Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale934

to respond to the challenge of this Year-to lift up our eyes to the heavens

in order to rediscover our place in the universe-how can we not be caught

up in the marvel expressed by the Psalmist so long ago? Contemplating the

starry sky, he cried out with wonder to the Lord: "When I see your heavens,

the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you set in place, what

is man that you should be mindful of him, or the son of man, that you should

care for him?".2 It is my hope that the wonder and exaltation which are

meant to be the fruits of this International Year of Astronomy will lead

beyond the contemplation of the marvels of creation to the contemplation

of the Creator, and of that Love which is the underlying motive of his crea-

tion - the Love which, in the words of Dante Alighieri, "moves the sun and

the other stars".3 Revelation tells us that, in the fullness of time, the Word

through whom all things were made came to dwell among us. In Christ, the

new Adam, we acknowledge the true centre of the universe and all history,

and in him, the incarnate Logos, we see the fullest measure of our grandeur as

human beings, endowed with reason and called to an eternal destiny.

With these reflections, dear friends, I greet all of you with respect and

esteem, and I offer prayerful good wishes for your research and teaching.

Upon you, your families and dear ones I cordially invoke Almighty God's

blessings of wisdom, joy, and peace.

2 Ps 8:4-5. 3 Paradiso XXXIII, 145.