Travelling between Earth and the monastery on Mars I feel especially close to the Almighty God.
Why should this be? The environment of space is mainly sterile, apart from a few hardy types of bacteria, as are all the stars within it. I get a similar but less intense feeling when I look at the Moon while standing in open country on Earth. Yet the Moon is a barren ball of rock, almost lifeless.
I look upon the Moon as part of God's creation illuminated by the Sun, the source of life's energy, to reveal its beauty to creatures that can experience it. The fact that it looks the same size in the sky gives a sense of everything being set up by a deity for some purpose. (As some cadets have pointed out during Enlightenment, the very existence of life on earth depends on the moon-earth system being exactly as it is. Praise the Lord.)
The ancients thought the Moon, planets and stars had something to do with God, and they were right. Today we understand the schemes and mechanisms by which they shine and are formed; we know how to describe them and even predict their movements and their critical role in allowing life on our planet; but why they should be there we can only wonder.
The panorama I get from the Confucius viewing port starkly places before me the celestial drama and omnipotence of the godhead. In the latter part the 20th and in the early 21st century many thought the very size and complexity of the universe earth showed we were of no significance in the scheme of things, that our planet was a pointless fluke in a meaningless universe, a mere grain of sand in the desert. Now we know that humanity is the whole point of God's creation. The home He has made for us, this Garden of Eden oasis, is uniquely beautiful, richly alive, wondrously intricate and fuitful beyond understanding. To create it he needed to create a universe. The universe, from flower to Milky Way, is made for us and is needed for our existence.
To quote from the introductory text used in the Enlightenment programme for both cadet Knights and dominophiles:
Had the universe not been exactly this massive - fine tuned to the mass of a coin - during its early expansion stage, had its initial degree of disorder not been exactly as it was, had the laws of physics been slightly different, the physical constants wrong by a hair's breadth, had not the celestial events leading to the earth's formation been orchestrated as they were and had life not been designed as it is, then humanity's origin and history could not have occurred. For this we must thank the Lord.
Technology, through the Grace of Our Lord, allows us not only to observe but to visit and experience other planets. It also allows us to delve further into the secrets of physics, life and the universe. By the creativity within us, being made in God's image, we invent new technology. As we do so, and stay humble, our faith in his benevolence strengthens, our wonderment at his majesty magnifies, our joy in the unfolding dimensions of being is intensified, our praise of Him grows and we are eternally thankful to have this bountiful, beautiful planet to return to after experiencing the stark but faith affirming beauty of the worlds beyond.
Glory be to God the Father. Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy.
