In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus’ disciples are crying out in praise, “Blessed in the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”[1] The Pharisees, however, asked Jesus to rebuke His disciples for their adoration to which Jesus replied, “I tell you, if these remain silent, the stones will cry out!”[2] Brother Guy Consolmagno is an astro-geologist whose specialty are meteorites and asteroids, rocks from space. He was the curator of meteorites at the Vatican Observatory until 2015, when Pope Francis appointed him the Observatory’s director. Brother Guy provides a light-hearted but also thoughtful narrative of what he thinks God might have been up to in creating these curious small-body objects. And perhaps it is the case, Brother Guy argues, that the celestial stones flying hither and yon around the solar system are indeed crying out “Glory!” beckoning our silent planet to awake and sing to the Lord once more.
Brother Guy Consolmagno is the director of the Vatican Observatory and president of the Vatican Observatory Foundation. He has written more than 200 articles for scientific publications and is the author of a number of popular books, including Turn Left at Orion (with Dan Davis, Cambridge, 2011) and most recently Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrials? (with Father Paul Mueller, SJ, Image, 2014). Author’s Website: · http://www.vaticanobservatory.va/content/specolavaticana/en/who-are-we-/staff/guy-j–consolmagno–s-j—1-.html
[1] Luke 19:38.
[2] Luke 19:40