Fire

Teilhard de Chardin was a French Jesuit priest and paleontologist whose profound theological advancements inspired many in the twentieth century.  Deeply spiritual, he found himself alone in the Mongolian desert as the sun rose, and, without bread or wine, found himself in a deep eucharistic prayer, wondering at the divinity around him.  The prayer reaches its crescendo with this (which is stunning in French, which I don't speak, but I am always shattered by etincelants!):

Glorious Lord Christ: the divine influence secretly diffused and active in the depths of matter, and the dazzling centre where all the innumerable fibres of the manifold meet; power as implacable as the world and as warm as life; you whose forehead is of the whiteness of snow, whose eyes are of fire, and whose feet are brighter than molten gold; you whose hands imprison the stars; you who are the first and the last, the living and the dead and the risen again; you who gather into your exuberant unity every beauty, every affinity, every energy, every mode of existence; it is you to whom my being cried out with a desire as vast as the universe, ‘In truth you are my Lord and my God.’

Christ glorieux; Influence secrètement diffuse au sein de la Matière et Centre éblouissant où se relient les fibres sans nombre du Multiple; Puissance implacable comme le Monde et chaude comme la Vie; Vous dont le front est de neige, les yeux de feu, les pieds plus étincelants que l’or en fusion; Vous dont les mains emprisonnent les étoiles; Vous qui êtes le premier et le dernier, le vivant, le mort et le ressuscité; Vous qui rassemblez en votre unité exubérante tous les charmes, tous les goûts, toutes les forces, tous les états; c’est Vous que mon être appelait d’un désir aussi vaste que l’Univers: Vous êtes vraiment mon Seigneur et mon Dieu!

Hymn of the Universe was published in 1961 by Harper & Row. This book was prepared for Religion Online by Harry W. and Grace C. Adams. 

Blessings,

CJ+