Catholic for Life - No. 2 The Wonder Of Creation

No. 2 The Wonder Of Creation

Ours is a world that never ceases to dazzle and amaze us, with its beauty, its make-up, its delicate balance, its behaviour, its self-healing mechanisms, and in the life that teems upon it.
There is so much about it that we take for granted, often forgetting that we hold this earthly home in trust, to enjoy, to use, to tend and to pass on to the generations yet to come. Do we examine our consciences about how we use, care for or abuse this wonderful gift of God? Shouldn’t we?

The Universe
Our planet is small within the solar system, which in turn is miniscule in relation to our galaxy, which is but one of billions of galaxies. All taken together, that is everything that physically exists: all forms of matter, energy and momentum, the entirety of space and time, and the physical laws and constants that govern them. taken together, give us the Universe,(the most convenient way of describing the term).
As we get to know more and more about the universe, some argue that the material world commenced with the so-called Big Bang, and continues to operate according to the laws of physics (including abberrations within those laws)
And even more astonishing is to hear some who regard themselves as scientist say that it is not necessary to postulate a Being (whom we call God), to bring all this into existence, and that what we call Creation was a spontaneous happening. [What a fantastically enormous pill we are expected to swallow!]. And few of them ask or try to explain where the wonderful laws of physics come from! These were not spontaneous!

Stretching the Imagination a Bit
Current interpretations of the arge-scale structure of the universe
Age of the Universe :13.73 billion years (best guess)
Dimensions: a minimum of 93 billion (possibly infinite) and observably, 47 billion light years in diameter
Includes billions of galaxies. One is the Milky Way, the galaxy in which our Solar System is located.
The Solar System:16.4 light-hours across (17,600 million km)
(1 light-year is the distance light, which travels at 299792.5 km/s or 180,000 miles per second would travel in 1 year)

Lost in Wonder
As we take pride in our knowledge and scientific prowess, we tend to let slip much that our ancestors knew long, long ago.
All too many of us have moved away from the recognition of a Creator of all, infinite, timeless, everlasting, who always was, is and will be. While, many of us who in the recesses of our minds admit that there has to be a God behind all this, and marvel at and revel in the gifts of God, we fail to seek to know and honour and grow close to the God of such gifts.

Wisdom
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God” (Psalm 14:1)
… naturally stupid are all who are unaware of God, and who, from good things seen, have not been able to discover Him-Who-Is, or, by studying the works, have not recognised the Artificer (Book of Wisdom Ch 13: 1)
He it was who gave me sure knowledge of what exists, to understand the structure of the world and the action of the elements, the beginning, end and middle of the times, the alternation of the solstices and the succession of the seasons, the cycles of the year and the position of the stars, the natures of animals and the instincts of wild beasts, the powers of spirits and human mental processes, the varieties of plants and the medical properties of roots. And now I understand everything, hidden or visible…(Book of Wisdom Ch.7: 17 – 21)
In the beginning God created heaven and earth. (Genesis Chapter 1 : 1)

Song of Praise
I look up at your heavens, shaped by your fingers, at the moon and the stars you set firm.
What are human beings that you spare a thought for them, or the child of Adam that you care for him?
Yet you have made him little less than a god, you have crowned him with glory and beauty, made him lord of the works of your hands, put all things under his feet, sheep and cattle, all of them, and even the wild beasts, birds in the sky, fish in the sea, when he makes his way across the ocean.
Yahweh our Lord, how majestic your name throughout the world!
(Psalm 8: 3 – 6)