Hymn of the Universe

by Teilhard de Chardin

I live at the heart of a single, unique Element,
the Center of the universe,
and present in each part of it:
personal Love and cosmic Power.

To attain to him and become merged into his life
I have before me the entire universe
with its noble struggles, its impassioned quests, its myriad of souls to be healed and made perfect.
I can and I must throw myself into the thick of human endeavor,
and with no stopping for breath.
For the more I bring my efforts to bear on the whole surface of reality,
the more also will I attain to Christ and cling close to him.
God who is eternal Being-in-itself,
is, one might say, ever in process of formation for us.

And God is also the heart of everything;
so much so that the vast setting of the universe
might be engulfed or wither away or be creation's dust,
which is vitalized by a halo of energy and glory,
to be swept away, the substantial Reality
wherein every perfection is incorruptibly contained and possessed would remain intact;
the rays would be drawn back onto their Source and
there I should still hold them all in close embrace.