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April 25
Jean-Antoine Nollet, Harry Belafonte, Saint Mark the Evangelist, and the Hubble Space Telescope
David Barnhart
April 25, 2025
Mount Hermon, Golan Heights, 2019. Own photo.
Today marks the death, in 1770, of Jean-Antoine Nollet, a French deacon and scientist who recruited monks for his scientific experiments, often involving electricity. He also discovered osmosis.
Today also marks the death, in 2023, of Harry Belafonte, musician and civil rights activist.
Today is the Feast of Saint Mark the Evangelist, one of the authors of the four gospels. We do not actually know who Mark was, although there is speculation that he is the anonymous young man who runs away naked when guards attempt to seize him in Mark 14:50-52.
On this day in 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope was placed in orbit and began sending images back to earth that would change the way we see the cosmos.
Reflection:
At a speech for the ACLU, Harry Belafonte said,
After all, Paul Robeson said, ‘Artists are the radical voice of civilization.’ Each and every one of you in this room, with your gifts and your power and your skills, could perhaps change the way in which our global humanity mistrusts itself. Perhaps we as artists and as visionaries, for what’s better in the human heart and the human soul, could influence citizens everywhere in the world to see the better side of who and what we are as a species.
Prayer: Spirit of Inspiration, you have sent us artists, scientists, and prophets to change the way we see the world and each other. Continue to open our eyes. Amen.