The Moon, the Crucifixion, and the Feast, by Joseph R. Wood 

By Joseph R. Wood, The Catholic Thing, May 1, 2026

Joseph Wood is Collegiate Assistant Professor in the School of Philosophy of The Catholic University of America. He is a pilgrim philosopher and easily accessible hermit.

The new month brings a trifecta on my ecclesiastical calendar: a full moon, First Friday, and the feast of St. Joseph the Worker.

My calendar’s tracking of astronomical events is a holdover from long ago, when the Church had its own astrology. It accepted the possibility of the influence of the heavens on earthly events as natural causes, much as the relative orientation of the earth to the sun causes seasons, and the sun and moon cause tides.

The Church has always rejected a deterministic astrology that denies both free will and providential influence in human affairs. Astrologers were often dangerous enemies of the Church. That never stopped frauds from claiming prophetic powers to read the stars and swindle the gullible. And more than a few folks still sneak a peek at their horoscope from time to time, something that in Church teaching belongs alongside Tarot cards and Ouija boards.  ….

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