I like to stop in New York and go see a Broadway play or a play and a Yankee game like last year. This year my flight was getting in at 730 pm, and with customs and all..... So when Ed Poth posed that I could spent the evening at his brother's parish, I was thinking sleep and free, yippee!!!!
It turned out to be much more than that. First, I had a short connection time in London (only an hour and five minutes), as the plane took longer and longer to get to the gate, I started to get nervous, not only would I miss my connection, but I would also not get my exit row seat on the next flight....OUCH. So I sweet talked the flight attendant, got to 2nd in line when the door came open and ran through Heathrow. They have individual walkways and we were at the end, so I literally ran half a mile, and then to Security Point B, where I had to almost strip and start running again, but then I got to the gate, and the gate agent said she was sorry. I said, "I missed it?" and she said, "No, sir, we have not begun boarding yet." So I was on the flight. Again the flight time from Entebbe to JFK was 5 hours less this year, but after back to back flights, I was very uncomfortable when I got to JFK. It was a real pleasure to see Fr. Tom and his deacon waiting for me. It is always these small favors at the right time that seem the best to me. They asked if I wanted food, and I said no, and we arrived at the rectory 5 minutes later, they are close to JFK. Soon Tom let me use his phone to contact Allison Chavanon and check in with home. While I was making those calls in his office, I jumped on Yahoo and again "saw" my Cardinals winning live. Both calls went great, and back to the living room, where I watched Baseball Tonight after they had gone to bed. It was great. I tried to stay asleep as long as possible and made it to 5 am NY time, so I feel good about tonight.
I had made plans to go with Father Tom to 845 mass the next morning. His parish, St. Mary's Gate of Heaven in Queens has Mass in a small chapel just like my dad and mom attend every morning in St. Louis at St. Dominic's. I think with the time zone change, both Masses might have been going on at the same time---spiritual mojo. Anyway, Father Tom was very gracious in introducing me and telling his parishioners what I was doing. It was a great Mass, Gate of Heaven is an old Italian neighborhood in Queens that now is bustling with many new immigrants and many new nationalities.
The reading was about the shepherd who chases the lost sheep out of 100, while the other 99 are safe. Father Tom honored me by tying in this reading with my work at Invisible Children. His line to close the sermon was we should all "Make the invisible, visible in our hearts." It was a wonderful way to put an epilogue on this trip.
Allison Chavanon and her boyfriend Jeff picked me up from Father Tom's from Jersey, and he suggested a Cuban restaurant down the street. We walked and it was fantastic, got to meet Jeff for the first time, and Allison and I renewed some 2008 Africa stories while talking about this year. It was funny during our conversations the night before, we got disconnected because her cell phone died. I tried to call her, but she just dialed me back on a different phone on the number I was calling from... Father Tom answered the phone, "Gates of Heaven", and then found me and handed me the phone. Allison was laughing and asked, "Did I just call heaven?"
Finally, got to JFK in plenty of time, when Michelle called my name, so know instead of thinking what am I going to do for more than an hour, I was able to write this.
My goal for the next month is to try to live by Father Tom's words, "I want to make all the invisibles (the poor, the hungry, the shy freshman, the forgotten), visible in my heart.
So thanks to Father Tom and all the kind parishioners and staff, Allison and Jeff, and to Michelle, it was a great Quinn Martin epilogue (don't worry youngsters you are not supposed to understand that last joke).
John
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