Eucharist and the Living Earth

Is the Eucharist still relevant to us at a time of rapid cultural change? Eucharist and the Living Earth is an attempt to enhance our understanding of the relevance of the Eucharist to the world of today. The author shows us the connections between the Eucharist and our responsibilities for creation, nature and the natural world. Hugh O'Donnell writes that the goal of his book is to uphold a creation context as essential to an integral celebration of the Eucharist. He tells us that to realise the cosmic dimension of the Eucharist, we must embrace the story of the universe as our own sacred story. The author is influenced by the writings of Pope Benedict XVI, Thomas Berry, and Teilhard de Chardin, amongst others. He believes that situating the Eucharist in the context of a threatened environment enlivens hope in a world degraded through ignorance and greed. He calls on us to develop an ‘ecological self’. This implies a broadening and deepending of the self away from the gratification of insatiable ego, so as to embrace all life forms.
In essence, the call to conversion means not only coming to terms with the profound meaning of Eucharist as ‘the washing of the feet’ of the poorest, but of extending that gesture to every living being, especially those species under threat from mindless human activity. Graced with this insight, the Christian assembly then becomes a community of hope on behalf of all creation.