Many Christian traditions observe today as Christ the King Sunday. This week’s posts will focus on the metaphor of Kingdom, or Reign, asking the question, “Who, or What, is Sovereign?” Jesus, consistent with his Jewish tradition, invited his followers to “Think Big” when considering now far to extend love and how inclusive to be as we “treat others the way you want to be treated.”
Last week, Richard Rohr pointed to a couple of worthy “faculty members” to help us in our journey:
The great chain of being was the medieval metaphor for ecology before we spoke of ecosystems. While it was structured as a hierarchy, with each link in the chain “closer” to God, I view it as a philosophical and theological attempt to speak of the interconnectedness of all things on the level of pure “Being.” Today we might call it “the circle of life.” If God is Being Itself (Deus est Ens), as both St. Bonaventure and St. Thomas Aquinas taught in the thirteenth century, then the great chain became a way of teaching and preserving the inherent dignity of all things that participate in that Divine Being in various ways. For me, it speaks of the inherent sacrality, interconnectedness, and communality of creation.
From “God is Being Itself,” a Daily Meditation published by the Center for Action and Contemplation, November 19, 2023
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