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I've been doing a local 9 week Catholic course on the (seven) Sacraments. Part of this is that we give answers to some questions. I probably should not put this here, but it is my own work so I suppose I can do with it what I want.
Part of the reason I'm doing it is that I think God wants me to write a Blog. I've been dragging my feet on it (partly because I don't want to spend the money - Blue Host, Word Press, domain name etc), laziness and also 'what shoud I write about?').
I'm hoping that if other people respond, whether they agree or not, I might get some ideas for topics.
So here goes. Incidentally in most cases I'm likely to exceed the requested word limit (but it's not Harvard) and they'll be a few weeks apart as I'm only responding as the questions are asked.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
REFLECTION ACTIVITY 1 – BOB CROWLEY
In his letter to the Romans, St Paul writes that, “ever since the creation of the world [God’s] eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made” (Rom 1:20).
In 300 – 500 words, write a reflection that address the question: how does seeing the whole world as sacramental – as a sign of God’s eternal power and divine nature – help us to encounter God in our daily lives.
********************************************
We live in an outer spiral arm of the Milky Way Galaxy. It is estimated there are 200 billion to 2 trillion galaxies in the visible universe.
Even within the Milky Way our location is ideal. We are far from lethal levels of radiation, far enough from the core that we can determine the type of galaxy in which we live and close enough to other stars that we can study them without much interfering galactic dust.
Yet we are not too close to any star such that it would pose a danger to life or prevent scientific study of the universe beyond. It seems that our galaxy and our location within it are consistent with God’s plan for humanity.
At the same time God is concerned at the quantum level. Our sun requires quantum tunnelling for fusion to occur as the internal pressure is not sufficient. The enzymes in our bodies have been postulated to use quantum tunneling to transfer electrons in electron transport chains. It is also believed to be used by plants during photosynthesis.
I claim to have had three “double whammies” as termed by my former psychiatrist (depression) because he has had them too. They’re like a breath going through you in strong waves from head to foot – quite pronounced and you know they’re not from you. In my case they were used to emphasise a phrase which someone else was saying. I still remember those three exact phrases 40 years later for that simple reason.
We move at about 220 kms per second through the universe. If it was six months between first and last “whammy” then I moved about 34.7 billion kilometres in that time (Christmas 1983 to approx June 1984). I was one of about 4.8 billion people living at that time.
I think God supplied the “double whammies”. If so then he knew how to contact me specifically three times out of 4.8 billion people as we all whizzed through the universe at 220 kms per second, without anybody else knowing about it unless I told them. Even if an angel was responsible, he would have been relying on God to give the instruction.
To get onto a more Catholic perspective, Thomas Merton in his book “New Seeds of Contemplation” stated “the perfection of each created thing is not merely in its conformity to an abstract type but in its own individual identity with itself … Therefore each particular being, in its individuality, its concrete nature and entity … gives glory to God by being precisely what He wants it to be here and now…”
I suppose I might argue the toss about mosquitoes, malaria parasites and carrion eating vultures (with immune systems to suit) but the point is that everything has its place.
Yet despite this the universe adds up to nothing – a “sum zero energy universe”.
As Stephen Hawking quoted in his book A Brief History of Time: The total energy of the universe is exactly zero. The matter in the universe is made out of positive energy. However, the matter is all attracting itself by gravity.
The Big Bang came out of a zero energy point – since energy can be neither created or destroyed, the totality remains zero.
God created it out of nothing (ex nihilo); it adds up to nothing; and it will go back to nothing when God’s finished with it.
The universe is therefore a stage prop for the human drama, or if you like, a sacramental sign.
Into this sacramental sign Almighty God inserted Himself in human form, so quietly and unobtrusively that at one point he was just a man asleep on a boat in the Sea of Galilee.
Despite His infinite power, He can operate with the lightest touch. (Word Count 627 words).
Part of the reason I'm doing it is that I think God wants me to write a Blog. I've been dragging my feet on it (partly because I don't want to spend the money - Blue Host, Word Press, domain name etc), laziness and also 'what shoud I write about?').
I'm hoping that if other people respond, whether they agree or not, I might get some ideas for topics.
So here goes. Incidentally in most cases I'm likely to exceed the requested word limit (but it's not Harvard) and they'll be a few weeks apart as I'm only responding as the questions are asked.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
REFLECTION ACTIVITY 1 – BOB CROWLEY
In his letter to the Romans, St Paul writes that, “ever since the creation of the world [God’s] eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made” (Rom 1:20).
In 300 – 500 words, write a reflection that address the question: how does seeing the whole world as sacramental – as a sign of God’s eternal power and divine nature – help us to encounter God in our daily lives.
********************************************
We live in an outer spiral arm of the Milky Way Galaxy. It is estimated there are 200 billion to 2 trillion galaxies in the visible universe.
Even within the Milky Way our location is ideal. We are far from lethal levels of radiation, far enough from the core that we can determine the type of galaxy in which we live and close enough to other stars that we can study them without much interfering galactic dust.
Yet we are not too close to any star such that it would pose a danger to life or prevent scientific study of the universe beyond. It seems that our galaxy and our location within it are consistent with God’s plan for humanity.
At the same time God is concerned at the quantum level. Our sun requires quantum tunnelling for fusion to occur as the internal pressure is not sufficient. The enzymes in our bodies have been postulated to use quantum tunneling to transfer electrons in electron transport chains. It is also believed to be used by plants during photosynthesis.
I claim to have had three “double whammies” as termed by my former psychiatrist (depression) because he has had them too. They’re like a breath going through you in strong waves from head to foot – quite pronounced and you know they’re not from you. In my case they were used to emphasise a phrase which someone else was saying. I still remember those three exact phrases 40 years later for that simple reason.
We move at about 220 kms per second through the universe. If it was six months between first and last “whammy” then I moved about 34.7 billion kilometres in that time (Christmas 1983 to approx June 1984). I was one of about 4.8 billion people living at that time.
I think God supplied the “double whammies”. If so then he knew how to contact me specifically three times out of 4.8 billion people as we all whizzed through the universe at 220 kms per second, without anybody else knowing about it unless I told them. Even if an angel was responsible, he would have been relying on God to give the instruction.
To get onto a more Catholic perspective, Thomas Merton in his book “New Seeds of Contemplation” stated “the perfection of each created thing is not merely in its conformity to an abstract type but in its own individual identity with itself … Therefore each particular being, in its individuality, its concrete nature and entity … gives glory to God by being precisely what He wants it to be here and now…”
I suppose I might argue the toss about mosquitoes, malaria parasites and carrion eating vultures (with immune systems to suit) but the point is that everything has its place.
Yet despite this the universe adds up to nothing – a “sum zero energy universe”.
As Stephen Hawking quoted in his book A Brief History of Time: The total energy of the universe is exactly zero. The matter in the universe is made out of positive energy. However, the matter is all attracting itself by gravity.
The Big Bang came out of a zero energy point – since energy can be neither created or destroyed, the totality remains zero.
God created it out of nothing (ex nihilo); it adds up to nothing; and it will go back to nothing when God’s finished with it.
The universe is therefore a stage prop for the human drama, or if you like, a sacramental sign.
Into this sacramental sign Almighty God inserted Himself in human form, so quietly and unobtrusively that at one point he was just a man asleep on a boat in the Sea of Galilee.
Despite His infinite power, He can operate with the lightest touch. (Word Count 627 words).
