Sirach's Hymn of Creation



Sirach Chapter 16

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18 Behold, the heaven, and the heaven of heavens, the deep, and the earth, and all that therein is, shall be moved when he shall visit.



19 The mountains also and foundations of the earth be shaken with trembling, when the Lord looketh upon them.



20 No heart can think upon these things worthily: and who is able to conceive his ways?



21 It is a tempest which no man can see: for the most part of his works are hid.



22 Who can declare the works of his justice? or who can endure them? for his covenant is afar off, and the trial of all things is in the end.



23 He that wanteth understanding will think upon vain things: and a foolish man erring imagineth follies.



24 by son, hearken unto me, and learn knowledge, and mark my words with thy heart.



25 I will shew forth doctrine in weight, and declare his knowledge exactly.



26 The works of the Lord are done in judgment from the beginning: and from the time he made them he disposed the parts thereof.



27 He garnished his works for ever, and in his hand are the chief of them unto all generations: they neither labour, nor are weary, nor cease from their works.



28 None of them hindereth another, and they shall never disobey his word.



29 After this the Lord looked upon the earth, and filled it with his blessings.



30 With all manner of living things hath he covered the face thereof; and they shall return into it again.

Sirach Chapter 17

1 The Lord created man of the earth, and turned him into it again.



2 He gave them few days, and a short time, and power also over the things therein.



3 He endued them with strength by themselves, and made them according to his image,



4 And put the fear of man upon all flesh, and gave him dominion over beasts and fowls.



5 They received the use of the five operations of the Lord, and in the sixth place he imparted them understanding, and in the seventh speech, an interpreter of the cogitations thereof.]



6 Counsel, and a tongue, and eyes, ears, and a heart, gave he them to understand.



7 Withal he filled them with the knowledge of understanding, and shewed them good and evil.



8 He set his eye upon their hearts, that he might shew them the greatness of his works.



9 He gave them to glory in his marvellous acts for ever, that they might declare his works with understanding.



10 And the elect shall praise his holy name.



11 Beside this he gave them knowledge, and the law of life for an heritage.



12 He made an everlasting covenant with them, and shewed them his judgments.



13 Their eyes saw the majesty of his glory, and their ears heard his glorious voice.



14 And he said unto them, Beware of all unrighteousness; and he gave every man commandment concerning his neighbour.



15 Their ways are ever before him, and shall not be hid from his eyes.



16 Every man from his youth is given to evil; neither could they make to themselves fleshy hearts for stony.



17 For in the division of the nations of the whole earth he set a ruler over every people; but Israel is the Lord's portion:



18 Whom, being his firstborn, he nourisheth with discipline, and giving him the light of his love doth not forsake him.



19 Therefore all their works are as the sun before him, and his eyes are continually upon their ways.



20 None of their unrighteous deeds are hid from him, but all their sins are before the Lord



21 But the Lord being gracious and knowing his workmanship, neither left nor forsook them, but spared them.



22 The alms of a man is as a signet with him, and he will keep the good deeds of man as the apple of the eye, and give repentance to his sons and daughters.



23 Afterwards he will rise up and reward them, and render their recompence upon their heads.



24 But unto them that repent, he granted them return, and comforted those that failed in patience.



25 Return unto the Lord, and forsake thy sins, make thy prayer before his face, and offend less.



26 Turn again to the most High, and turn away from iniquity: for he will lead thee out of darkness into the light of health, and hate thou abomination vehemently.



27 Who shall praise the most High in the grave, instead of them which live and give thanks?



28 Thanksgiving perisheth from the dead, as from one that is not: the living and sound in heart shall praise the Lord.



29 How great is the lovingkindness of the Lord our God, and his compassion unto such as turn unto him in holiness!



30 For all things cannot be in men, because the son of man is not immortal.



31 What is brighter than the sun? yet the light thereof faileth; and flesh and blood will imagine evil.



32 He vieweth the power of the height of heaven; and all men are but earth and ashes.

Overcoming the New Age Movement



Listen as a former new ager and Catholic convert Matthew Arnold shares his incredible journey from darkness into the light. Learn how this magic consultant and performer in the entertainment industry came to the truth that set him free from the powers of the occult as he talks about new age practices and their incompatibility with the timeless teachings of Christ and His Church.

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Taken from: http://www.lighthousecatholicmedia.org/store/title/overcoming-the-new-age-movement




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No Turning Back



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Which Came First - the Bible or the Church?

Which Came First - the Bible or the Church? Have you ever been asked where Catholic beliefs can be found in the bible? Here is a crash course in history proving that the bible is a Catholic book. Matthew Arnold offers convincing evidence showing that the Church has faithfully proclaimed and preserved the fullness of God's Word down through the centuries. This will provide all the facts you need.

