I can recall how as an infant my older sisters, whilst reading me bedtime stories, would reassure me on moonlight nights about “the man in the moon” as if to reassure me of an abiding presence of care and protection from above.

This thought occurred to me this week when I heard of the death of Eugene Cernan, the last astronaut to have walked on the surface of the moon.

According to the news, he wrote the initials of his daughter Tracey in the lunar dust, so that the letters “TC” are still up there, undisturbed since he first wrote them on that Apollo mission.

When I heard that, I thought how beautiful a father’s love is for his child, and how especially precious an authentic paternal love is for a daughter.

Now, when I think of the moon, and its symbolic meaning of it’s reflected light reminding us of Gods divine presence in our lives, I will recall those initials in the lunar dust. Those initials 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.”

Edmund Adamus