We are what we eat. The question is, Are we hungry for God?
Humankind exists as a priest who has the responsibility to receive the world from God and offer it to God. The world does not exist as an end in itself, but as a sacrament of God's presence. When we recognize this, we live according to God's intention: "When we see the world as an end in itself, everything becomes itself a value and consequently loses all value, because only in God is found the meaning (value) of everything, and the world is meaningful only when it is the 'sacrament' of God's presence" (17).
The original sin is not disobedience, but ceasing to be hungry for God - relating to the world as mere material, rather than a sacrament of the divine presence.
The world does not contain within itself its own meaning. Secularism is a lie about the world - to live in the world as if there is no God. "[B]ut honesty to the Gospel, to the whole Christian tradition, to the experience of every saint and every word of Christian liturgy demands exactly the opposite: to live in the world seeing everything in it as a revelation of God, a sign of His presence, the joy of His coming, the call to communion with Him, the hope for fulfillment in Him" (112).
This is a profound look at the significance of the Christian tradition and liturgy. I am not surprised that it takes an Orthodox Christian to shed light on profound truths. I have encountered this again and again. This book is so deep, I will certainly read it again!
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