A LESSON IN PERSPECTIVE

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THE ASTRONOMERS' PERSPECTIVE

Artist's rendering of Covid-19

Like most people, I suppose, I've been awed by the extent of the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Our technological culture has been humbled by this bug into using phrases such as "We can't tell..." "We're not sure..." "We don't know," and words such as "pandemic" and "unprecedented." The coronavirus outbreak as begun to affect every aspect of the lives of most people on the planet, and perhaps this is just the beginning. It's hard to imagine anything bigger than the present pandemic.

First-ever photograph of a black hole.

That was what I was thinking about yesterday when I picked up an article in the N.Y. Times weekly Science Times section describing what astronomers are finding as they analyze the first ever photograph of a black hole. Here are just two sentences (taken out of context) from the article: "There seems to be a supermassive black hole, weighing millions or billions of times more than the sun, in the center of every galaxy." For ten days in April of 2017 astronomers pointed a huge telescope array, with a width as wide as the earth, at "the center of the giant galaxy M87 in the Virgo constellation, where there is a black hole as massive as six billion suns belching tongues of radio fire." (N.Y.Times, March 31,2020, p. D5)

As I read that paragraph, the dimensions of our global pandemic suddenly took on a different significance by comparison with the universe that the astronomers deal with: "Global" versus "billions of times larger than our sun."

THE CHRIST PERSPECTIVE

"Cosmic Embrace,"  Melina Del Mar 

I wasn't finished yet. While still trying to digest the concept of "billions of times larger than the sun," I began reading a 2019 book by Richard Rohr, entitled The Universal Christ. (Click here for information and some Youtube testimonials) The title itself immediately reminded me of the Times science article and then of the "universal" spread of the Coronavirus. After reading just a page or two (and that's all I've read so far) I realized that I was face to face with yet another change of perspective: The kind of presence Rohr is talking about dwarfs infinitely even a black hole as massive as six billion suns. 

I haven't really gotten into the book, mind you, but it's already obvious that the Universal Christ must have a lot to do with God's infinite love for each of us. A love bigger than anything we can ever imagine, but at the same time personal and intimate. (I have to read the book to see if I'm on target).

THE HOLY WEEK PERSPECTIVE

This year, the liturgical celebrations of Holy Week will be curtailed, and can only be experienced via electronic media. (You might wish to read some past blog posts about Palm Sunday and Holy Week and Easter; just scroll down the list of these "labels" in the left hand column).

"Crucifixion of Jesus Christ",
Margarita Usmanova

The presence of the pandemic that is keeping us out of church can, however, be a good reminder of the meaning of the Paschal Mystery. The "Universal Christ," the God-man, suffered and died and then rose again, robbing death of its power. This is a mystery bigger than a billion suns, a song of infinite love that is at the same time as personal to you and me as our very hearts. So, as we walk the way of the Cross with Jesus this week under the cloud of the coronavirus pandemic, we do so knowing how Jesus' suffering and death are going to turn out. We may not know how the pandemic will unfold, but we know for certain that on Easter morning The Universal Christ will come to us as the Risen and Victorious Christ who has conquered death itself, and has changed defeat into victory, suffering into joy. More about that next Sunday; for right now, let us prepare to take up our cross of suffering and follow our brother Christ on the path to calvary.

And somehow "six billion suns" still sounds pretty heavy.