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January 27, 2024A few months ago I finished reading Rocket Men by Robert Kurson (not to be confused with Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam, which is still a good book). Rocket Men is about the first attempt to orbit the moon during the Apollo 8 mission. Looking back, it would seem like it was a straight-forward mission. We wanted to orbit the moon and we did. However, looking at the mission there were a lot of uncertainties, which were multiplied by the fact that the mission was planned and executed in the span of four months (due to the realities of space race). At one point during the mission the vehicle was on the far side of the moon and there was no radio contact possible with mission control. This was when they would need to blast their Service Propulsion System (SPS) engine for Lunar Orbit Insertion. If the burn did not work precisely, there was fear that the crew would bounce into space or could even crash land into the moon. All NASA could do was wait. They had calculations in place for when they could expect communication to be restored but, until the moment came, they had no idea if the rocket worked, or if the crew was alive. These were moments of great tension at NASA and around the world. When communication was restored and Apollo 8 found itself in orbit, there was little time to celebrate. Now there was work to be done as they scouted the two possible landing sites of Apollo 8 and collected data on the surface of the moon.
Why do I bring this up? We recently finished the season of waiting, Advent, and the season of celebration, Christmas, we find ourselves back in the season of Ordinary Time. My first weekend here we heard in the Gospel, Jesus calling the first Apostles. What a monumental day it was for them to be called by the Son of God. They left everything and followed Him. We have been called, and like the Apostles, we too have work to do to proclaim the Gospel as we journey with Christ. Like Apollo 8, we feel like we may be rushed (many believed four months wasn’t long enough to plan a safe mission). Like Apollo 8, there are many uncertainties with the mission we are undertaking. Yet, like Apollo 8, we are not alone. We have our crew (our friends, family, and members of parish community). We have mission control (the Church). Most importantly, we have our Lord. There may be times when we feel like we are on the far side of the moon, yet the Lord is always with us on this journey as we move to something far greater than the moon. We journey towards the banquet of heaven.
Fr. Chris
