I still remember the day that the Eagle landed on the moon….July 20, 1969 at 2:15 in the afternoon.  I was 3 years old and at a campground in Vedauwoo. My father drove me to the nearest gas station, and on a portable television I watched the lunar module land on the moon.  From that day forward, I always dreamed of being an astronaut.  To soar into the unknown, to look out at the big blue marble Earth. 
Of the many hymns that reference the moon,  verse 1 of “This Day God Gives Me” in the words of St. Patrick states, “This Day God Gives Me, Strength of high heaven, Sun and moon shining, Flame in my hearth, Flashing of lightning, Wind in its swiftness, Deeps of the ocean, Firmness of Earth”. 
It is that omnipotent presence of God contained therein that intrigues me.  In the wide open spaces, God is present there.  In space there is nothing that holds us bound.  This freedom is not the freedom that the world gives.  It is a freedom to love, to take in the beauty and wonder at the same time how vast the spaces….how vast the love that God has for each and every one of us, and how we are asked to love God back in the same way He loves us.  There is the hope of eternity, the hope of eternal peace that awaits us in the future when our earthly life has ended. 
Psalm 148: 3-4 states: “Praise him, sun and moon, praise shining stars, praise him, highest heavens and the waters above the heavens.”