{"id":8303,"date":"2012-09-21T22:18:12","date_gmt":"2012-09-22T03:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kathyschiffer\/?p=8303"},"modified":"2016-09-30T15:58:41","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T20:58:41","slug":"when-endeavors-astronauts-received-the-eucharist-in-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kathyschiffer\/2012\/09\/when-endeavors-astronauts-received-the-eucharist-in-space\/","title":{"rendered":"When Endeavour’s Astronauts Received the Eucharist in Space"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>So here she is:\u00a0 The space shuttle Endeavour,<\/strong> on the ground at Los Angeles International Airport on September 21, 2012, \u00a0after her final flight.\u00a0 The shuttle, riding piggyback on a 747, touched down at LAX after a zigzag cruise over California.\u00a0 She\u2019ll spend a few weeks in the hangar, readying for her final ride aboard a trailer to the California Science Center.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve written before<\/a> about the shuttle astronauts who received communion in Endeavour\u2019s cockpit; but it\u2019s a story that excited the imagination when I first heard it, and it bears retelling as we celebrate the shuttle\u2019s service one last time.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>NASA Astronaut Dr. Thomas D. Jones<\/strong>, a Catholic who flew four missions on the space shuttle, tells a dramatic story about experiencing God in space\u2014in the Eucharist, and in Creation.\u00a0 He was aboard the space shuttle Endeavour on a Sunday morning in April 1994; one of his fellow crew was a Eucharistic minister who had brought consecrated hosts aboard in a pyx; and they shared a brief communion service on the flight deck.<\/strong>\u00a0 Tom wrote of his experience, \u201cOur silent reflection was interrupted by a sudden burst of dazzling white light. The sun had risen (as it did 16 times each day) just as we finished Communion, and now its pure radiance streamed through\u00a0Endeavour<\/strong><\/em>\u2019s cockpit windows and bathed us in its warmth. To me, this was a beautiful sign, God\u2019s gentle touch confirming our union with Him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom continued, \u201cWe are designed to be awed in space.\u00a0 If our imperfect species has found such glimmers of delight in our first tentative encounter with the cosmos, then we have truly found a most caring and generous God.\u201d<\/p>\n

See the rest of astronaut Tom Jones\u2019 dramatic story in the St. Anthony Messenger<\/a> (June 2004).\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

And if you smile to think of our astronaut heroes engaged in prayer for our nation up there on the moon or in earth orbit, check out On a Wing and a Prayer: \u00a0Astronauts \u201cTouch the Face of God.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

And have you heard of the tiny (1 1\/2 inch) Bible which astronaut Edgar Mitchell carried aboard Apollo 14? \u00a0Here\u2019s that story<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So here she is:\u00a0 The space shuttle Endeavour, on the ground at Los Angeles International Airport on September 21, 2012, \u00a0after her final flight.\u00a0 The shuttle, riding piggyback on a 747, touched down at LAX after a zigzag cruise over California.\u00a0 She\u2019ll spend a few weeks in the hangar, readying for her final ride aboard […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":556,"featured_media":8308,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWhen Endeavour's Astronauts Received the Eucharist in Space<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"So here she is:\u00a0 The space shuttle Endeavour, on the ground at Los Angeles International Airport on September 21, 2012, \u00a0after her final flight.\u00a0 The\" \/>\n<meta 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