The Bible and the Big Bang

Recently I was asked by an atheist friend to point to just one passage in Scripture for which there is a single piece of evidence to corroborate any scientific discovery ever made. I was happy to oblige by citing the first words from the mouth of God. “Let there be light!” (Genesis 1:3) That was the first act of creation on the first day of creation. That “day” was before the creation several “days” later of the sun, the moon, and the stars. So this light of which God speaks must be another kind of light, the “stuff” from which the galaxies and their stars and planets would later be made.

Now before the twentieth century nobody in the scientific world knew anything about this supposed light that was present at the start of the universe because for the most part scientists in modern times were reluctant to believe the universe did have a start. Einstein, for example, believed the universe was uncreated and eternal. It took some doing to get him to change his mind. When he formulated his famous theory of relativity, he made sure the mathematics of the theory reflected his conviction that the universe always existed. But Einstein was not the best mathematician in the world, as even he was the first to admit.

Then along came a young Catholic priest from Belgium, Georges Lemaître, who had just earned his doctoral degree in mathematics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Lemaître  proved that Einstein’s mathematical formula was “fudged” to make it appear that the universe was eternal. Einstein at first refused to admit his error. Then additional facts came to light, such as the observation through Hubble’s telescope that the galaxies are all moving away from each other. It didn’t take astronomers long to figure out that if this was so, the universe, going backward in time, started out as a very small “singularity” more than thirteen billion years ago, a hypothesis formulated by Father Lemaître in what he called the ‘primeval atom’. In other words, contrary to Einstein, there was a Creation event for the universe.

Over the next few decades, as the Big Bang theory was refined, astronomers reasoned that the universe began as a magnificent burst of light. The famous astronomer Carl Sagan explained in his book Cosmos that the universe began with the explosion of a “cosmic fireball” that produced universal light from “gamma rays to X-rays to ultraviolet light, through the rainbow colors of the visible spectrum into the infrared and radio regions.”

It appears, then, that the often much publicized differences between the truths of Scripture and the truths of Science are not always as they seem. Einstein later conceded that he had made the biggest blunder of his life, one that was duly corrected by a Catholic priest whose mathematical genius affirmed the likelihood of the great Creation event described in Genesis.

The astronomer Robert Jastrow in his book God and the Astronomers has eloquently phrased the dilemma for those who think reason is always ahead of religion in all things scientific.

“For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.”

Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress

This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→

Remembering Father Alphonse de Valk

(Today marks the sixth anniversary of the death of Father Alphonse de Valk, C.S.B., a faithful, courageous and indefatigable Basilian priest, pro-life-and-family apostle, and the founder of Catholic Insight magazine. Here is what we wrote those on his entering into eternity five years ago, as we continue to remember him in our prayers and thoughts)[…]Continue reading→

My Name is Bernadette

April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→

Canonizing Sister Faustina and Divine Mercy

HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER  MASS IN ST PETER’S SQUARE FOR THE CANONIZATION OF SR MARY FAUSTINA KOWALSKA Sunday, 30 April 2000   1. “Confitemini Domino quoniam bonus, quoniam in saeculum misericordia eius”; “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his steadfast love endures for ever” (Ps 118: 1). So the Church sings on the Octave of[…]Continue reading→

Divine Mercy Sunday – An Echo of Every Mass

Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe’…  ‘My Lord and my God!’ (Jn. 20:18)). Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, and as we celebrate the end of the Easter Octave, we contemplate the wounded side of our Saviour, the Church’s source of life. On Good Friday in the[…]Continue reading→

Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów

We celebrate Saint Stanislaus today (+ April 11, 1079), in light of this Easter Octave, a bishop and martyr who accepted the episcopacy only at the direct order of Pope Alexander II. He proved a wise and courageous leader of his flock, put to death by his own king, Boleslaus, for rebuking the monarch’s ‘immoral[…]Continue reading→

First Holy Communion: Sermon from May 16, 1943

 Here is a sermon from the good old days by +Rev. Msgr. Vincent Nicholas Foy (August 14, 1915 – March 13, 2017), from 1943. Readers may recall that Pope Saint Pius X, by the decree Quam Singulari in 1910, lowered the customary age of reception of Holy Communion – after the rigours of the plague[…]Continue reading→

In the Glorious Light of Easter, Alleluia!

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory (Col. 3:3-4). The Resurrection of Our Lord and Saviour[…]Continue reading→

An Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday

The time between Good Friday and Easter Sunday is one of waiting, in silence, as the world wonders – anticipates – what will happen, after the death of Christ. We re-live this time each year in the anamnesis of our liturgy, and in turn look forward to the glorious re-creation of all things at the[…]Continue reading→

Europe’s Long Descent

(As we meditate on this day on Christ’s burial, and His descent into hell, it is fitting to ponder here with contributor Peter Marcus how the world seems to be heading there as well. The difference is that, although God cannot ‘redeem’ hell, nor those therein, He can and did redeem the world. There is[…]Continue reading→