"First Man": Armstrong and Hail Mary

Last night I was a captive audience on a plane ride.  I had brought something to read, but just felt like watching a movie or something so I scrolled through the options and came across the movie "First Man".  This movie is about the Apollo 11 mission, and stars Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong.  It was OK.

I was drawn to the First Man movie in the first place because of what I have written here of late.  When I saw First Man, I thought right away of this story where Faramir-Eonwe becomes this 'first man' of sorts to cross the "Many Waters" and land himself in Eressea.  I put first man in quotes here because it would not be the first time, I don't think, that a Man would have landed on or around the vicinity of Aman and Eressea, but it will be a first of sorts for us as modern man in our current condition, I think.

Anyway, as I am watching, Neil Armstrong's name became very interesting to me.  Armstrong.  In my story, Faramir-Eonwe is both thought of and represented as a 'strongman'.  I made allusions to that in my post on Voice of Saruman, and also referenced there William Tychonievich's strange image he posted of Arnold Schwarzenegger fleeing from a temple, which matched up well to both my story and the imagery in the "Run, Boy, Run!" music video.  Arnold Schwarzenegger is clearly portrayed there as a 'strongman'.

So, we have strong.  What about arm?

It was an tangent reference I made, so probably has not been noticed by any reader, but I also have in a past post suggested that Faramir-Eonwe, as also one of the Holy Ghost twins, is sometimes referred to as the 'arm' of the Lord, who would be revealed at some future point.  Here is my original statement from the post (found here):

As listed above, I believe this Being - the sent one - is the Holy Ghost, who we see in multiple incarnations on this Earth.  This Being is also referred to as 'the arm of the Lord' in various places, and this is why we see so many incarnations of this person.  This 'arm' will be revealed in the Last Days, meaning that we will understand who this person is and the many incarnations they have had in representing Eru.  It is at this revealing, I think, that you have the Holy Ghost fulfill the specific missions that Jesus said he would do as stated in my earlier post on John 14-16.  Although the Holy Ghost was active on this Earth in various incarnations prior to Jesus' birth, he will not have incarnated again until it is time to wrap things up and transition to the next phase of this story.  Jesus' return to Heaven was necessary, in part, to give further instruction, guidance, and advice to the Holy Ghost in preparation for this.

Anyway, so we have Faramir-Eonwe as both a strongman, and also an 'arm.  A strong-arm, or Armstrong.  Interesting right?

A reader of other posts would also note that I have Faramir-Eonwe as Michael, among others, as well, and that Michael Jackson has come across as a symbol or representation of him a few times.  Interestingly enough, I said this about Michael-Faramir-Eonwe-etc in my post titled Michael Jackson and the Stone:

The other thought that hits me right now as I type is that those white socks that Michael Jackson wore were made iconic in his famous 'Moonwalk' dance move, and I have mentioned in other posts that Faramir will indeed go on a 'moonwalk' of sorts.   This also ties with a song that I had going on in my head both yesterday and this morning called "One Foot" by a band called none other than "Walk the Moon".  Is that you, Fairies?   

Seems like an interesting connection also.  I mentioned that this Being will go on a 'moonwalk', cited the band "Walk the Moon" and their song "One Foot" (perhaps a double meaning for the famous single footprint image left by Armstrong on the moon), and here we have not only in a movie, but in actual real life events (you know, if you actually believe it happened...), Neil Armstrong, whose name points to Michael (is it Neil or Kneel?), going on Man's first moonwalk.

Hail Mary

So, this morning there were a bunch of little dreams, things, etc.  In one instance, a word was held up for me to see and I stared at it for a long time thinking it was important I remember so I could look it up.  But, of course, I forgot it.

However, in another instance, I heard a very clear phrase:   Holy Mary, Mother of God

I recognized this as a Catholic phrase, and looked it up in order to see what else was there (it wasn't readily apparent to me what this phrase was attached to, if anything).  I am not familiar with the phrase outside of reading or hearing it in books or movies, usually as part of a prayer, usually it seems in some kind of need.

Anyways, I found it on the Vatican site as part of the Hail Mary, which goes like this:

Hail, Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

I didn't see much there that was really relevant, and so dropped the thought.  I returned to it pretty quickly when I realized the opening line was "Hail, Mary, full of grace".  My mind turned away from any Catholic thinking, and I went to American football, of all things.

In football, there is a type of play called the Hail Mary, popularized in 1975 by NFL quarterback Roger Staubach in a game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Minnesota Vikings.  I say 'play' loosely, because basically it just involves a desperation thrown to the endzone with little or no time left on the game clock in hopes that a receiver will catch it and score a touchdown.  Staubach started the phrase when they asked him about the throw after the game, alluding to the Hail Mary prayer.  It is synonymous with situations that would take a miracle, with perceived low-probability of success.  Here is the 1975 Hail Mary (actual play starts at 1:44).

This  football line of thinking actually seemed more promising, at least in support of both the story and why that phrase was used.

What will happen with these Stones will be a miracle.  A literal miracle.  It will occur as time is perceived to be running out, and in which the odds of a victory for Good seem quite long indeed, perhaps.  It will involve a ball (or Stone in this case), that ball flying in the air a fairly long way, and a touchdown.  

The touchdown is what brings me full circle back to Neil Armstrong, First Man, and voyages to other worlds.  In football, a score is called a touchdown.  Touch down is also used in other situations, and in this case, occurs when an aerial craft, whether plane, rocket, whatever, makes landing.  In these circumstances, the craft is said to 'touch down'.

Notre Dame, a prestigious Catholic university in the US, has a pretty good college football team.  They even seem to be in on this metaphor.  At one end of their stadium they have a giant mosaic that is universally called Touchdown Jesus.  The mosaic actually does not sit in the stadium at all, but rather on a university building outside (here is an image of the mosaic on the library building, and also how it is viewed from inside the stadium).

It is called Touchdown Jesus because not only is it aligned to one endzone, but Jesus is also raising both arms, which is the signal referees give when a team scores a touchdown.

Anyway, who knows the real reason part of the Hail Mary prayer went through my head this morning (perhaps no reason at all), but this is where the thought and story took me.