Gulf Pine Catholic • January 16, 2026 9 Private Croatia Yacht Charter and Tour June 7-14, 2026 Team@viagiotravel.com 228-871-5071 www.viagio.net 4013 Beatline Rd., Suite C, Long Beach, MS 39560 Charter Package includes: 7 Nights aboard new 160’ Luxury Yacht 2 delicious meals daily Welcome Reception Captain’s Dinner Service of 11 on board crew members 24/7 Local Concierge & Travel Assistant Bottled water Use of Motorized/Non-motorized water toys Touring Package also Available Limited Space Available! Contact us today! Hosted by Paige Lundgren and Sandi Favre of Viagio Travel Please contact us for pricing It was Thursday morning at 7 a.m., the temperature outside was 38 degrees. I bundled up to lessen the chill factor. It was still dark but a half-moon was available to guide any wayward traveler. The sky’s canopy was aglow with a myriad of stars, each reminding us that they can be guides for the weary and searching traveler. It is during such three mile morning walks that I have an opportunity to declutter my mind, put the day ahead in perspective and, possibly, entertain new thoughts and ideas that, following germination, might become the raw material for one of my upcoming columns. I had gone just a few hundred yards along the dimly lit rustic road, when it happened. Ahead of me, to the north, the star flickered like a fire cracker, and began its trail of disappearance as it fell to the earth. Moments later, just to the right of the falling star, another one flickered, and gradually burned its way to extension on its way to the earth’s atmosphere. Immediately, having experienced this once in my lifetime experience, the words of a song came to mind -- “Catch a falling star. Put it in your pocket. Never let it fade away. Catch a falling star. Put it in your pocket and keep it for a rainy day.” The song was a hit by Perry Como. I pocketed my experience of the falling stars and reflected on it for the rest of my morning journey. I thought it was ironic that I saw the falling stars a few days before the Feast of the Epiphany when the Wise Men, were led by their own star to the Christ Child. Maybe, deep down, my falling stars were reminding me that it is so easy to be caught up in the peripherals of life that I need to look a little deeper, put things in context and discover that the falling stars are inviting me to put the experience in my memory bank pocket and keep it for a rainy day. As I thought about the falling or “shooting star,” I began to reflect on its possible symbolism. While falling stars or shooting stars may have a natural symbolism associated with meteor showers; still, different and deeper spiritual meanings and connotations came to be associated with them. I remember, as a kid growing up in Ireland, what older people used to say about falling stars. Their explanation for the falling star was that it was a person’s soul going to heaven. I am sure that, even though the explanation was simplistic, it did give some assurance to a person of faith who might have lost a loved one recently. Some might associate seeing falling stars as a symbol of good luck or fortune to the viewer. Well! In my case, I didn’t make any new year resolutions that might bring me good luck and good fortune. I didn’t even wish upon that falling star that I might win the lottery, which is impossible because I never buy a ticket for it. But, then again, I will continue to be vigilant in case some good luck might visit me in the future. I would rather see my falling stars as a reminder of the bright lighted persons on my life’s journey who, in spite of their many rainy day experiences, still radiated a light that shone through the darkness and even overpowered it. The falling star can be a reminder that there will be “rainy” days ahead for all of us. But it also reminds us that, in our pocket, is that falling star that will support us and carry us through the rainy days. The scriptures are full of such reminders through the words “be not afraid” which occurs, ironically 365 times in the scriptures -- a reminder for each day of the year. The dark, secret, painful and wounded parts that inhabit parts of our lives can be caressed by that cascading stary light that glows in our pocket. My pocketed falling stars will generate a kind of holy space and place that will become a kind of sacramental encounter with the Divine who is Light from Light. SEE ACROSS THE POND, PAGE 10 Falling stars Across the Pond Father Tracey
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