This past 4th of July I began reading the classic apologetic work by the pioneer American Cardinal James Gibbons Our Christian Heritage. The prose is marvelous. Here are two samples: the first on God the Greatest Engineer and the second on God the Universal Provider.
"If, on reaching [an] uninhabited island...you discovered there in the midst of the solitude, a railroad engine complete in all its parts, though you could find no trace of man, you would, at once, reasonably conclude that some skillful mechanic had wrought it. And we see before us this grand and complex engine of the Universe so vast in proportions, so perfect in detail; --an engine not standing still, but in perpetual motion. This earth which we inhabit, though it forms but an insignificant part of the whole machinery of nature, is revolving around its own axis at the rate of a thousand miles an hour, and is rushing through space with the surprising velocity of 68,400 miles an hour; yet so smoothly does it make its revolutions, that so far from experiencing any jarring sensation, we are quite unconscious of its motion.
"And there are myriads of other planets constantly moving like our own, each in its own sphere, and with so much order as never to diverge from their proper source, and never to occasion the slightest collision." pp.21-22
"Cast your eyes about you. See the great palace of nature constructed for you by your Heavenly Father. Observe with what order and regularity this palace is superintended. It is so carefully renovated every day, from its bright green floor to its azure roof, that it never shows signs of decay or old age.
"See how diligently every member of this vast household is provided for, from the huge elephant of the forest and the leviathan of the deep to the flying bird and the crawling worm. Imagine the quantity and variety of food that is necessary to sustain so immense a family. O Heavenly Father, Thy commissariat never fails. Thou makest ample provision for all. 'Thou openest Thy hand and fillest with blessing every living creature.'" Ps. 145 pp. 82-83
Appropriately, this same psalm 145 was last Sundays psalm for the Mass (Seventeenth Sunday of ordinary time [year B]); and the Gospel, just as appropriately, the miraculous multiplication of the loaves and fishes (John 6:1-15). Isn't it remarkable how so often one's personal spiritual reading agrees with the prayer of the Church! It is a sign of unity, harmony, and supernatural peace.
