Tag Archives: Genesis

ⓜ The Immense Invitation

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This entry is part 21 of 43 in the series And Then I Wrote

And then I wrote… The year 2009 was the International Year of Astronomy: 400 years since Galileo first gazed at the sky through a telescope, and 40 years since humans first set foot on the Moon. In its honor, the Redemptorist Press invited me to write a series of reflections on issues of religion and science for the Sunday bulletins that are distributed in churches throughout the United Kingdom. As it happens, the days of the week in 2009 match those of 2020 (after this year’s leap day) and the liturgical calendar also matches; thus, both in 2009 and 2020, the 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time falls on 5 July. Here’s what I wrote for the first reflection: We all learned in school that the world is round. But, day to day, each of us lives in a much narrower universe. We look to the horizon and see only a flat expanse, a few buildings or trees, with ourselves at … Continue reading →

Skyward: January 2019

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For those of us who were alive back then, where were you on Christmas Eve, in the year 1968? I remember exactly where I was: sitting in front of my family’s television, we were watching a surreal scene on TV. There was a camera peering through a triangular-shaped window on a spacecraft called Apollo 8, out of which was a view of mountains, plains, and craters. And at the bottom of the screen were the words, “Live from the Moon.” I have a feeling that most of you, if you were living then, were watching too. The Apollo 8 Christmas eve broadcast was the most watched television program in the world up to that time. The announcer on our station, Walter Cronkite, was not saying much. Occasionally he would update us as to what part of the Moon the spacecraft was looking at, but most of the time, the view on the screen said it all. And it was magical. … Continue reading →

Remembering Apollo 8

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Christmas Eve 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 8 mission, which put humans into orbit around the Moon for the first time. From lunar orbit, an image of the Earth rising over the limb of the Moon was taken; “Earthrise” went on to become one of the most influential photographs of the space age, gracing the cover of TIME Magazine, and a U.S. postage stamp. On December 24, 1968, with the surface of the Moon rolling-by outside their windows, the Apollo 8 astronauts read the first 10 verses of Genesis to the largest broadcast TV audience in history (at that point in time). Video: TIME interview with the 3 Apollo 8 astronauts The year 1968 saw terrible tragedies, including the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., and the riots in Detroit. It’s fair to say that regardless of one’s religion, the Christmas message from Apollo 8 commander Frank Borman, command module pilot Jim Lovell, and lunar … Continue reading →

Count the Stars, if You Can!

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Genesis 15:1-7 Some time afterward, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: Do not fear, Abram! I am your shield; I will make your reward very great. But Abram said, “Lord GOD, what can you give me, if I die childless and have only a servant of my household, Eliezer of Damascus?” Abram continued, “Look, you have given me no offspring, so a servant of my household will be my heir.” Then the word of the LORD came to him: No, that one will not be your heir; your own offspring will be your heir. He took him outside and said: Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so, he added, will your descendants be. Abram put his faith in the LORD, who attributed it to him as an act of righteousness. He then said to him: I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to … Continue reading →