OCTOBER 7, 2018
4:30 PM (SAT), 7:30AM, 9:00 AM ORDINARY FORM (ENGLISH) MASSES
On July 22, 1962 … the deep space probe Mariner 1 was launched. Due to a software glitch, the range safety officer ordered it to self-destruct less than 300 seconds after launch.
38 days later, on August 27, its successor probe, Mariner 2, was launched. 110 days later, on December 14, it became the first spacecraft to encounter the planet Venus.
No photographs were taken. Rather, its instrumentation consisted of a microwave radiometer, an infrared radiometer, a magnetometer, and a Geiger counter.
19 days later, it stopped transmitting radio signals; but remains in a solar orbit to this day.
Mariner 3 was launched 23 months later with the intention of encountering Mars. However, it failed to deploy its solar panels, and eight (8) hours into the flight, the batteries died.
Mariner 4 was launched 3 weeks later, and after 7 and a half months, reached Mars. Over the course of six hours, 22 photographs were transmitted (twice), and the data was hand drawn – like a paint-by-number – while waiting for the computers to digitally process the data.
In total, 634 kilobytes of data was returned, and after 3 years and 23 days, the mission was terminated.
Now, over 50 years later, the search for Martian life remains on-going, with a long-term goal of attempting to return samples from Mars to Earth for more in-depth testing.
Our efforts to encounter extra-terrestrial life continues, without success … yet.
Today is the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Our readings focus on relationships – in particular marriage, children, and family.
Beyond mere interpersonal relationships – family relationships can cause great joy, or great stress. In life and in death, people oftentimes struggle to express the emotional and familial relationships in a positive way; while others experience deep and constructive levels of understanding, trust, and affection.
I have often wondered how – when it is so hard for so many to communicate within our own households and families … let alone between nations and ethnicities – how we expect to ever communicate with intelligent extra-terrestrial life … should we ever encounter it.
From infancy to old age, perhaps the best summary statement on relationships within families … and without … is that they are complex, often awkward, and many times difficult.
In the letter to the Hebrews, we hear that Jesus, in becoming “lower than the angels” for “a little while” is not “ashamed to call [us]” family. And that should give us pause.
The Sacrament of Baptism gives us new birth into the family of God; while the Sacrament of Matrimony makes husbands and wives sharers in God’s creative act, and presents the saving reality of Jesus Christ as a symbol of His love for the Church.
Our role, in all of this – whether in familial, parochial, or other relationships – is to unite ourselves with God in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit … so that we might manifest in all of our relationships the power of divine love as expressed in the relationships found within the Most Holy Trinity.
The Sacrament of the Eucharist gives us the strength to do that on a regular basis, while the Sacrament of Confirmation configures us for mission in the power of the Holy Spirit. And the Sacrament of Penance provides us with a means to bring God’s power into our struggles and weaknesses … so that we might better – day by day – put into practice the Faith we profess to believe.
In all the Sacraments, God has provided us the means to grow in Faith, Hope, and Love with Him … and to express His saving presence in our lives with those we encounter in our lives.
As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ – may we encounter the Divine Persons in an extra-temporal and extra-spatial way. Let us engage the saving power of the Cross in our every thought, word, and deed … so that in all of our relationships – both human and Divine – we may find an encounter with the living Christ … Jesus Christ … as Brother, and Savior, and Lord.
