The Movie and the Cathedral

I had the honor of attending a Kansas City Film Festival showing of "When I Last Saw Jesse", a documentary entry about the disappearance of Jesse Ross on November 21, 2006, from the Sheraton Hotel in Chicago.  Jesse, and his brother Andy, had been students at O'Hara when I was the dean of students.  I remember Jesse as a bit of a quirky kid who was a solid student, a Boy Scout, a lover of music and some practical jokes.  He had close friends but he was not a member of the "popular crowd" and that suited him just fine.  A kid with red hair and freckles, his friends and family called him "Opie."  After graduation, Jesse attended UMKC.  There he joined the Model Union program, the organization that brought him to Chicago as a freshman in 2006.  And, in Chicago he simply vanished, disappearing after a late night session from the Sheraton Hotel.  The film featured interviews with Jesse's family and his OHS friend, Ralph Parker (who tragically died in a car accident in 2010).  Several former OHS teachers attended the screening as did Jesse's mom and dad and some family members, most of whom I did not recognize.  It was heartbreaking and sad and caused me to wonder anew, "what happened" and perhaps more importantly, "why did this happen?"  Jesse was clearly in the wrong place at the wrong time.  His parents have never recovered from their loss and the disappearance continues to haunt them and his family.  The great "why?" will always haunt me as well.  

And, then, yesterday, a Monday, I learned that the great cathedral of Notre Dame had burned.  Fortunately, it did not burn to the ground but the simple fact that something almost 1000 years old had burned, had been seriously and perhaps permanently damaged, rocked my world.  Cathedrals aren't meant to fall down; they were built to last, as a tribute to the God for whom they were built and for the people who did the building.  People don't last.  Relationships don't always last.  Most material things of this world do not last.  But, the Cathedral was something through which we could glimpse "forever".  It would always be there; I could visit it when I retired or when I had time or when I wanted to because it wasn't going anywhere.  And, suddenly, at the beginning of Holy Week, it's not gone, but it's definitely not whole either.  I'm not French and I've never visited Paris but somehow the loss of the Cathedral, like Jesse's loss all those years ago, makes me less certain of the world.  I who am always optimistic and confident am suddenly less so and I don't like it.  I like my world being stable and predictable.  Of course, friends die and move and jobs and circumstances change but people don't disappear without a trace and cathedrals don't fall down.  Except they did.  And, I don't like it.  

Some of My Favorite Sayings and Quotes

I am most definitely my father's daughter.  Dad had a host of colorful sayings that I can still remember.  You need that like a Hog needs Easter.  Nervous as a whore in church.  Up a creek without a paddle.  Out in left field, balls falling all around him.  And there were SO many more.

I love a pithy phrase and a good quote.  These are some of my favorites.

"It's easier to ask forgiveness than permission."  (I've run a LOT of my life using that simple rule which I first heard from Archbishop O'Hara's long time bookkeeper, Mary Quanty, when I asked her oh so many years ago if it was okay to dispose of several old adding machines that hadn't seen service since the late 1960s.)  Ah, she said, "no one will know and it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission."

"Trust, but verify."  Ronald Reagan

"Keep Swimming"  Dory

One that I recently discovered completely resonates with me.  "Love many, trust few, and always paddle your own canoe."  (Sometimes my penchant for independence drives my family and loved ones crazy, but long ago, I decided that "paddling my own canoe" was the only way I could be certain of arriving at my destination.  I learned this one the hard way as an Admissions Counselor for Rockhurst University back in 1982-1983.  One of my first assignments was the Catholic College week program in Omaha, Nebraska, and I was up there for my very first official visit at a college program at Mount Michael outside Omaha.  Since there were many of us, we were traveling together and we decided to eat first before arriving at Mount Michael.  Well, the food was late, we were late, Father Chris (I believe) was highly upset!  I always drove my own car from that point forward!)

"When you come to the edge of all the light you know, and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing one of two things will happen:  There will be something solid to stand on or you will be taught how to fly."  Barbara J. Winter

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.  Attitude, to me, is more important than facts.  It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do.  It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill.  It will make or break a company, a church, a home.  The remarkable thing is we have a choice very day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.  We cannot change our past, we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way.  We cannot change the inevitable.  The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude.  I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.  And so it is with you.  We are in charge of our Attitudes".  Charles Swindoll

Hope is a golden cord connecting you to heaven.  This cord helps you hold your head up high, even when multiple trials are buffeting you.  Hope lifts your perspective from your weary feet to the glorious view you can see from the high road.  You are reminded that the road we're traveling together is ultimately a highway to heaven.  I am training you to hold in your heart a dual focus:  My continual Presence and the Hope of Heaven.  Sarah Young
(I have always thought that St. Paul perhaps had it wrong.  Love, hope, and faith abide and the greatest of these is Love.  For me, I think it's Hope.  It's what gets me up in the morning and keeps me going!)