THE BIG BANG
Stephen
Hawking describes the beginning of the universe in his television special,
“Into the Universe”. He tells of a moment when an enormous burst of energy suddenly
erupted where before there was nothing.
This eruption sent out light and, what to all intents and purposes, were
pieces of rock. These ‘rocks’ expanded
outward and grew and changed and created the universe. While this program was airing, Hawking
declared that there is no God. He
declared that the idea of a supreme being behind this burst of energy was
irrational.
In my
earlier life when someone of that stature questioned my beliefs I would be very
upset. I would worry for days about
whether I was wrong and they were right. After all, someone like Hawking is a
lot smarter than me I would think. But
happily as my life has progressed I am grateful for challenges like that. I realized that if I were to go through life
believing something someone else told me was true without thinking it out for
myself I would regret it. I was raised
to avoid anything that might make God mad at me but I decided to take the
risk. As a result, my faith in God and
trust in his Love is deeper and stronger than I could have imagined.
Now I
believe that it is irrational to think that The Big Bang could happen without a
motivating force. I want to say to him:
“Do the words ‘Let there be light’ ring a bell?” God is that energy that caused
The Big Bang. That energy was the force
behind the Resurrection. Some who have studied the Shroud of Turin have
suggested that the imprint on the cloth is evidence of that force restoring
life to a corpse.
One of the rocks sent out by the Big Bang is the
one we live on. From it we can see the
other stars and planets moving through the skies. But there is one exception to the rule of
that movement. The North Star does not
move. It isn’t fanciful to suggest that God planned that. One star that we can depend on staying where
it is and letting us use it for navigation? Sailors have navigated by it and
depended on that steadiness for millennia. It’s existence made it possible for
man to progress, to explore this planet.
I see a
parallel here. God is the force behind
the Big Bang and Jesus, like the North Star, is the beacon of light, which
guides us. Like the star, Jesus is ever present, ever steady, faithful at all
times. We depend on this truth. When we are in turmoil, in our heart of
hearts we know that God is with us.
People who
deny scientific discoveries and scientists who deny the spirit are both wrong. God is and science is the tool he has given
us to go deeper into his creation.
With Love,
Carol Lemelin O.P.A.
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