Astronomy gives us an inkling of the twinkling mysteries of the cosmos, paritculalry of the celestial bodies. The scientific study enables us to understand the phenomenon of the outer space, the celestial configurations, their positions and motions, their historical evolution and their role in the universe.
The twinkle and shimmer of the distant constellations in their wonder and magnificence are God’s creative touch. “Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these?”, says Prophet Isaiah. “He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.” (Isaiah 40.26).
Some people are said to be starstruck, fascinated by movie celebrities, while many others are moonstruck with distractions and without paying attention to the real wonders of creation and God’s handiwork.
The Psalmist invites us to drink in the beauty and magnificence of the Creator’s magical touch:
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”
Psalm 8:3-4
The vast dome of the sky, with its
billions and trillions of celestial bodies, has evoked awe and wonder in writers and poets, scientists and saints, and all men and women with even a modicum of imagination.
St. Ignatius of Loyola was not a starstruck person glorifying the celebrities of the Romantic period. Nor was he a moonstruck one. But, certainly, he was a stargazer. Impelled by his thirst to know the Creator’s love in the created realities, one of his favorite contemplative exercises was stargazing.
In his Autobiography, we get a twinkling glimmer of his favorite pastime: “Part of the time he would spend in writing, part in prayer. And the greatest consolation he used to receive was to look at the sky and the stars, which he did often and for a long time, because with this he used to feel in himself a great impetus towards serving Our Lord. (Autobiography, n.11)
No wonder, in his Spiritual Exercises, as a culmination point, he invites the retreatant to an exercise of the ‘Contemplatio ad amorem’, contemplation to obtain divine love. There the retreatant is guided to contemplate on the gifts God laid out for us and look up and acknowledge with love God’s loving handiwork. Ignatius prompts us to see “God tirelessly laboring for me” with love beyond all telling.
Ignatius leads us to pray for the grace: “an intimate knowledge of all the goods which God lovingly shares with me” and, from gratitude, to be able to respond totally “in my love and service” (SE 233).
Let the celebration of astronomy invoke in us awe and wonder at the celestial bodies. Let us appreciate, in gratitude, God the Creator’s loving and tireless labouring and his giving of himself in his gifts by being present in them.