Catholic Aliens

[twf]

The economy of salvation that was given to man is for man and man alone. Jesus did not die for us “in the spirit” to save all creatures with a rational spirit, as one poster implied, for even the angels are rational spirits. The Son of God assumed our human nature in order to restore it, in order to deify it by uniting it with His own divine nature. Our human nature has been glorified in Christ, and as we pray in the Liturgy of the Hours, in Christ, who is even now truly Man, we, that is, our human nature, is seated in glory at God’s right hand. It is human nature that was saved by the cross, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. As the God-Man, Christ has been given dominion over ALL creation. This is clear in Scripture and in the teaching of the Church. It is also a teaching of our faith that Mary, His most holy mother, who is most certainly a human, far surpasses ALL creatures and has been placed, with her Divine Son, over ALL creation as its Queen. In Christ, human nature IS superior to all natures, angelic or alien or otherwise. That is not to say that you and me, here on earth, wretched sinners that we are, are superior to the angels or to hypothetical aliens…but our human nature has been assumed by God and our destiny is unique. It is without a doubt a dogma of the faith that a MAN reigns over all creation - the God-Man Jesus Christ. If there are rational aliens with a soul, they too must bow down in adoration before that MAN. If even the angels, mighty and holy spirits that they are, far beyond us in our natural state, must acknowledge the human woman Mary as their Queen and must worship the God-Man Christ Jesus, how can any Catholic entertain the notion that hypothetical aliens would be our betters? By nature we are dust, but in Christ we are the sons of God.

The Catholic Encyclopedia states the following (newadvent.org/cathen/02055a.htm):

In any view, the Atonement is founded on the Divine Incarnation. By this great mystery, the Eternal Word took to Himself the nature of man and, being both God and man, became the Mediator between God and men. From this, we have one of the first and most profound forms of theological speculation on the Atonement, the theory which is sometimes described as Mystical Redemption. Instead of seeking a solution in legal figures, some of the great Greek Fathers were content to dwell on the fundamental fact of the Divine Incarnation. By the union of the Eternal Word with the nature of man all mankind was lifted up and, so to say, deified. “He was made man”, says St. Athanasius, “that we might be made gods” (De Incarnatione Verbi, 54). "His flesh was saved, and made free the first of all, being made the body of the Word, then we, being concorporeal therewith, are saved by the same (Orat., II, Contra Arianos, lxi). And again, "For the presence of the Saviour in the flesh was the price of death and the saving of the whole creation (Ep. ad Adelphium, vi). In like manner St. Gregory of Nazianzus proves the integrity of the Sacred Humanity by the argument, “That which was not assumed is not healed; but that which is united to God is saved” (to gar aproslepton, atherapeuton ho de henotai to theu, touto kai sozetai). This speculation of the Greek Fathers undoubtedly contains a profound truth which is sometimes forgotten by later authors who are more intent on framing juridical theories of ransom and satisfaction. But it is obvious that this account of the matter is imperfect, and leaves much to be explained. It must be remembered, moreover, that the Fathers themselves do not put this forward as a full explanation. For while many of their utterances might seem to imply that the Redemption was actually accomplished by the union of a Divine Person with the human nature, it is clear from other passages that they do not lose sight of the atoning sacrifice. The Incarnation is, indeed, the source and the foundation of the Atonement, and these profound thinkers have, so to say, grasped the cause and its effects as one vast whole. Hence they look on to the result before staying to consider the means by which it was accomplished.