HIS FIRST PAIR OF GLASSES

[I wasn’t sure what to preach on this morning - so I read the readings for this 3^rd Sunday in Advent. I noticed the idea of seeing - seeing - was showing  up in all kinds of ways - seeing the desert bloom with flowers - a farmer seeing his fields  filled with crops as well as waiting for the rains -  seeing what John the Baptist and all that Jesus was doing - like the blind seeing - and I came up with the idea of seeing for this homily - so last night I wrote this story entitled, “His First Pair of Glasses.”]

He was 13 years old when he got his first pair of glasses.

His 2 older sisters both had perfect 20 - 20 eyesight - and never needed glasses.

It was his 8^th grade teacher who spotted him squinting. She wondered if that was the reason why he wasn’t getting straight A’s.  He seemed to be such a bright kid. What’s more this very teacher had both his sisters when they were in the 8^th grade and they were certainly big time A students.

So at the next Parents-Teachers meeting she asked Jack’s mom and dad - if they ever had Jack’s eyes tested.

“No,” they said, “but why do you ask?”

“Well,” the teacher said, “because he looks like he’s always squinting to see what he’s reading.”

“We never noticed that,” his dad said, “but we’ll have him checked.”

Sure enough Jack had really poor eyesight.

As a result Jack got his first pair of glasses.  He didn’t want contacts. He wanted glasses - real glasses. He figured they would look real cool,

They were black - distinguished black - smart looking black framed  glasses - and Jack loved them.

But better, much better, Jack began seeing all that he was missing at home and at school and in sports.

He put his wrist watch back on - because before that he couldn’t really see the numbers - so he had to ask others, “What time is it?”

He didn’t have a cell phone - and he didn’t know most kids used cell phones to tell time.

In basketball  he became a starter - averaging 11 points a game.  “Up till now,” he told one of his buddies, “I was scared to shoot - if I got into a game - because I really couldn’t see the basket.”

In school his marks improved almost immediately.

But those were obvious changes in a person who goes from horrible eyesight to 20 - 20 eyesight.

He now began noticing how his mom always touched his dad’s neck whenever she went by him at the dinner table. It was a love touch. “Nice” he thought.

He saw his mom also place her hand on his older sister Jessica’s shoulder - a sophomore in high school - when she was doing her homework or crossword puzzles. She was the only teenager he knew - who loved doing crossword puzzles.

He noticed his dad would always get up and give his oldest sister, Janet,  a hug whenever she came home. He didn’t do that to his other sister. Janet was a senior in high school and would be going off to college next September. Maybe this special hug was a hint that he would really be missing her next fall - after she leaves home - or was it because she his always his favorite?

He noticed one of his teachers completely ignored two kids in his class - who were special needs kids. As a result he found himself going over to eat lunch with them every day.

He noticed that one of the kids in his class seemed to have a hearing problem - but nobody said anything. So he told the kid, “You should ask your mom and dad to have your ears checked - to see if you need something to help you hear better.”

Then when he thought the kid was hesitating, Jack said, “See these glasses. I had really terrible eyes - and couldn’t see too well. Well,  our teacher suggested to my parents that I have my eyes checked. Sure enough, my eyes were bad, and now I see all kinds of things I never saw before.”

At church he noticed that the cross had the body of Jesus on it - while a cross in the school hall - where they sometimes had Mass - didn’t have a statue of  Jesus’ dead body on it. Why? He wondered why?

So he asked.

He found out that there was a crucifix in the hall with a Jesus statue on it. It fell one day - and Jesus broke into at least 2 dozen pieces.  So they decided to go with just a plane wooden cross - one without a body statue of the dying Jesus on it.

He learned: “Ask questions. Sometimes there are people who know answers.”

He looked up the word “eyeglasses” on Google on his computer and found out that they have a long history. In Egypt -  in the 5^th Century B.C. - that is, Before Christ - anthropologists and archaeologists - he looked up the difference between these two too - found evidence that folks used glass to magnify things.

Hey, it wasn’t till modern times that people had poor eyesight - so different folks down through the ages - fooled around with glass  and jewelry and even water - to see better - like the Chinese coming up with a type of sunglasses in the 12^th century - and Eskimos coming up with a type of snow goggles. He wondered about why people have different types of eyes.  He read that the first so called “eyeglasses” were said to have been invented in 1286. He read that Ben Franklin invented bifocals - maybe.

He found himself at age of 13 being very grateful for whoever invented eyeglasses - and wondered what he might invent or do with his life - when he got older - anthropologist, archaeologist, ophthalmologist, basketball pro. The whole world was ahead of him - to discover and to invent.

In quiet moments - he found himself - wishing he could thank those who invented and made all the things he took for granted till he got his eyeglasses - but most of those people were long dead.

Then it hit him - he could thank his parents - for all that they give him - and for his teacher who suggested that he might need eyeglasses - and that he did. Then he hit him that God who made it all - could be thanked every night for every day and every morning for every new day. Then it hit him , “If you can’t say ‘Thank you’ to those around us whom we can see - how can you thank God whom we cannot see?’”

Then one day in church he heard one of the readings saying that same thing in another way, “If you cannot love your brothers and sisters whom you can see - how can you say you love God whom you cannot see?”

At that he closed his eyes, took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and thanked God for everything. Then he put his totally black framed glasses back on - they were his first pair of glasses - and opened up his eyes to the whole world all around him - with a great smile on his face.