a celestial visit
by JVS on Dec.03, 2008, under 2008
A couple of nights ago Venus and Jupiter visited the moon. At first I thought they were just bright stars, but they seemed too bright for that dusky time of day. They must be planets. And they were. I had to pause and take a picture. How cool is that; a moment where God smiles down on us…
This morning’s paper had a story on the rare celestial event. It was interesting to note the varying interpretations. Astronomers didn’t see this as much of a big deal. Those planets are out there, orbiting, all the time. Other mere earthlings got a bit more excited. Seeing with the naked eye what star-gazers can only perceive through their telescopes was quite an other-worldly experience. Some saw this heavenly vista as a brief respite from all of the economic ills we’re currently facing here on the planet. Others (from their latitude) saw the moon’s crescent shape forming a smile below two planetary eyes; like a divine face or something (how we tend to humanize our gods!) In New York city the face changed, however, forming a frown.
According to the news story, some even posit that it was this kind of heavenly event that occurred in 2 BC when the Magi saw the Bethlehem star. A sign from God… that he’s still there… that he’s always been there… keeping it all in orbit… holding his universe in his hand.
