As a child, my older sisters would tell me about, “the man in the moon.” The man on the moon has been known for being an abiding presence of care and protection from above.
This thought came back to me when I heard of the death of Eugene Cernan. Cernan was the last astronaut to have walked on the surface of the moon.
According to news reports, he wrote the initials of his daughter Tracey in the lunar dust. Thus, the letters “TC” are still up there, undisturbed since he wrote them on that Apollo mission.
When I heard that, I thought how beautiful was his love is for his child. Not just love, but authentic paternal love for his daughter.
The moon’s reflection is a constant light that reminds us of God’s divine presence in our lives. When I see the moon today, I now recall those initials that Cernan placed in the lunar dust Those initials can remind us of a father’s love for his child because as Isaiah tells us God, “has written (our) name in the palm of His hands.” “Thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return” will be the words that greet us on Ash Wednesday but how precious our “dust” is to the Eternal Father. May our names be written in Heaven, not in dust but in the Sacred Heart of our Savior who fell in the dust three times before saving us by his death and resurrection.