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How to Bring Fallen Away Catholics Back

How to Bring Fallen Away Catholics Back What is evangelization all about? What role does the Church expect ordinary Catholics to play in spreading the Catholic Faith? Dr. Scott Hahn, author and renowned theologian, challenges ?cradle? Catholics to witness to the Faith through everyday life. He presents proven and effective ways to touch those who have fallen away from the Church, even those with the most hardened of hearts.

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The Bible Made Me Do It

The Bible Made Me Do It Tim Staples was raised Baptist and served as an Assembly of God Youth Minister. He used his extensive biblical knowledge to attack the Catholic Church but when he was challenged on his beliefs, a two-year search for truth led him right to Catholicism. Now he uses that same incredible gift to defend the Faith and help others to embrace the beauty and richness of Catholicism.











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Seven Reasons to be Catholic

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Confession

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Why Is There Hell? What You Should Know About It!

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The heavens declare the glory of God

New International Version (NIV)



Psalm 19[a]



For the director of music. A psalm of David.



1 The heavens declare the glory of God;


the skies proclaim the work of his hands.


2 Day after day they pour forth speech;


night after night they reveal knowledge.


3 They have no speech, they use no words;


no sound is heard from them.


4 Yet their voice[b] goes out into all the earth,


their words to the ends of the world.


In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.


5 It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,


like a champion rejoicing to run his course.


6 It rises at one end of the heavens


and makes its circuit to the other;


nothing is deprived of its warmth.






7 The law of the Lord is perfect,


refreshing the soul.


The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,


making wise the simple.


8 The precepts of the Lord are right,


giving joy to the heart.


The commands of the Lord are radiant,


giving light to the eyes.


9 The fear of the Lord is pure,


enduring forever.


The decrees of the Lord are firm,


and all of them are righteous.


10 They are more precious than gold,


than much pure gold;


they are sweeter than honey,


than honey from the honeycomb.


11 By them your servant is warned;


in keeping them there is great reward.


12 But who can discern their own errors?


Forgive my hidden faults.


13 Keep your servant also from willful sins;


may they not rule over me.


Then I will be blameless,


innocent of great transgression.






14 May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart


be pleasing in your sight,


Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.


Footnotes:


a.Psalm 19:1 In Hebrew texts 19:1-14 is numbered 19:2-15.


b.Psalm 19:4 Septuagint, Jerome and Syriac; Hebrew measuring line

Transit of Venus 2012—Sun Show Will Be Last for a Century

Taken from:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/06/120605-venus-transit-2012-sun-science-how-when/

This evening or tomorrow morning, depending on their locations, sky-watchers around the world will be able to witness a transit of Venus—a celestial event that won't be seen again for more than a century.

The transit will offer astronomers a chance to refine our understanding of Venus as well as to tweak models for searching for planets around other stars. (Pictures: See what the Venus transit will look like.)

Transits happen when a planet crosses between Earth and the sun. Only Mercury and Venus, which are closer to the sun than our planet, can undergo this unusual alignment.

With its relatively tight orbit, Mercury circles the sun fast enough that we see the innermost planet transit every 13 to 14 years. But transits of Venus are exceedingly rare, due to that world's tilted orbit: After the 2012 Venus transit, we won't see another until 2117.

During the upcoming transit, Venus will look like a black dot gliding across the face of the sun over the course of about six hours.

"Venus's diameter will appear only about a 30th the diameter of the sun, so it will be ... like a pea in front of a watermelon," said Jay Pasachoff, an astronomer at Williams College in Massachusetts. (Read a Q&A with Pasachoff about Venus transits.)

"The effect won't be visually impressive, but that black dot against the sun is a remarkable thing to see."

Watch a live broadcast of the 2012 transit of Venus.

The entire transit of Venus will be visible from Hawaii, Alaska, New Zealand, Japan, the Philippines, most of Australia, and parts of eastern Asia. Countries in the Western Hemisphere will see the transit on Tuesday, while those in the Eastern Hemisphere will see it on Wednesday.

(See a visibility map for the transit of Venus.)

Viewers in North America will see Venus start to cross the sun in the late afternoon on Tuesday, but the sun will set with the planet still in transit.

Observers in Europe, Africa, and western Australia, meanwhile, will see the sun rise Wednesday morning with Venus already on its face.

Venus on the Edge

The 2012 transit of Venus will be visible even to the naked eye—although astronomers caution that people should never look directly at the sun without proper protection.

