SUBIACO ABBEY BLOG: Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus

The theme of a recent retreat was “Keep Your Eyes Fixed on Jesus.”  The presentations “looked at Jesus” in the traditional places—the Eucharist, the other sacraments, Scripture, prayer, worship. Participants were urged to broaden their view to see Jesus also in the book of nature. One of the retreatants had brought his telescope. We were able to marvel at the star cluster imbedded in the Orion nebula, and view the luminescence flared out by the solar wind from comet Lovejoy, now leaving our vicinity until its next pass in about 8000 years!

Jesus is THE WORD made flesh, the fullest expression of the divinity, but all of creation speaks to us of God, and complements what Jesus reveals in his person and in his spoken word. Nature/creation can be called “the first Bible.” Fr. Richard Rohr writes: “Each and every creature is a unique word of God, with its own message, its own way of showing forth goodness, beauty, and participation in the Great Mystery.” When we look at the stars, we are looking upon Christ—not the Word made flesh, but upon what some call the Cosmic Christ.
 
Meister Eckhart said: “Anyone who truly knows creatures may be excused from listening to sermons, for every creature is full of God, and is a book.” Such a statement could be used as an excuse for going fishing on a Sunday rather than going to church, or walking on the beach rather than praying the Divine Office. The point is that reverence for nature, attention to its beauty and power, protecting it and using it with gratitude, is really looking at Jesus, who is the highest expression of God in things. So, marvel at the night sky, listen to the honking of migrating geese, shiver in an icy wind, smell the fragrance of new-mown hay,  rejoice in rainfall on parched earth, and feel the warmth of the sun on skin. This is looking at Jesus in the book of nature.
 
God is all around us if we have eyes to see. A quote attributed to various authors describes the Cosmic Christ like this: “God is the One whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere.”