HOW A SPACE TELESCOPE HELPED MY SPIRITUAL LIFE

Several years ago, I concluded that my spiritual life felt narrow and stuck.  While I was heeding the Holy Scriptures, I did not pay sufficient attention to God’s older book, namely Creation.  One way in which I set out to resolve this problem involved the Hubble Space Telescope.
 
I acquired a thick book of breathtaking photographs of deep space.  Most days I devoted time to reflecting on one of these Hubble photos, gradually making my way through the collection.  This was a leisurely activity and a transformative one.  Repeatedly I remembered that I was gazing at an unimaginatively vast expanse of creation far more unknown to humanity than known.  These photographs also involved looking back in time, since the light from astronomically distant objects travels for a very long time to reach earth, even though nothing travels faster than light.  Repeatedly I pictured myself as moving through these immensities on a planet rotating around a particular star in one tiny section of creation.
 
The Hubble Space Telescope helped my spiritual life by reminding me, through gorgeous photos, of the splendid infinities that surround us.

Charles Hoffacker