10/2/20 - Friday Forget-Me-Nots by Jim Silcott

Photo Caption: Some of our seventh graders making music without singing or instruments!

Dear Our Lady of Peace Family:

I had the most wonderful dream last night. May I share it with you?

• I dreamed that only bank robbers, super heroes and kids at Halloween wore masks.
• I dreamed that the sound of someone coughing was annoying at best and not a sign that the poor individual should be put in isolation.
• I dreamed that I went to a restaurant with my family and we all sat close together around one table while other diners sat close by with their families and friends and everyone was laughing and eating and smiling and the waitress smiled too and you could see her smile because she wore no mask.
• I dreamed that I went to Church and it was crowded and I shook hands with the person next to me at the sign of peace and we all sang with abandon.
• I dreamed that a runny nose was the start of a joke- “Then you had better go catch it!”
• I dreamed that I was on a walk on a beautiful fall afternoon on a tree lined sidewalk admiring the changing color of the leaves with my wife. and another couple approached us coming in the opposite direction and none of us panicked and anxiously tried to decide who should move onto the grass or the street to adhere to six feet of social distance.
• I dreamed that I went to a high school football game on a clear, crisp autumn night and both teams were playing hard and parents and students were cheering rouckously in the packed bleachers and the cheerleaders were leading their fans in silly spirit songs and the band was playing loudly and mostly on key and I didn’t have to lower a mask to eat my hotdog or drink my hot chocolate.
• I dreamed that I could walk into the Assisted Living facility where my Dad lives and I could actually sit in his room and we could talk and reminisce.

And, because it was a long night my dream continued.



• I dreamed that our political leaders, democrat and republican, conservative and liberal, sat down with each other and agreed that they must work together to solve the problems of our country.
• I dreamed that I turned on the television news show and no one shouted at each other.
• I dreamed that Twitter and Texts and emails were suddenly no longer working and people had to have an actual conversation with each other or use the phone to actually speak or sit down and write each other a letter.
• I dreamed that I no longer saw poor people standing on the freeway exit because everyone had enough to eat and a warm bed in which to sleep.
• I dreamed that the 21 story James Cancer Hospital had to shut down for lack of business and the rooms were converted to dorms for college students.
• I dreamed that the world valued all of its people from the unborn to the elderly and we loved one another as we would like to be loved.

And, as my dream ended I realized that when I am told time and time again that my job as a Christian is to work towards the building of His Kingdom here on earth, that my dream was a glimpse of what that Kingdom looks like, and that even if some of these parts of my dream would come true that I would know and appreciate the presence of God in my life and others would as well.

When I went to Mass this morning with the third, fourth and fifth graders I heard this verse in the responsorial psalm: “I can see the goodness of the Lord in the lands of the Living.” Dreams do come true.

Jim Silcott