4/1/22 - Friday Forget-Me-Nots by Jim Silcott

Photo Caption: Eighth Grade Camp!

Dear Our Lady of Peace Family,

In the summer before my 8th grade year, my Dad had purchased Deibels in German Village. I got a job as a bus boy making family minimum wage of one buck an hour.

I have to admit that I was a nerd in those days. Unathletic, a reader of too many books and a left over New York accent from my days on Long Island, I was certainly not one of the cool kids in my neghborhood or at Our Lady of Victory School. Working at Deibels at such an early age, seeing an exclusively adult world, especially on weekend nights was a great distraction from the solitude I felt with my peers.

Deibels was a hot spot in town back then. German Village was just coming into its own and the addition of a diminutive accordian play, Esther Craw, along with her sidekicks, Max, Adolph and Murray, along with a outdoor “bier garten” which was unique in those days, we had lines out the doors on the weekends waiting to come in and partake of the German food, the alcohol and the entertainment. Everyone seemed to have a good time. Everyone was relaxed and happy. This was different from my regular existence.

As now, the world back then, seemed to be in great turmoil. The Cold War, Vietnam, Biafra, just to name a few trouble spots. Somehow I got it into my head that all of the national and international troubles could be solved if we could get the leaders of the world to come to a night of singing and merry making. The more I saw the good times had at Deibels the more I was convinced that world peace could be achieved with a on gathering on Whittier Street.

I even went so far as to begin researching the countries of the world and their leaders. My thought was to make postcards and invite them all to Deibels on a date to be decided. Fortunately, this idea stayed in my head as opposed to out in the open. If my classmates thought I was weird already, this would have been the proverbial icing on the cake! But, you know what? I give my 13 year old self credit for at least being concerned about world peace.

Spring forward 53 years to last Friday when Father Dooley led our school in a decade of the rosary as an answer to a request from Pope Francis in assisting him to consecrate Russia and Ukraine to Mary. Many people derided this effort by the Pope and, by extension, our school, in praying for peace and a conversion of hearts. Some call if fanciful, superstitious and a completely useless exercise. But, unlike my naïve notion that getting world leaders together to eat, drink and singalong with Esther, prayer does actually work. It really does.

There are many in the world who never pray. There are many who go through the motions of reciting prayers in rote, thinking about other things as their lips move. But prayer is one of the most powerful gifts that God has granted to us. The ability to communicate directly with our God, whether alone or in community, when you really think about it, and even more, when you really do it, is extremely profound and significant.



Some people say that they pray and, because their prayers “are not answered,” there is no use. They don’t get what they pray for or they don’t see a vision to convince them that God is really there. Prayer is not entering items in a virtual basket on Amazon and waiting for God to deliver our package of wants and needs. Prayer is not a “Do me a favor, God.” Prayer is as much about changing our hearts as it is about God listening to our desires. Prayer changes things because prayer changes people. If we allow God into our hearts anything can happen.

We have tried so many things over the years to get along with one another. If everyone truly prayed, often, it could transform the world. And it is far more effective than a beer and a bratwurst. We should, every one of us, give it a try. Daily.

Jim Silcott