I know that UFOs and speculation
about space aliens and extraterrestrial life have been a part of life for ages. Recently, such
speculation has been taken up by social media and even by movies. This is to be expected, but the
issue is now being presented as a challenge to belief in God and the Christian faith. What should we
make of this?
 t's both astonishing and sad that Catholics often
refer to God as awesome but then gravely underestimate His awesomeness. If God wanted to
create intelligent creatures throughout the universe besides humans on Earth, wouldn’t that be
awesome? And if the Word of God were to become incarnate on each of those planets to save
them from the works of Satan (who himself is not limited to sedition only on Earth), wouldn’t
that be awesome?
The Awesomeness of Christ
The truth is, God’s Word did become incarnate on Earth
as Christ Jesus. That’s awesome. And He was born of a woman. That’s awesome. And He gave us His
Body and Blood to be with us on Earth for all days even to the end of the world. That’s awesome.
And He is present simultaneously in all Tabernacles everywhere in this world. That’s
awesome.
The Here and Now
There is no limitation to God’s awesomeness. If God
has created extraterrestrial civilizations, and if He has appeared incarnate as Messiah to each
of those civilizations according to the particular nature of each of their planets, that’s
awesome. And yet it’s really none of our business.
None of Our Business
The truth is that God has created Earth and humanity,
and He has become incarnate on Earth as Jesus the Christ, our savior. That is all we know for
certain, and it’s all we need to know. Although we can speculate about the possibility of
extraterrestrial life, it’s really none of our business. And it should have no bearing whatsoever
on the Catholic faith.
Only Three Questions
If ever we should encounter intelligent extraterrestrial
life, there are only three questions worth asking: Do you believe in God? Do you worship the Christ,
the Son of God, born on your planet, in the way we revere the Holy Eucharist? Do you keep His
commandments? If all the answers are “Yes,” then we can rejoice. But if the answers are “No,” then
we must brace ourselves for a new arena of the spiritual battle with evil.
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