AND THE ATOMS MOVED

AND THE ATOMS MOVED

In essence, what he is saying is that Christ did not come just to reshape human history and save human beings, he came to reshape the earth and to save it as well.

That is a profound insight and it is nowhere more true than when we try to understand all that is implied in the resurrection of Christ. Jesus was raised from death to life. A dead body was resurrected and that has dimensions that are not just spiritual and psychological. There is something radically physical to this. When a dead body is brought to new life the very physical structure of the universe is being rearranged, atoms and molecules are being changed.

But the resurrection gives a new future to the earth, the physical planet, as well. Christ came to save the earth, not just human beings, and his resurrection is also about the future of the earth. In a proper Christian understanding of things, the earth is not just a stage for human beings, that is, a thing with no value in itself, apart from us. Like humanity, it too is God's work of art, God's child.

Physical creation has value in itself, independent of humanity. We need to recognize the intrinsic value of the earth because ultimately it is sister earth, destined to share eternity with us.

 (Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI)