Divine Chain Reaction
The concept of the vicious circle is a familiar one, where one poor decision or tragic event is followed by another in a compounding series of negative events which careen toward catastrophe. But there is also a counter reality called the virtuous circle, in which generous, prescient and wise actions set off a chain reaction of expanding benefits and blessings. This sermon was given on the weekend of the release of the biopic "Oppenheimer", the profile of J. Robet Oppenheimer who, along with a high-powered team of researchers, is credited with discoveries that brought humanity into the atomic age and into confrontation with the prospect of nuclear annihilation. Fr. Garrett contrasts the vicious destructiveness of a nuclear chain reaction with the capacity of humanity to care for one another and our world, multiplying blessings in a virtuous chain reaction. What effects do your words and actions have upon others and the environment around you? (Correction: Fr. Garrett mistakenly identifies Oppenheimer as being German-born and recruited by the German government to supply nuclear research to its weapons program. That was Werner Heisenberg. Oppenheimer was born in New York City.)