May 28, 2023 | Sisters of St. Clare; Companions in Prayer

Pentecost Sunday
Jn 20:19-23
May 28, 2023

The Hubble Telescope was launched on April 24, 1990. The James Webb Telescope was launched on Christmas Day, 2021. Webb is said to be 100 times more powerful than Hubble, capturing images of light generated literally billions of years ago…from the very dawn of creation. Both LARGE SPACE TELESCOPES have helped to confirm and illustrate scientific theories and to inspire even greater and more ambitious visions of the “ultimate nature of things.” That is what scientists are eager to discover…the “ultimate nature of things.”

It occurs to me that Hubble and Webb relate to one another much like the Old Testament relates to the New Testament. Both brought…and continue to bring messages of enormous importance and great value to scientists and researchers. For its part, Hubble pointed towards and inspired future discoveries. Webb has gone on to make some of those discoveries that Hubble could only predict.

So far, it seems that nothing which Webb is telling us has disproven THE BIG BANG THEORY that Hubble helped to inspire. According to this well-known theory, everything existed in a single point of energy no larger than the tip of a match. This tiny cosmic seed contained power beyond description or imagination.

Then, 14 billion years ago and in an instant…or, as the Book of Genesis tells the story: In the beginning…all this power exploded with a force much greater than the speed of light. With that, what we know as “the universe” began to blossom and unfold.

WHAT IN THE WORLD DOES ALL OF THIS HAVE TO DO WITH THE FEAST OF PENTECOST? Consider this:

When teaching and preaching, the Lord often turned to nature to enable His listeners to better comprehend God’s Eternal plan. The Lord pointed to the birds in the sky, wildflowers, grapes, and grain to reveal something significant about the mystery of God. So then, why can’t we use the universe to delve deeper into the truths which The Creator reveals through the vastness of outer space?

Think of it this way:

The Person of Jesus of Nazareth was “THE” single point of energy and power…DIVINE ENERGY…AND THE CREATIVE POWER OF GOD. Flesh and blood was the cosmic seed which was ignited about 2,000 years ago, moving the entire universe towards its ultimate destination…Christ’s return in glory.

As predicted by the Old Testament, Jesus’s death and resurrection were the so-called “significant” but unrepeatable events…the flash point…that set the stage for a SECOND BIG BANG…a spiritual or sacred BIG BANG. On that first Pentecost, The Holy Spirit broke into time with a force and power that defy any scientific theory or mathematical equation. The Holy Spirit literally flooded the entire universe with holiness.

With this SECOND BIG BANG…this spiritual or sacred BIG BANG…all of creation was infused with WISDOM, KNOWLEDGE, UNDERSTANDING, AND RIGHT JUDGMENT…so that humankind could participate in this very gradual movement towards the fullness of the Reign of God.

Every stage in salvation history has important work to do. So, The Spirit of God infused all creation with COURAGE to accept the challenges unique to each era of history.

The Holy Spirit tempered all these gifts with PIETY…so that even the most brilliant of minds…Galileo, Copernicus, Newton, Einstein, Hubble, Webb, Stephen Hawking would go about their work, appreciating that they are not The Creators…only creatures doing exactly what God prepared them to do.

The birds in the sky, the wildflowers, grapes, and wheat continue to offer us insights into The Sacred Mysteries. But we live in an era of mind-boggling change…especially in science and technology. And so, it is extremely important to be vigilant to what God is revealing to us in the furthest galaxy of the universe which has now been made visible to us. That is certainly where the coming generations will be focused…space! It’s our job to teach them what they should be looking for, how to properly interpret what they see.

In the cosmos, God has revealed what scientists and researchers continue to search for: “The ultimate nature of things.” Through the second Big Bang that occurred on Pentecost, humankind was given the Gifts to better see and appreciate that what science is searching for has already been and continues to be revealed.

GOD IS THE ULTIMATE NATURE OF THINGS…AND GOD IS LOVE!

We are much blessed, but also greatly challenged to be living in this era of salvation history. Still, with or without technology, when we look into the night sky, the experience we have is the last Gift of the Holy Spirit…WONDER AND AWE!