Letter from the Pastor
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April 14, 2024I must admit that I never appreciated science, particularly earth science, when I was in school. It wasn’t until much later when I was studying philosophy that I realized what I was missing. I had to make up for lost time. There is a branch of philosophy called cosmology, the study of the physical universe in both theoretical and observational developments. It was then I valued and respected science.
Nature, last week put on a wonderful show for us. First, we experienced Nature dancing in the earthquake, then the eerie show of the total solar eclipse.
On Friday, April 5th at 10:23 AM, people from Baltimore to Boston felt the earth quake with a 4.8 magnitude on the Richter Scale. However, the biggest recorded earthquake in our area, a 5.2 magnitude, happened in December of 1737 and then again August of 1884. The last “big one” was October 19, 1985, less than a month before I was ordained a priest, (good thing I’m not superstitious!), and the last one was in 2001, which no one really noticed.
Then on Monday, April 8th, beginning around 2:20 PM EST we experienced a rare natural phenomenon that highlighted the grandeur of God’s creation. I hope many of you, especially the children, got to see it. The next time will be in 20 years.
The Eclipse in many ways points to God and His magnificence. I also think God likes to have fun and delight us with nature. After all, we do enjoy watching animals, the stars and the planets, the changing of seasons, volcanoes, ocean life, etc.
How delightful is this: the sun is about 400 times larger than the moon. The sun is also about 400 times further away from the earth than the moon is from the earth. Because of this “coincidence”, the moon appears to our eyes as approximately the same size in the sky as the sun, which means it covers the sun during an eclipse. No other planet has this direct proportion between the sun and one of its moons, not even Saturn with its 146 moons! Earth is the only planet that a solar eclipse can take place, maybe because we are the only creatures that can appreciate God’s beauty and power?
I think God designed it this way for our enjoyment and enlightenment, leading us to appreciate Him and love Him all the more. An eclipse can be a legitimate spiritual experience for it reveals the majesty of God. He gave this universe to us to be its guardians. How loved we are by God. God is nearer to us than we are to ourselves. He commands only what is good for us, and forbids only what would hurt us.
Finally, creation tells us there has to be an order in nature; in fact, an orderly universe is the fundamental assumption of science. If there is no order in the universe then all of science is meaningless. Order doesn’t happen by chance, rather by design and by an intelligent being who imposes the order. Science is never in opposition to God; in fact, if science is studied properly, it must lead to God. And this God who is so magnificent in His work of Creation and who is so much bigger that our universe with its trillions of stars, galaxies and planets took on flesh in the womb of His Blessed Mother and became one of us. As awesome as creation is, male and female are the greatest and the height of God’s creation.
Another good effect from Monday’s eclipse:
Internet traffic dropped 40-60% in states where totality took place!
The Greatest Creation of God
Mirian Ferreira (1963)
oil on canvas
