Concentric Circles, pt. II.

The cosmic trail left behind by the Logos in having become Man, in having walked among us, in having gone to the Cross and risen, and in having returned to the Father, left the pattern for a new vocation on the part of creation. The Incarnation was both a vertical and horizontal movement: a pattern that can only be geometrically represented by a triangle. In other words, in the pattern established by the Incarnation, creation is renewed in its ability to represent God - and now even more fully than it could before. God the Holy Trinity, because of the simultaneous vertical and horizontal movement of Christ, is shown more fully in creation itself than He was even at the beginning, which implies in turn that every detail of creation can be seen as an icon of God, in one way or another.

This, I think, is the key to understanding the whole of the universe and the meaning of life. Life itself is an icon, and the stage on which life unfolds is an icon, which, if correct, takes account of such seemingly disparate works as Pope John Paul’s encyclical, Evangelium vitae, and Richard Hooker’s Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity.

We need to consider creation’s renewed iconographical vocation as a priestly one - meaning that creation itself, along with each of its constituents, can represent God to creation and creation to God. Set at the top of this family of icons is humanity. Human beings are, in a very particulr way, given the special status 0f being able to represent God than any other created thing. Jesus, in ascending to the Father, took flesh with him, but more specifically, he took human flesh. In this respect, we might describe humanity as the priest par excellence of the universe.

From among human beings, of course, the Church is chosen as priestly representative, and from among members of the Church, priests are chosen to make manifest the presence and love of God. Crowning this priesthood is the Man-God, Jesus Christ, who, at the top and centre of our triangular image, becomes the locus for our connection to the (likewise triangular) Godhead.

The Holy Trinity, whom we envision as a triangle, is reflected once again in creation, due to creation’s having been restored to its originally-designated place, all as a result of the procession and return of the Word. And this has implications for the whole of creation.

Suddenly, from the rocks beneath our feet to the most sublime celebration of the Liturgy of the Church, everything becomes an image. The priesthood of Christ extends from his place at the top of the triangle of creation to the very bottom, where sit the inanimate things. The world is comprehended in God, even if the world does not always comprehend God.

Of course, the implications of this are immense. For when discussing such questions as infants in limbo, the nature of grace, of Original Sin, of the Liturgy, even of human sexuality, it is possible to begin from the point of view that all is already contained within God’s economy even if its status is not yet fully worked out.

to be continued…