Should Christians care about space exploration?

8/8/2012

(Page 2 of 2)

little modification, we can repurpose them for the Lord's work.

Why spend millions to study a black hole or a distant galaxy? Because for the believer, as we delve deeper into the mysteries of the universe, we delve deeper into the mysteries of God. As a child, I once asked my father a question he could not answer. In the backyard with my telescope, marveling at the stars, I asked "Why would people ever turn to drugs or alcohol when God has created all these amazing sights for us to enjoy?" As a child, I felt I could see the very face of God in the cosmos, and I had no need for anything more to sooth the anxieties of youth. It was difficult for me to understand anyone needing anything more.

I believe that when we follow our inquisitive nature, a nature given to us by God, we learn more about Him and our place, just as he wanted us to do. When we repurpose the tools of our finest scientists and engineers for His work, we glorify God and find new opportunities to perform works of charity, mercy, and faith.

We have science and our space program to thank for these tools and understandings. Certainly, they cost time, money, and energy, but once developed we, as faithful believers, apply them to our calling as Christians and we cannot fail to follow in the footsteps of the great evangelizers of the age of exploration.

In this time, when our Holy Father calls us to a mission of new evangelization, I cannot think of a better ally to have than science and all the tools it provides for the work of the Lord.

� 2012, Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

- - -

Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Space, Mars, exploration, Christian, God, study, astronomy, science, exploration

NEWSLETTERS »

Previous Page 1 | 2

Rate This Article

Was this helpful to you? Very Helpful Somewhat Helpful Not Helpful at All

Would you be interested in more articles like this? Yes, I am Interested No, I am not Interested

Rate Article

1 - 7 of 7 Comments

Peter
8 months ago
"The US spends tens of billions of dollars annually on space exploration and activities that take place outside of the Earth's atmosphere."

Just glancing over the NASA budget page ( http://www.nasa.gov/news/budget/index.html ) I don't think NASA's budget has EVER been "tens of billions of dollars annually." The most expensive year this decade has been just under 20 billion dollars, which (if I may be pedantic), does not qualify as "tens of billions."

In fact, the entire Space Shuttle program only cost $210 billion, which is roughly a third of what the US spends on Defense EVERY YEAR.
abey
10 months ago
Man's forward journey comes only by faith, for it is what that leads , the faith of Abraham, unto whose Faith was given by God to be "like unto the sands of the sea & the stars of the heaven", to fill the earth & to occupy space, again by Faith to & through Christ Jesus & nothing else, in the derivatives to the directions.
Alex
10 months ago
I think this is a great article. I've come to the same conclusions previously as well.
Mr. Connolly
10 months ago
+mgm. Thanks for pointing that out. I fixed it for you, I hope you like the real image better, it is an interesting feature of M51.
Juneau Alaska
10 months ago
"I cannot think of a better ally to have than science and all the tools it provides." 'Nuff said. -Mike, friendly atheist.
Wulfrano Ruiz Sainz
10 months ago
Space exploration is a waste of money. Space exploration is for morons.
mgm.
10 months ago
Mr. Connolly .Google mormon art and that kind of picture above, giant Christ standing out in space with stars and planets is what turns up .You have two thousands years of the material of the worlds greatest artist working for the Catholic Church to draw on and that's the best you can do illustrate the article?

Comments submitted must be civil, remain on-topic and not violate any laws including copyright. We reserve the right to delete any comments which are abusive, inappropriate or not constructive to the discussion.

Though we invite robust discussion, we reserve the right to not publish any comment which denigrates the human person, undermines marriage and the family, or advocates for positions which openly oppose the teaching of the Catholic Church.

This is a supervised forum and the Editors of Catholic Online retain the right to direct it.

We also reserve the right to block any commenter for repeated violations. Your email address is required to post, but it will not be published on the site.

We ask that you NOT post your comment more than once. Catholic Online is growing and our ability to review all comments sometimes results in a delay in their publication.

Name *

Email *

Comment *

Send me important information from Catholic Online and it's partners. See Sample

Post Comment