To watch safely, observers should always use special "eclipse glasses" or telescopes equipped with solar filters.

Perhaps the safest way to watch the transit of Venus is to make a pinhole camera, said Pasachoff, who is also a National Geographic Society Committee for Research and Exploration grantee. (National Geographic News is a division of the Society.)

To do so, cut a hole about a quarter-inch (0.6-centimeter) wide in a piece of cardboard paper, and use the hole to project an image of the sun onto a flat surface, such as a wall or sidewalk.

During the transit, the leading edge of Venus's silhouette will first touch the upper left side of the sun's disk.

In less than half an hour, Venus's opposite edge will touch the same point of the solar limb. At this stage, the planet's circular shape will appear to be distorted into a teardrop for a few minutes—something astronomers call the black drop effect.

"It's believed that this is an effect of blurring by Earth's atmosphere, combined with the apparent slight darkening of the sun's visible surface near its edges," said Ben Burress, a staff astronomer at the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, California.

Depending on local sky quality, the altitude of the observer, and the size of the telescope, observers may also glimpse Venus's atmosphere during the transit, Burress said.

(Related: "Venus Spinning Slower Than Thought—Scientists Stumped.")

"A bright rim around the edge of Venus against the background of space may be visible just as Venus is entering or leaving the solar disk," he said. "This is caused by sunlight refracting"—or bending—"in the dense upper atmosphere of Venus."

See solar storm pictures from the new issue of National Geographic >>

Measuring the Solar System

Transits of Venus are so rare because the planet's orbit is tilted just over three degrees from the plane of the solar system. This means that most of the time Venus passes above or below the sun's disk, as seen from Earth.

On average, we see four transits of Venus within 243 years. The events happen in pairs spaced eight years apart, and they alternate whether Venus crosses the top or the bottom of the solar disk, Williams' Pasachoff said. This year, for instance, the planet will transit the top of the sun.

Astronomers first used telescopes to observe a transit of Venus in 1639.

But it wasn't until 1769 that dozens of scientists scattered across the globe to make detailed measurements of the event, including the famous voyage of British lieutenant James Cook, who had astronomers collecting transit data from the island of Tahiti during his South Pacific expedition.

(Related: "Journals of Captain Cook Go Online.")

Observations from different locations on Earth allowed scientists to not only triangulate the true size of the sun but also to more accurately determine the distance between the sun and Earth.

"Prior to that, the estimates of those scales were mostly educated guesswork," Chabot's Burress said.

Based on the 18th-century transit, astronomers calculated that the sun is 95 million miles (153 million kilometers) away—only slightly off from the true Earth-sun distance of 93 million miles (150 million kilometers).

"Since we already knew the relative spacing between the orbits of all the planets, once we determined the Earth-sun distance, in one fell swoop we were able to calculate the distances to all the other planets."

Venus Transit a Key to Planetary Puzzles

Today, 21st-century astronomers hope to use the 2012 transit of Venus to collect data on the planet's atmosphere and compare their findings to measurements from the European Space Agency's Venus Express orbiter.

The orbiter has returned information on intriguing weather patterns in Venus's dense atmosphere, but at close range the craft can see only one region at a time.

(See "Venus Craft Reveals Lightning, Supports Watery Past.")

The transit, meanwhile, will allow astronomers to get a broader picture of Venuvian weather in the planet's upper atmosphere and see how different regions interact.

In addition, scientists using the NASA-ESA Hubble Space Telescope will use the transit to help improve techniques for finding and characterizing planets around other stars, aka exoplanets.

With its sensitive instrumentation designed to peer deep into the cosmos, Hubble can't look directly at the sun. Instead astronomers will have the orbiting observatory aimed at the moon to watch for the slight drop in reflected sunlight during the transit.

The hope is that Hubble's activity will be a good parallel to observations currently being carried out by NASA's Kepler spacecraft, which looks for dips in starlight caused by planets transiting their host stars, as seen from Earth.

A prolific planet hunter, Kepler has already racked up 61 confirmed planets and more than 2,300 planetary candidates. (Related: "NASA Finds Smallest Earthlike Planet Outside Solar System.")

However, "since the stars are so far away that no details can be seen, those exoplanet transits are visible only in the total light of the star," Williams's Pasachoff said.

Scientists therefore have to make a number of estimates when analyzing Kepler data to tease out a planet's size and atmospheric properties.

Watching how the sun's light changes during the Venus transit can show astronomers whether their calculations capture the known properties of a nearby planet, helping them to refine their models for studying more distant worlds.

"Understanding the details of a transit in our own system can be the key to unlocking the transits of exoplanets in faraway solar systems."