your God in the games you play or follow. That's where God is. Lovers – experience God in the depths of your love and in the intimacy of your embrace. That's where God is. And we might also add, people in chaos – experience your God in the troubles and sufferings and conflicts you find yourselves in. That's where God is. When we come to speak of our God, it is necessary to let go of all previous childish images we may have had — otherwise we will fail to grow spiritually and fail to grow in faith. It is also necessary to quit projecting any human image onto God, to stop talking about God as though He were in some way human. We have to let God be God and try to discern His presence in all the events of our lives. There exists a need to reflect on the Wisdom teaching in the Scriptures which very poetically describes the intimacy and oneness that exists between God and the cosmos.

It is time for us to reclaim the Cosmic Christ and "Wisdom" Christology...

"Denis Edwards cites the Wisdom of Solomon where Sophia does not remain aloof, but comes among us to make us friends of God: 'In every generation she passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God and prophets; for God loves nothing so much as the person who lives with wisdom'."

It is time for us to reclaim the Cosmic Christ, the divine spirit or divine wisdom that is present in every living thing, to understand that we are in divinity and divinity is in us. Everything is sacred. We can reflect on the sexual attraction and intimacy that exists between God and ourselves and nature as pictured by the writer of the Song of Songs. It is the imagery of oneness and identification. Contemporary theologians are suggesting a return to the biblical Wisdom Christology as opposed to two thousand years of Fall and Redemption theology. Denis Edwards reflects that according to the Jewish Wisdom Literature, Sophia, the Wisdom of God, who makes her home among us, is God's companion in creating all things. In Proverbs, Wisdom talks of her role in creation. She tells us that she was brought forth at the beginning, as the first of God's acts of long ago, before the depths, the springs, the mountains, and before the earth and all its fields. She was there when God established the heavens and set boundaries for the sea. She was beside God "like a master worker" and she was "his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the human race" [Proverbs 8:22-31]. In the Wisdom of Solomon she is described as "a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness" [7:26]. In Baruch we are told how she "appeared on earth and lived with humankind" [3:37]. She finds her resting-place on earth and in beautiful chapter 24 of Sirach she invites us to eat and drink of her. Edwards further cites the Wisdom of Solomon where Sophia does not remain aloof, but comes among us to make us friends of God: "In every generation she passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God and prophets; for God loves nothing so much as the person who lives with wisdom" [Wisdom 7:27-28].[73]

The early Christians identified Wisdom with the person of Jesus — thus the prologue of John's Gospel. All things were made or created in and through Jesus and all things are to be reconciled in him. We have seen this earlier when it was stated that the Cosmic Christ preceded the historical Jesus and indeed any other Avatar. They are the physical manifestations of the Divine in the here and now. But the question of Wisdom goes further than this. If Wisdom has made her home with the universe, then the universe is a Sacrament of the Divine, a visible sign of God's presence. St. Bonaventure sees every creature pointing back to its Creator:

"Therefore, whoever is not enlightened by such great splendour in created things is blind; whoever remains unheedful of such great outcries is deaf; whoever does not praise God in all these effects is dumb; whoever does not turn to the First Principle after so many signs is a fool. Open your eyes, therefore; alert the ears of your spirit, unlock your lips, and apply your heart that you may see, hear, praise, love and adore, magnify and honour your God in every creature, lest perchance, the entire universe rise up against you."[74]

How more wonderfully still would Bonaventure have written given the cosmological knowledge that we now have!

NEXT WEEK: Chapter Nine Part 2: "God, Our Universe and Ourselves"

“It is time for us to reclaim the Cosmic Christ, the divine spirit or divine wisdom that is present in every living thing, to understand that we are in divinity and divinity is in us. Everything is sacred.” ...Peter Dresser

FOOTNOTES:
[72] Matthew Fox, "The Mystic in the Machine", in Samantha Trenoweth, Op.cit, p.259
[73] Denis Edwards, The God of Evolution, op.cit., pp.113-115
[74] Ibid, p.123.

IMAGE CREDITS:
Clicking on the images in the body of this article will take you to the original source and further information.

Peter Dresser grew up in Orange NSW. On completing his Leaving Certificate he studied for some years at Springwood and Manly Seminaries. His life journey has led him down diverse paths and he enjoyed the experience of many and varied employments including postman, public servant and factory worker. He has appreciated his exposure to different life styles and religions and his involvement with music and sport, particularly Rugby League. He eventually turned to teaching where he found an easy rapport with and respect for young people. Peter decided to continue with his studies for Priesthood and entered St. Paul’s Seminary. He was ordained in 1990. Peter's love for his Catholic religion dates from his very early years. His involvement with Science is only a recent phenomenon. His fascination with nature has always been predominant. His continuing pastoral concern is that the Good News proclaimed by Jesus be preached and mediated meaningfully in all its richness and fullness to the contemporary world. Peter holds degrees in Arts and Theology and a Diploma in Education. He produced this document in 2004 whilst Parish Priest of Kandos in Central West NSW. He now lives privately in retirement at Kandos where he spent six memorable years.

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[Index of Commentaries by Fr Peter Dresser]

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