The nation is abuzz this weekend with the total solar eclipse happening tomorrow, Monday, April 8, 2024. From Texas to Maine, the path of totality is mapped out and people are making their way to their preferred viewing destinations. 

Before humanity knew about the path of planetary bodies in the solar system, galaxy and universe, these events were heralded as cosmic divinations, either good or bad. In a world full of chaos and uncertainty, humanity looked and continues to look for signs to prove that life isn't random. 

Religious leaders within the Catholic Church and other denominations and faiths will undoubtedly have many different opinions about the eclipse. I wouldn't be surprised to run across a religious leader ascribing the eclipse as a precursor to some sort of apocalyptic event. Personally, I wouldn't worry if I were you. While religious groups (including Catholics)  have peddled in astrology before, it is fair to say that the Catholic Church's doctrine is essentially mute on the meaning of astronomy (astronomy is different than astrology). This allows for a plurality of personal beliefs. I'm not contradicting the core tenants of the faith when I say that to me, the eclipse is a mere random event. (By this, I don't mean that it happens randomly. keep readying for clarification.)

I might double down and say that life, creation, and the universe are not random. They are the intricate design of God's mysterious beauty and handiwork. They are the embedded imprint of God. It would therefor be inevitable, and random, that within this grand design, there are moments when two celestial bodies coincide at the right time and place to cast a deep shadow through space and time. That is a byproduct of God's amazing design, not a personal action by God to intervene and alter the course of the cosmos. We should jsut accept that eclipses happen in the natural world.

But what doesn't happen in the natural world without the agency of the human person is the unity spoken about during the first reading today. The first words in the reading speak of a different type of eclipse. The writer of the Acts of the Apostles (Saint Luke) wrote "the community of believers was of one heart and mind and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own but they had everything in common." (Acts 4:32)

A rather radical sign of God's kingdom reigning on earth happened when the followers of Jesus experienced an eclipse of their heart and mind. The total capacity of their mind with all of its computation skills, logic, insight, and imagination were combined with the compassion, love, and empathy of their hearts. In this eclipse they met a state of being that was otherwise unimaginable and certainly transcendent. 

Unlike the heavenly bodies of the sun and the moon which we can only observe and have no capacity to bend, we do have the capacity to align our hearts and minds. We are given free will to employ the gifts that we are given and decide their ultimate course. Undoubtedly we need, just as the early followers of Jesus needed, some sort of stimulus of grace to inspire us if we are to elect to live a life of divine alignment. They had the Resurrection of Jesus. It was decisive event that awakened God's spirit within them. 

We too are heirs to the Resurrection. We too know of Jesus' triumph over death. We celebrate it not only as a one time event on Easter Sunday, but through this entire Easter season and every day of our lives. It is an invitation to yield to the the unifying possibility of our lives sharing a common union with God's will. 

I know many parishioners who are already on their way to viewing the solar eclipse. I myself am also en route. I'm super excited about it! Besides the chance to get together with family, I am sure that it will be spectacular. I hope and pray that it might remind us the incredible universe that we live in and cherish even more and care for our planet. I also hope that the same energy that we assign to witnessing something as random as a celestial syzygy, might be energy that we also expend to putting our lives into alignment with God. This would truly be an amazing site to behold! 

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