Wis 11:22 – 12:2; 2 Thes1:11-2:2; Lk 15:1-10
31st Week in Ordinary Time
“Before the LORD the whole universe is as a grain from a balance or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth.”
These beautifully poetic words celebrating God’s majesty have even more impact for those of us who live today then for those who lived at the time the book of Wisdom was written. Then, people believed that the earth was the center of that universe. Today we know that not only isn’t the earth at the center of the universe but the Milky Way galaxy, home of billions of stars including our Sun, is just one of perhaps a trillion galaxies. There may be more, but they are so far away from us that light has not yet arrived from even their inceptions. Astronomers think that, if light from every star in the universe had reached earth, we would not be able to tell the difference between night and day because the sky would be so bright.
I have to admit that I have never really experienced the difficulty to belief that scientific discoveries pose for some. Our modern understanding of the unimaginable size and age of our universe and the complex and (possibly) unique process that has produced life on earth only amplify the power of these words from the book of Wisdom for me.
All of this vastness of Creation came into being through Christ. Because of this, Christ is able to bring it down to a human level. “How could a thing remain unless you willed it?” the writer of Wisdom continues, reminding us of the inherent goodness of everything and everyone that exists. Evil is an occupying force, like the Nazis in Europe during Word War II, which slithers among the yet to be redeemed elements of creation. Even within the greatest sinner, there is the capacity for good. It’s a truth Jesus shows us, according to the gospel of Luke, on a certain morning in the town of Jericho when he catches sight of the town’s worse sinner and transforms him by his grace into the town’s greatest saint.
Jim Philipps (3rd millennium pilgrim)
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