Reverence for the Heavens

Our Sun is just one small point of light in the swirl of suns that shape the disc of the Milky Way.  The galaxy’s hundreds of billions of stars are strewn so widely apart, it would take a spaceship traveling at the speed of light one hundred thousand years to travel the distance.  The starry wheel of the galaxy turns around a massive black hole, a point of infinite density with gravity so complete that not even light can escape.

The structure and scale of our galaxy is astonishing.  But ours is just one among hundreds of billions of galaxies in the universe.   

Little wonder, then, that the contemplation of the cosmos can evoke the same emotions as religious awe and reverence.  According to Father Paul Pavel Gabor, an astronomer for the Vatican Observatory, this is not always a positive experience.  Just as some may experience fear and trembling when contemplating God and Heaven, there are those who become similarly overwhelmed when confronted with the astronomical proportions of the heavens.