OCTOBER 29, 2017
10:30 AM, 5:30 PM ORDINARY FORM (ENGLISH) MASSES
The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as C-E-R-N or “sern”, was establsihed in 1954 in a suburb of Geneva on the border of Switzerland and France. It operates the world’s largest particle physics laboratory, providing particle accelerators necessary for high-energy physics research. It has 2,500 scientific, technical, and administrative emplyees on staff; and last year generated nearly 50 petabytes – that is, 50,000 terabytes – or roughly 100,000 times the storage of my own personal computer … and for that matter, more than three times the data stored that has been stored on the entire World Wide Web for the past fifteen years.
It was five years ago that scientists at CERN discovered the Higgs Boson – the so-called “God particle.” For our purposes, it is an elementary particle which explains why some fundamental particles have mass – or weight.
Recently, research at CERN demonstrated a complete and total symmetry between matter and anti-matter. Without going into the gruesome details, what that means is: the universe as we know it should not exist. According to this research, everything should have been destroyed within the first nano-moments of the Big Bang. Or in other words, according to the most recent research in high-energy physics … the universe as we know it should not exist.
But, somehow … some way … something … or perhaps maybe we can say … Someone … is keeping it all going.
For now, as physicists ponder on why everything exists, maybe the answer can be found in Faith.
Today is the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
The readings today speak of the “Greatest Commandment” – that is, to love God and to love our neighbor. And this isn’t partial or as-you-like-it.
Rather, Jesus exhorts us to:
love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.All. All. All.
All in … all the time … with all you’ve got.
I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time being anywhere for part of the time with some of what I’ve got ... even after several cups of strong coffee!
And on top of that, Our Lord admonishes us to:
love your neighbor as yourself.Since sociologists consider that pop-culture images are intended to create self-loathing on a wide scale, maybe the second one isn’t so difficult. If there isn’t anybody who really even like themselves … then maybe it’s not all that hard to dislike other people on the same level as we all hate ourselves.
But God is calling us to something greater.
If the God of the universe – who quite possibly has been keeping things in check for umpteen billions of years … despite whatever the laws of physics and the best scientific research is currently showing … If God can keep everything together right here, right now … and everywhere else … and out there … then maybe, just maybe He can also provide all of us us with what we need so that we can keep it together … and be all in … all the time … with everything we’ve got.
The God who is holding the universe together … wants to help us hold ourselves together.
The Supernatural Virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love are given to us in Baptism. They help us to remain “sanctified” or “divinized” as the Eastern Church calls it. To truly be sons and daughters of God is no small thing. But on our part, it requires a complete surrender to God … Who despite His immense power, grants us a free will … and allows us to reject Him. This same Person who is keeping the universe from self-annihilation … sent His Son, Jesus Christ … to share in our humanity and redeem us … save us … from our own self-destructive tendencies … and our own self-annihilation … that is, what we call sin.
As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ … let us pray to be able to share completely and fully in the Divine Life of God … which is already our inheritance through Holy Baptism. May we who are re-born of water and the Spirit truly embrace our right to be re-born in Grace … so that, with God’s assistance, we might truly love Him completely and totally … with our whole heart, our whole mind, and and our whole soul.
And then, as we recognize how powerful His love is for us, may we learn to love ourselves as God loves us … and in turn, share that Divine Love with one another.
