Evolve

I think one of the criteria we can use to gauge the level of development in a country is the emphasis given to the local arts scene. Looking back at the progress of Singapore, I am a living witness to our country's development, from emphasis on public infrastructure to economic stability and the recent establishment of a local Sports & Arts School.

Looking on a more macro level, how has our world developed? With 15 billion years of evolution, the world today continues to evolve, whether we like it or not. And so, it pays for us to spend some time asking ourselves : how have we evolved and towards what or where are we evolving?What is the benchmark that we should use as a gauge of our evolution?

The current book that I'm reading "The Humility of God ~ A Franciscan Perspective" by Sr. Ilia Delio, seems to suggest some insight. "There is only one Word of God and that Word spoken in history is Christ. God creates with a view toward Christ because Christ is the goal of creation, the object of God's love from all eternity. When we understand that Christ gives meaning and purpose to creation, we see that Incarnation is more than about ridding us of sins. As Zachary Hayes writes, Christ is not an afterthought on the part of God. Rather, God's primary purpose for becoming Incarnate is grounded in the divine desire to love, to be our beginning and our end, to be "God with us," in order that we might dwell in the presence of the divine. In this way, Christ is not an intrusion into an otherwise evolutionary universe. Rather, the whole process of evolution points to Christ. Margaret Pirkl indicates that the universe is an external emodiment of the inner Word of God; thus there is something incarnational throughout the whole creation. In the Incarnation itself there is a perfect fit between Christ and creation because everything has been made to resemble Christ."

I take consolation in what I read above. Knowing where I originated - created in the image & likeness of God. Christ was God's first thought. And because all things came into being through the Word, I bear the blueprint of Christ. Along life's journey, I'm now reassured that I'm not alone. I was not created & forgotten but that through the history of time, God Himself became Incarnated, to enter into my world, to remind - that He is with us. And finally, I'm given a glimpse of where I'm heading - the goal of becoming Christ to all. Yes, this is essentially where my evolution will take me. Each of us has the potential to be Christ whenever we reach out to hear the goodness within our hearts and to live them out in our actions.

Isn't this a nice thought for a change? We often thought of the world in 2080 as one with digitial, robotic, hi-tec accomplishment. We seem to be so caught up with efficiency & science that we neglect the moral & spiritual aspects of our well-being. How about a world evolving to become more loving, caring and forgiving? What's the point of a pro-longed life span (aided by the advancement of science) with a deformed soul? Could we still consider this as evolution?

"God utters each one of us as a little word, as a partial thought of Himself. That is why when the Word became flesh, there was a real "fit" between the divine nature and created human nature to receive the divine Word. From the "beginning," creation has had the capacity to receive God into it because it is a finite expression of the infinite Word of God."

~ Sr Ilia Delio, The Humility of God