UNFORGETTABLE SCENES

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for the 19^th Monday in Ordinary Time  is, “Unforgettable Scenes.”

Before dementia, we can sit back and sort out some unforgettable scenes from our lifetime.

That’s one of the great gifts we have as human beings: our ability to remember - especially our unforgettable scenes.

Memories  ….  Moments .... Scenes from a lifetime ....

TODAY’S TWO READINGS

Today’s two readings trigger that thought.

The first reading from Ezekiel has some electric images: huge clouds, strong storm winds from the north, flashing fires in the sky. It also has sounds - as if the sky was filled with images that looked human - but with wings.  I picture 1,000 gulls squeaking at the shore - if you ever saw that.  Then Ezekiel sees a throne - like a sapphire - with someone seated  on it - filled with fire and light. Then he sees a rainbow. [Cf. Ezekiel 1: 2-5, 24-28c.]

The gospel has Jesus telling his disciples about his future - being killed and rising on the 3^rd day. Then there is the fish story about having to pay taxes and they toss a hook into the lake and they catch a fish - with a coin in its mouth worth twice the temple tax. [Cf. Matthew 17: 11-27.]

QUESTION

What have been your great life scenes? What have been your memorable scenes.

Pick 10. It’s a good exercise. It’s good discussion stuff with one another.

Here are 10 scenes in my life. I did my homework. Practice what you preach. These are in no particular order - and I have hundreds more. 

I had a crazy morning, so I read the readings and thought this might be interesting homework.

#1  Four of us in a light blue car drove from New York City to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.  The plan was to drive till we saw mountains. We went 32 hours straight - switching drivers every 2 hours - stopping for bathroom breaks and hamburger breaks. We crossed the border into Eastern Colorado. It was evening. There were the mountains finally. We parked the car on a dirt road - next to a field - got out - pitched our tents and went to sleep.  We woke up the next morning surrounded by cows and looked out from our tents and saw no mountains. It was a mirage. What we thought were mountains the night before simply were clouds in the west.

#2 We climbed Mount Alice. There we were - us 4 priests - trying to climb up to the top of what was called Mount Alice. It was part of the Continental Divide. We didn’t make it. 2 guys below us took pictures - but we didn’t know till we looked at the pictures when we got back - that we were very close. We took another way the next day - got to the top of Mount Alice. Surprise! What we thought would be a tiny peak - some 14,000 feet up - was a gigantic boulder field - the size of 3 football fields.

#3.  On a Mediterranean cruise, we took a bus and then walked up to the edge of Vesuvius above Naples, Italy and looked down into a deep crater that had smoke coming up  our of different fissures.

#4. I was giving a priests’ retreat on the other side of Lake Poncetraine - on the other side from New Orleans and I was walking outside by myself early in the morning - and a man in a car came into the property - went into a cemetery - and I was walking towards him - and he had a gun and shot himself to death while standing in front of a statue of Mary.

#5 I was with my brother in his sailboat in the Chesapeake - not too far out from the Naval Academy and we were able to go right up close to a nuclear submarine.

#6 Mary Decker. I was at Madison Square Garden one night for the Millrose Games and we saw Mary Decker break the world indoor record for the 10,000 meter run and somewhere around 7000 meters the whole of Madison Garden stood up and cheerer her on.

#7 I saw the Codex Sinaticus - in the British Library in London.

#8 I saw 1 million people all together  in Washington DC for fireworks on the evening of July 4^th, 1976.

#9 I once gave a sermon to 15,000 people - one evening - in a park in Reading PA and couldn’t see any of the people in front of me. The  stage had a pond in front of us - and bright, bright lights shining in our faces.

#10 I saw the New York Marathon a couple of times. The one I picture was the first time I saw the Marathon. We were standing there on 4^th Avenue in Brooklyn - and suddenly we could hear the helicopters overhead - then the lead runners coming off the Verrazano Bridge - then over 20,000 people ran by us.

CONCLUSION

Those are 10 of my unforgettable sights. There are a lot more. What are your 10 more.