OH,  SAY WHAT YOU SEE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this final St. Mary’s high school Mass for this school year is, “Oh, Say What You See.”

If you go to a Baltimore Orioles game - and other many games in Maryland, when they sing the Star Spangled Banner - the crowd likes to yell out that “Oh!”

The title of my homily is, “Oh, Say What You See.”

The title of many of our frustrations is, “Oh say can’t  you see what I’m seeing?”

The title of many of our family arguments and relationship problems is, “Oh!  Can’t you see what I see?  Oh! Can’t you see, get, understand, how I see this?”

COMMUNICATION

Life is saying what we see - what we perceive - what we get.

What do we talk about when we talk about life?

We tell each other what we’re seeing.

So and so is dating so and so.

Teacher X is fabulous. Teacher Y is so so. Teacher Z is interesting.

Did you see who’s pregnant? She looks so beautiful. He looks so happy.

I hope to see St. Michael’s this weekend. We’re sailing down there on Saturday morning. I hope the weather will be okay - but nice and windy.

I hope we see some dolphins.

I hope the weather is clear. On a clear day you can see forever.

We spend our whole life  looking. We spend our whole life go figuring - first telling ourselves what we’re seeing - and then we tell others.  It’s called “thinking”.  It’s called “communication”. “It’s called “life.”

The 3 rules for a good marriage are: communication, communication, communication.

The person who came up with that must have saw people not communicating.

The person who came up with that must have people seeing differently that each other - wearing different glasses, contacts, eye balls.

SCHOOL

School - education - learning is all about learning how to see.

Schools are vision centers.

When we go to the eye doctor or a vision center they show us these letters through these prisms - which is better, this or that, this or that.

We hesitate - but sometimes that is much clearer.

When we are learning - we are learning is this picture better than that picture - that vision.

Our eyes change as we go through life.

Do all of you see better in May than what you saw last September - and that seeing includes your family, your friends, life, the environment, a sport, chemistry, calculus, society, social studies, God, your neighbors, and money?

Every year St. Mary’s, St. John’s, the Naval Academy, and all the schools of Annapolis, have folks coming back for anniversaries.

We all see differently at our 25^th anniversary than we saw when we graduated or got married.

A couple of years ago I went with two classmates to go through Montana for two weeks - a drive through vacation - to see the Lewis and Clark spots on the 200^th anniversary.  The 3 of us talked about what we saw in the 3 different spots we served: Clem in Brazil, Tom in the Caribbean, and myself in the United States.

“Oh, say what you see.”

It was a great vacation - and we saw a lot more than Montana.

ROOMS

In today’s gospel from John 14: 1-6 Jesus says, “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.”

That’s talking about the hereafter - which we imagine - but nobody has ever seen.

At the end of today’s gospel Jesus tells his disciples, his followers, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”

If I hear Jesus saying anything, he’s telling us how to get to heaven.

If I hear Jesus saying anything, he’s also telling us how to see better - how to see ways of doing life better - in the here and now.

If I see the purpose of St. Mary’s Schools - it’s that we all see Jesus’ way of doing life.

Looking back on what I’ve seen in life, I’ve seen young people come to the edge, the threshold of many dwelling places - they stand there and look - to see what they see in that room.  Their faces sendoff signals and messages - that I see with my eyes and my face. Smiles or scowls. Votes: Yes or No.

I see them whisper and head out the door.  They didn’t see anything they liked or what the leader liked.

I remember a mother telling me about taking her son to different high schools to see which one he thought would be a good fit. He didn’t like what he saw in the first school they visited.  He said to his mom, “These are not my people.  The next place was perfect.  He saw what he liked - and said,  “Now these are my kind of people.”

What do you see?

You go to different colleges to see what you see.

Sometimes your parents see differently.

Sometimes you have to, you better see, with your wallet or pocket book.

Young couples get jobs around here. Where to life. They see Annapolis - the water, the streets, the bars, the red bricks, the schools.  As priest I hope they see the churches - of whatever religion they belong to.

What do you see.

If you’re in a room you don’t like, if you’re with a leader, you really don’t like, do you have the courage, to get out of there and find a better room.

I’m a priest, I saw priests and I liked what they were doing, so I entered that room - that dwelling place.

If I didn’t choose being a priest, since I like writing, I think I could see myself as a newspaper and magazine writer reporter. Actually I ended up being able to do both.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “Oh Say What You See.”

How do you see yourself now - at the end of another school year.

How do you see your summer.

How do you see next year.

How do you see yourself in 25 years.

How do you see yourself entering heaven - and how do you see God seeing you.