Image by Juergen Striewski from Pixabay.

By Sister Michele Morek

I have to agree with Mrs. Albert Einstein. Whan asked if she understood her husband’s famous Theory of Relativity, she said, “No, but I trust him.” I’m that way about Quantum Physics. It fascinates me but ultimately I have to trust those who try to explain it to me.

There are some concepts that really tantalize my imagination; one of my favorites is Entanglement—what Einstein irreverently called “Spooky Action at a Distance!” Entanglement describes a phenomenon wherein two subatomic particles become linked. When you measure the state of one particle, the other instantly adopts a corresponding state—no matter how many miles or even light years separate them. They are linked across the universe! Time and space seem not to separate them.

There’s a quote attributed to another physicist, Paul Dirac: “Pick a flower on earth and you move the farthest star.” Meditating on these ideas I find new meaning and a universal perspective in Saint Angela Merici’s admonition in her Last Counsel to “Live in harmony, united together, all of one heart and one will.”

I savor the connections with nature and community members, friends and family—even those who have gone ahead of me to become one with the Cosmos. What can separate us? Certainly not mere light years, time, or space. I also reflect on how my actions or inactions can affect the world. Am I the butterfly flapping its wings that causes a tornado in Texas?

Something to consider

• Have I ever experienced a small action that had big consequences?
• What obligations are imposed on me by my connection with the whole universe?
• How do I work for the unity to which Angela calls us?