Belen Jesuit Preparatory School

To the Band of Brothers: October 29, 2020

Fr. Willie ‘87
Good morning!

I recently read some extraordinary news. Scientists have discovered large deposits of water on the sunlit side of the surface of the moon. It seems they always speculated it could be there, but now they have proof. While further investigations are necessary, the implications are huge for future landings on the heavenly body. This way, in the future, astronauts can spend more time on the lunar surface and even work on developing fuel and other possibilities.

Outer space is amazing. There is so much out there that we do not know. As a kid, I was glued to the television set listening to William Shatner’s voice as he said, “Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before” (insert here psychedelic music)!

The endless possibilities of what’s up there are fascinating. There’s no question mankind knows a lot and has discovered extraordinary things throughout time, but this recent discovery by scientists proves there is a lot more to God’s beautiful universe that we don’t know and is waiting to be discovered.

Several years ago, I read a novel titled Sparrow. It told the story of a group of scientists who discover life on Mars. When NASA decides to send another mission to continue its exploration and further its understanding of this alien civilization, it includes a Jesuit to go along for purposes of being the moral conscience of the group and as a way of exploring the possibility of future evangelization.

Believe it or not, while this story is fiction, there are many Jesuits in outer space and have been there for many years. For example, did you know there are 35 craters on the surface of the moon named after Jesuit priests? These craters are named after them because of their contributions to fields of exploration such as astronomy, physics, and mathematics.

As a matter of fact, the crater where water was recently discovered is called the Clavius Crater. It is located on the southern hemisphere of the moon and is visible from Earth because of its immense size. It is named after Fr. Christopher Clavius, S.J., a German Jesuit, astronomer, and mathematician of the 16th century. His contributions to the world of science are many. He popularized the use of the decimal point in the West, refined and modified the modern Gregorian calendar, and predicted solar eclipses. So important was he to the world of science, Galileo Galilei credited him for having a great impact on his life and studies.

There is no question science and theology, faith and reason, go hand and hand. I remind you of the quote by St. John Paul II that is up on the wall in our science patio, “Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth (Fides et Ratio, 1998).

God is the creator of the universe and He has endowed mankind with the ability to discover it and understand it. Jesuits throughout history have understood this better than most. It’s probably the reason why when Captain James T. Kirk discovers a new world, there is already a Jesuit there.

Auspice Maria,
Fr. Willie ‘87
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BELEN JESUIT PREPARATORY SCHOOL
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: webmaster@belenjesuit.org
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School was founded in 1854 in Havana, Cuba by Queen Isabel II of Spain.  The task of educating students was assigned to the priests and brothers of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), whose teaching tradition is synonymous with academic excellence and spiritual discipline.  In 1961, the new political regime of Cuba confiscated the School property and expelled the Jesuit faculty.  The School was re-established in Miami the same year, and over the next decade, continued to grow.  Today, Belen Jesuit sits on a 30-acre site in western Dade County, only minutes away from downtown Miami.