The Mysterious Physics of Pentecost

As a scientist with a strong grasp of physics and mathematics, I have a basic understanding of big bang theory and Einstein’s theories of relativity. It theorises that at some time (before time existed, according to the theory), everything from which all the matter and energy of the known universe would become, existed in a singularity of infinite density. This was in some place in space (also before space existed, according to the theory), and occupied some size (even though size was non-sensible, given there was no space). Then, apparently with spontaneity, the singularity created space, time and the basics of matter which eventually became the particles that make up all the objects of the universe, including the living ones! Essentially, everything came from nothing! Then there is Einstein’s theories of relativity: light is the only constant, whilst time, space and mass are not! These are what the cleverest scientists of the world, with the best mathematicians, have us believe. I can believe it, because I know how the science community works, and as a person of Catholic faith, I am not unsettled by it. In fact, it sits very well with me.

Then there is what we Catholics believe, the Nicene Creed:

I believe in one God,

the Father almighty,

maker of heaven and earth,

of all things visible and invisible.

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,

the Only Begotten Son of God,

born of the father before all ages.

God from God, Light from Light,

true God from true God,

begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;

through him all things were made.

For us men and for our salvation

he came down from heaven,

and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,

and became man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,

he suffered death and was buried,

and rose again on the third day

in accordance with the Scriptures.

He ascended into heaven

and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory

to judge the living and the dead

and his kingdom will have no end.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,

who proceeds from the Father and the Son,

who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,

who has spoken through the prophets.

I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.

I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins

and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead

and the life of the world to come.

Amen.

There are similarities between big bang theory and relativity and what Catholics believe, and I think this is why so many Catholics are also physicists and vice-versa. In fact, it was the Belgian Catholic priest Fr Georges Henri Joseph Édouard Lemaître, astronomer and professor of physics, that in 1927 first proposed big bang theory!

To say: “God is nothing” would be blasphemous, except if you add “…that we can fully understand”. Or if you also or alternatively add “…but at the same time, everything”. Then you have the truth. This way, to say the universe came from nothing would be to say it came from God - everything came from nothing! God existed before time. Nothing can exist before time, and everything must have too!

Light is the constant. The Nicene Creed, written 1600 years before Einstein’s theories of relativity, identifies this constant.

Father and Son, consubstantial…well that is ok as everything was in singularity “before all ages” – that is, before time.

Then there is Jesus, “incarnate of the Virgin Mary”. This is easier to believe than big bang theory, really. Mary was pre-destined, and like the rest of life, came from nothing. She was also in singularity – everything was! Hence for Jesus to come from her as He did is very believable. Jesus came from God.

Then there is death and resurrection: Jesus, the physical divine person of God, could overcome death. For the only Son of God to master death is just as plausible as everything coming from nothing!

What the science does not, cannot and will not ever hypothesise and test is the presence of the Holy Spirit, which is part of the Trinity and has worked through all of time. This is also because the existence of the Holy Spirit is relevant to the “why” questions that science cannot address.

Catholic salvation history identifies the work of the Holy Spirit through the prophets of the First Testament. I believe God put everything in place for the loving relationship between the divine and the human to become possible, and eventually it did. For millennia before Jesus, faithful people were guided by the Holy Spirit and had faith in the Father as they grappled with the meaning of life and how it should be lived. It was as if the time was right – humanity had matured enough and was ready – for God to reveal the answers on the second question anyway – how humanity should live. The answer came through Jesus, who through both word and action revealed God’s plan; what the millennia of peoples before Him were grappling to conceive.

Jesus’ ministry of preaching and healing showed His followers the Messiah they were seeking. He, just as God the Father, was and is love. Through this love and His humanity, His flock grew. Through His miraculous resurrection, He showed he was the creator and re-creator of all matter of the universe. He showed He was God. He re-created everything

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TERM 2 - WEEKS 5 AND 6