In the l980s, when I was a teenager, I recall a movie about some creatures from another planet, who created a machine that was going to slow down the rotation of our earth, thus causing gravity to go haywire.

They turned on the machine and slowly, gradually the earth’s rotation slowed down. This was a science fiction movie so don’t be alarmed.

One night during dinner I asked my Capuchin Brothers if they had seen the movie, but nobody seemed to recall or knew anything about it. But I saw it. I wouldn’t make up such a story.

I clearly remember that the slowing down of the earth’s rotation caused things to start rising into the sky. People were lifted up and kept going until they were out of sight.

In the Old Testament there were two people who were taken up to Heaven while they were still alive. They will come back to earth to die before the Lord returns on Judgment Day.

We know Jesus and His Mother went up. The Liturgy says they are leading the way to Heaven and we hope to follow them when our time comes, when God is ready for us.

Thank goodness for gravity, when it works correctly, because it keeps us here on earth to help the poor and comfort the sick and the sorrowful.

Gravity also slows us down and encourages people to patiently wait for God to call us. That call will come soon enough. When He’s ready for us.

In the meantime, we need to tell others about Heaven, where there is no gravity, nothing to keep us attached to the material things of this world.

(Backyard Galaxy is a weekly series featuring reflections from Fr. Michael Suchnicki dealing with God, thoughts from the friary backyard and on our Milky Way Galaxy.)