While observing the Earth setting behind the moon—a rare “Earthset” view—the Artemis II Mission Commander Reid Wiseman shared unedited, 8x-zoom iPhone footage capturing his authentic reaction. Looking at the spectacular and surreal sight, he suddenly burst forth,
“Oh my God,”
and,
“Would you look at that, man!”
Yet I noticed something curious afterward. In nearly every edited version of the clip shared online, those words—
“Oh my God”
—had been carefully cut out, as though modern man can endure infinite galaxies but not spontaneous reverence. It made me wonder if we have reached the point where awe itself is considered impolite.
Perhaps some removed it because they considered the phrase vain. Perhaps others simply thought religion should remain private, tucked safely away where it cannot embarrass polite society. We are encouraged to keep faith between ourselves and God, as though wonder were a family secret and not a trumpet blast.
But I suspect there is a vast difference between using God’s name carelessly and crying it aloud because one has suddenly stumbled into glory. One is profanity; the other is practically prayer. Reid Wiseman was not cursing Heaven. He was testifying to it.
For there are moments when the soul becomes too small to contain what it sees. The moon below, the Earth hanging blue in blackness, the impossible fragility of creation—such things force words out of a man before his sophistication can stop him.
“Oh my God”
becomes less an exclamation and more a confession.
I understand that reaction. The Holy Spirit behaves very badly according to modern etiquette. The Spirit refuses to remain locked inside private spirituality. It insists on escaping into speech.
When I watch a lamb born at The Glenn, when rain finally falls on thirsty grass, when an old friend unexpectedly reappears after decades, or when astronauts stare at Earth hanging in the abyss and cry aloud to God, the Spirit refuses silence.
For silence may preserve dignity, but testimony preserves wonder.
That is why I write these Lectio Divinas publicly each day. Not because I possess certainty greater than other men, but because astonishment has become too large to hide.
3. Oratio
Lord Jesus Christ, You sent the Spirit not merely to comfort the timid but to make witnesses of cowards.
Teach me to testify without arrogance, to speak Your name without turning faith into performance, and to proclaim wonder without pretending I fully understand it.
When I stand speechless before beauty, before suffering, before the mysteries of creation and redemption, let my first instinct not be cynicism but praise.
Make my life itself a testimony— not polished, not perfect, but honest enough to say aloud:
The modern man imagines testimony belongs only in courtrooms or revival tents, but the Christian faith insists that all creation is already giving testimony. The stars testify. Sheep testify. Mud on my boots testifies. The Eucharist testifies. Even grief testifies, because sorrow itself is evidence that we were made for joy.
Chesterton once understood that the world is not suffering from lack of wonders, but from lack of wonderers. The Holy Spirit therefore does not merely provide information; He restores astonishment.
The astronauts floating beyond Earth become strangely like medieval mystics. A shepherd staring at a sunrise over The Glenn becomes a theologian. A grandmother praying the Rosary quietly in her kitchen becomes a prophetess. None of them may possess sophisticated arguments, yet all of them testify.
And perhaps that is why Christianity survives every century’s attempts to bury it: because testimony is harder to extinguish than theory. A theory may be debated; a witness simply says, “I saw Him.”
5. Actio — In Light of Laudato Si’ and Synodality
Saint Bonaventure went so far as to say that human beings, before sin, were able to see how each creature “testifies that God is three”.
Finally, integral ecology – especially when considering the common good and integral human development – is not merely a method. It is not about promoting interconnectedness and transdisciplinary approaches as ends in themselves. Integral ecology has a purpose: the fulfilment of the entire human family through a life based on solidarity and sustainability, and the fulfilment of each of us through lives of wholeness and holiness.
Synodality therefore begins not merely in committees or meetings, but in learning to listen together to what creation and human experience are already testifying to.
Action:
Today I will practice testimony by naming aloud one sign of God’s goodness instead of merely consuming it silently. I will speak gratitude publicly—to family, friends, or strangers—not as propaganda, but as witness.
For a synodal Church is not merely a Church that talks together; it is a Church that together learns again how to say,
A song that understands testimony is not ultimately argument but affection. Christians do not merely testify to doctrines; we testify to having been loved beyond reason.
7. Movie Pairing 🎬
🎬Movie: The Verdict (1982)
A courtroom drama about truth, conscience, and the courage to stand publicly for what one knows to be right. Much like the Gospel, it reminds me that testimony costs something precisely because truth matters.
8. Poetic Verse
The moon hid Earth like a pearl behind black velvet, and astronauts forgot sophistication long enough to pray aloud.
The Spirit still ruins silence with wonder.
Perhaps the Holy Spirit is simply God refusing to stop advocating for us.
