“The atoms of our bodies are traceable to stars that manufactured them in their cores and exploded these enriched ingredients across our galaxy, billions of years ago. For this reason, we are biologically connected to every other living thing in the world. We are chemically connected to all molecules on Earth. And we are atomically connected to all atoms in the universe. We are not figuratively, but literally stardust.”
― Neil deGrasse Tyson
Today in the liturgical calendar is the Monday of the First Week of Lent. In today’s Gospel, Jesus is teaching his disciples about the judgment of the nations when the Son of Man comes in all God’s glory with angels . Jesus instructs them by saying:
‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father.
Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me drink,
a stranger and you welcomed me,
naked and you clothed me,
ill and you cared for me,
in prison and you visited me.’
Then the righteous will answer him and say,
‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you,
or thirsty and give you drink?
When did we see you a stranger and welcome you,
or naked and clothe you?
When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’
And the king will say to them in reply,
‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did
for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ — Matthew 25:34-40
Is it too pollyanna of me to think, had we had centuries of instilling into us our cosmic beginnings as star dust taken and formed by the Creator to create man, to create woman, to create all of creation and breathed into by the Divine, would we more readily be willing and able to live out the Gospel that Jesus preached? Would we more readily be aware of the interconnectedness of all humanity, of all creation and fully understood that when we did it for the least brothers of Jesus, we did it for Jesus and ourselves?
Where has nearly 2 millennia of fall and redemption theology gotten the Church? where has it gotten humanity? Has it perhaps, made us blind and deaf to the cries and needs of the least amongst us?
Does hearing this gospel in light of the knowledge gained from the physics that Neil deGrasse Tyson instructs us in his quote talking about how biologically, atomically and chemically we are connected to all living things, all atoms and all molecules on earth help us see how when we do things for the least around us, we are doing them not just for Jesus but also for ourselves, as we are all connected?