In 1890, the same year the state of Idaho was admitted to the union, St. Teresa’s Academy was founded by the Sisters of the Holy Cross.  The sisters are still here (at St. Alphonsus’ Hospital) and St. Teresa’s Academy is still here, under a new name: Bishop Kelly High School.  Both the hospital and the high school moved from downtown to their present location.  The 125^th anniversary (in Latin, Quasquicennial) is a time of remembering.  No one now alive was here in 1890, but some of you do have memories of St. Teresa’s.  From everyone I know who went there , the memories are pleasant.  Most of you remember your time at Bishop Kelly.  I taught here forty years ago, and I remember that time.  But, I was not a student here.  I graduated from St. Mary’s High School in Berkeley.  My memory of these years are quite vivid.  It seems we form more memories of our high school years than any other time—with the exception being in war.  (There are some similarities, but high school is a lot safer.)

There is something neurological about the development of the adolescent brain that so vividly retains memories of high school.  I have a lifelong difficulty of remembering people’s names—even when we’ve just been introduced.  But I remember the names of my high-school classmates.  We remember events and people of high school, not always’ pleasant, but always indelible.  Despite the passage of the years, 10, 20, or 50 years ago, being turned down for a date or making the game-winning point; it all remains with us.

Those of us fortunate to have had a good education have had our lives many times blessed, especially if that education was a Catholic school.  One thing the church does well is educate the young.  It’s part of the command of Christ to go and teach all nations.  All during the existence of St. Teresa’s and for the first 5 years of Bishop Kelly, the liturgy of the Mass was in Latin.  There’s a Latin phrase repeated frequently in the Eucharistic prayer: memento, translated as remember.

                                Remember lord your church

                                Remember Pope Francis, Bishop Peter and all the clergy

                                Remember those who have died

In Greek, these “rememberings” are called the anamnesis and are an essential part of the Mass.  This is why we Catholics include important events into the Mass.  Among other things, it connects us with the entire past, with the living and all the dead—all of whom are literally summoned by our remembering them.  Thus, the power of memory.

4 times in today’s gospel, Jesus uses the phrase “come down from heaven”.  It is instinctive to think of heaven to be “up”.  That would clearly be the view of 1^st century people.  God is in his heaven and heaven is “up”.  Yet, in our own time, we have an evolved view, based in large part by our new perspective of the earth and the solar system and the expanding universe we now know.

This is probably the most well-known photograph in history.  It is often called “The Blue Marble Shot”.  Taken on Dec 7, 1972, by one of three astronauts on Apollo 17.  No one knows exactly who took the picture, but it is the first photo taken of the whole round Earth and the only one snapped by a human being.

We are here. “Up” can be from any direction. There is a difference between “heaven” and “eternal Life”. To be sure, it is often evoked only at funerals.  But heaven is not a place and eternal life is not the same as life after death.

Heaven is a state of existence- an encounter with God- a possibility during our life on earth.

Jesus says whoever believes in him has eternal life. The present tense is the operative word. Has it now.

On June 30^th of this year, I was listening to a particularly frustrating meeting- on live stream. I became increasingly agitated and turned it off. Then, as I had planned to do, I took my telescope outside and focused on the western sky, shortly after sunset.

In a rare event, the planet Jupiter, Venus and earth were in alignment. One could clearly see Jupiter- the largest planet in our solar system, slightly above and to the right of Venus.

Jupiter is over 500 million miles from earth. Seemed like a pin point. Venus is much closer, some 300 plus million miles away.

The more I looked, the less important the polemics of the meeting- or anything else. The perspective changes in the broad expanse of space.

Thank you for being here this morning and giving us your living affirmation of what we do at BK. Everyone who graduates from here has a solid foundation for the future and vast reservoir of memories.

With expanded experience and broader perspective, you will continue to build on these memories and are ready to see God on earth and be ready to see him after our time on earth.

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