{"id":182,"date":"2010-04-25T12:26:25","date_gmt":"2010-04-25T16:26:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=182"},"modified":"2010-04-25T12:26:25","modified_gmt":"2010-04-25T16:26:25","slug":"seeing-god-in-creation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/seeing-god-in-creation\/","title":{"rendered":"Seeing God in Creation"},"content":{"rendered":"

I just finished reading the book Radical Amazement<\/em>by Judy Cannato.\u00a0 She talks about the origin of the universe in terms of the “Big Bang Theory” and “Evolution.”\u00a0 She seeks to develop a Christian Spirituality from the science of what God has created.\u00a0 Here, I wish to offer a few highlights to ponder.<\/p>\n

In my article, “Catholic Teaching and the Question of Evolution,”<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 I discuss the Church’s position on evolution referring to the writings and speeches of Pope Benedict XVI.\u00a0 While “Evolution” and “Big Bang” are expressed solely in terms of science, properly understood<\/em>, they do not have to be in conflict with Catholic Teaching.\u00a0 While these theories explain “the how” of creation they do not require one to be an atheist.\u00a0 In fact, when you look at “Big Bang” and “Evolution” the “radical amazement” of it can point us to the awesome mystery that is God.<\/p>\n

In chapter 7, Cannato discusses”morphogenic fields” and chapter 8 presents the topic of “holons.”\u00a0 Through her discussion of “morphogenic fields” she discusses how everything in the universe is interrelated.\u00a0 What one “thing” in the universe does has an effect on the whole universe.\u00a0 “Holons” present that a “thing” can be both a whole thing in and of itself and at the same time, be part of something bigger.\u00a0 For instance, I am an individual person all by myself.\u00a0 I am a “whole person” but as a “whole person” I am also part of a family and a community.\u00a0 My family and community and parish are not dependent on me for existence but they are a larger “whole” that would be different without me.<\/p>\n

From the theory of “holons” Cannato speaks of self-preservation, self-adaption, self-transcendence, and self dissolution.\u00a0 We are called to live our live in a way that is good for all (self-adaption) while taking care of our own needs (self-preservation).\u00a0 We are called to look beyond ourselves (self-transcendence) and yet recognize that we are not infinite (self-dissolution).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Like the supernova (chapter ten), we are called to give of ourselves so that new things can come forward.\u00a0 Then, in chapter 11, she discusses the concepts of “dark matter” and “dark energy.”\u00a0 They cannot be see or measured but their effects are known.\u00a0 What is seen is the effect of “dark matter” and “dark energy.”\u00a0\u00a0 What they are and how they effect the rest of the universe is a mystery.\u00a0 This “mystery” of “dark energy” and “dark matter” is not the same as God but it does point us to the Mystery that is God.\u00a0 All creation points to the creator who is our God.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But God is not just an “intelligent designer” who creates and then walks away.\u00a0 God is God.\u00a0 God is creator and redeemer.\u00a0 How do you see the presence of God in the universe that he has created?<\/p>\n

Peace,<\/p>\n

Fr. Jeff<\/p>\n

For Further Reading<\/p>\n

Judy Cannato, Radical Amazement: Contemplative Lessons From Black Holes, Supernovas, And Other Wonders of the Universe<\/em>.\u00a0 Notre Dame, IN: Sorin Books.\u00a0 2006.<\/p>\n

“Catholic Teaching and the Question of Evolution”<\/a>\u00a0 on www.renewaloffaith.org<\/a><\/p>\n

“Catholic Social Teaching and the\u00a0Environment”<\/a> on www.renewaloffaith.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I just finished reading the book Radical Amazementby Judy Cannato.\u00a0 She talks about the origin of the universe in terms of the “Big Bang Theory” and “Evolution.”\u00a0 She seeks to develop a Christian Spirituality from the science of what God has created.\u00a0 Here, I wish to offer a few highlights to ponder. In my article, …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Seeing God in Creation’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-2W","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":184,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182\/revisions\/184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}