That time I found myself in the principalβs office because I screamed at the teacher who tried to put his hand up my shirt, then being assaulted again at home by my mother who accused me of βasking for itβ.
Did you ever find yourself in a situation that was so intense, everything around you ceased to exist? Itβs an extraordinary feeling, one thatβs difficult to explain without using every adverb and adjective and superlative in the English language.
The date was October 5, 1995 β a most inauspicious day β and yet I remember every detail of the events of that evening almost 30 years ago. At the time I was quite active in my church as a choir member, leader of song, and director of the childrenβs choir. Our adult choir was one of the best in the county and we were selected by Cardinal OβConnor of New York to sing for His Holiness Pope John Paul II during his visit to St. Josephβs Seminary in Yonkers, New York. When the Cardinal requests someoneβs services, it is an honor and should be treated as such.
For those of you old enough to remember Pope John Paul II, he was universally beloved and is now Saint John Paul II after his beatification on May 1, 2011. He possessed a spirituality that is rare among men, a divine nature of love, peace, kindness and forgiveness.
On that October day in β95, in the evening after vespers, it was arranged for John Paul II to have a walkabout around the grounds of the seminary. It was then that I had the greatest honor of my life .β¦ to meet His Holiness and to receive his blessing. The moment I placed my hand in his and looked into his most serene and forgiving blue eyes, I knew I was in the presence of a divine being. There is no other way to describe how I felt other than to say it was rapturous; I had never felt that way before or since.
I have led a charmed life when it comes to meeting famous people β¦. just a matter of being in the right place at the right time β¦. but there is nothing that will ever surpass this encounter.
Time and events have a way of changing our perspective and I am no longer a member of the Catholic Church; however, my break from Catholicism has not and never will change the events of October 5, 1995 nor how I felt that day. It is something that will remain with me until my final days on earth.
The Elephant's Trunk 