Life Without God?

At breakfast one morning, King Louis XV, savoring the aroma coming from the royal kitchen asked, “What is life without coffee?” Then, after a moment’s reflection, he asked, “What is life even with coffee?”

With or without coffee, life is a profound mystery. And it is often said that we of the Modern Age lack a proper sense of reverence for that mystery; that we have lost the ability to dwell on the awesome, wondrous mystery of the Divinely-created universe grinding and groaning its way toward fulfillment. Albert Einstein once said that the most beautiful life experience we can have is the mysterious. “Whoever does not experience it,” he said, “can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead.”

Think about the awesome mystery of the size and scope and makeup of the universe! A couple of thousand years ago, astronomers were aware of the existence of only one hundred twenty-two starts. Galileo could see some five thousand through his…