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"Hope is the certain expectation of future happiness"
- Peter Lombard (circa 1100 to 1164)
The work of an astronomer is based on hope. Every astronomer goes to a telescope with the hope that the weather will cooperate, the instruments will function and that the object in the sky will yield the data.
In addition, an astronomer has a different kind of "expectation" as well; the anticipation of wondering what unexpected understandings might result from his or her observations.
When the Vatican Observatory chose to help build a telescope of a radically new design, it did so in the hope of advancing astronomy. That hope has been rewarded with the "happiness" of multiple valuable observations.
As Christians we believe in a God who made this universe in a logical way. His laws are constant from age to age. And God so loved the world He had created, that He sent into it His only son (as we are told by the evangelist John).
And so we are invited to learn about God by studying His wonderful universe. We are all invited to be astronomers. It is because that invitation comes from God that we have the certain expectation -the hope- that in the beauty of the Stars and the Laws that govern them, we will encounter Him who is the source of all law and beauty and truth.
It is the ongoing privilege and "hope" of the Vatican Observatory Foundation to assist the Jesuit astronomers of the Observatory in their work.
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Adrian Design
