Hymn of the Universe

Tielhard de Chardin provides a lift to the soul...this book is a gift to the spirit. I recommend it for anyone who appreciates creation and finds God in it.

"To interpret adequately the fundamental position of the Eucharist in the economy of the world ... it is, I think, necessary that Christian thought and Christian prayer should give great importance to the real and physical extensions of the eucharistic presence..." Teilhard de Chardin, Mon Univers Eucharistic Presence: Edward Schillebeeckx, the eminent Dutch theologian says, "The basis of the entire eucharistic event is Christ's personal gift of himself to his fellow men, and within this, to the Father. This is quite simply his essence-"The man Christ Jesus is the one giving himself" (1 Tim. 2:6). The eternal validity of his history on earth resides in this....The Eucharist is the sacramental form of this event, Christ's giving of himself to the Father and to men. It takes the form of a commemorative meal in which the usual secular significance of the bread and wine is withdrawn and these become bearers of Christ's gift of himself-" Paleontologist's Meditation: Fr de Chardin, a Paleontologist in the midst of an expedition out in the Ordos desert, China, in 1923 desired to share the Eucharistic offering on the feast of the Transfiguration, as a Catholic priest. Failing to offer the Mass, he turned to mystical meditation on the radiant presence of Christ in the universe. His thoughts dwelled, to experience his faith in the mystery of the Eucharist as the omnipresence of the divine Word, expressing his feelings in a cosmic hymn. "When Christ comes to one of his faithful, it is not simply in order to commune with him as an individual;...words extend beyond the morsel of bread ... to the whole mystical body of Christ." The Mass on the World: In four paragraphs, 'The offering, Fire over the earth, Fire in the earth, Communion, Prayer,' the mystic unfolds his portrayal in enflamed prayer words, "Lord, lock me up in the deepest depth of your heart; and then holding me there, burn me, purify me, set me on fire, sublime me, till I become utterly what You would have me be, through the utter annihilation of my ego." So the proud, defiant self-reliance of man in revolt against God could only be truly redeemed through a Christocentric 'kenotic act' of self emptying. Benson's Mysticism: The stories he recounts in the two central chapters, Christ in the World of Matter, and The Spiritual power of Matter, Pere Teilhard has called 'histories,' written in Benson's intimate style that left an impression on him, may have caused de Chardin to be suspect of Pantheistic tendencies. He alludes to St. Paul's expression, 'God being all in all,' which is strictly orthodox, to defends his temperament, even if he could not reconcile his yearnings with his Catholic faith. In the words of his biographer, Nicolas Corte, Pere Teilhard gives his daily offering, 'a cosmic function and planetary dimensions..,' Book's Impact: "A truly poetical essay,... at one and the same time mystical and realistic, religious and philosophical." Sir Julian Huxley 'The mystic, the poet us

This work describes the power and deep levels of an encounterwith God as told by de Chardin. The reality is that the divinepower of God has influence over the affairs of man.Here is a popular quotation by de Chardin:' Blessed be you, universal matter, immeasureable time,boundless thee triple abyss of stars and atoms and generations; you who by overflow and dissolving our narrow standards ormeasurement reveal to us the dimensions of God 'The power of Christ traverses the time line. In addition,the perfection of the human spirit lies in our personalitynot individuality. Love itself brings human beings to perfectcompletion in the Divine Order.

A classic work of mysticism worth returning to time and time again. Explores the interconnectedness of the world in a vibrant, fresh style that proves eternal.If only more Catholics could give up the dogma and go with the hymn...

I have read this book five or six times, and each time i read it, I discover something new that i never noticed before. It talks a lot about relationships between things that happen in the universe, and is a great book... One of the best i have ever read. Allthough, it is a bit more advanced.