Ecotheology and Eschatology

Abstract

Contemporary Catholic theology has deliberately played shy of eschatological imagery, and when it has addressed it—usually in the poetry of the liturgy—has done so, for the most part, using banquet imagery for our final destination. One exception to this is in the Eucharistic Preface for the last Sunday of the Ordinary Time of the year when the End is the theme running through the liturgy: the celebration of Christ as King of the Universe. It runs: As king [Christ] claims dominion over all creation, that he may present to you, his almighty Father, an eternal and universal kingdom: a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love, and peace.