Chapter Two-Reflecting and Reconnecting
Thursday, April 19, 2007
This evening, Emmanuel College, located in Boston, Massachusetts hosted a previously advertised lecture event. I graduated from Emmanuel College in May 1975, four years after I graduated from high school. Before attending the scheduled lecture in the library auditorium, I entered Cardinal Cushing Library, located on the college campus. Being here caused me to wonder whether revisiting the reading and studying place would evoke any personal memories.
Slowly, I visually panned the library environment. While doing so, and looking through a very large, long, two-story high, paned library window facing The Fenway—a downtown Boston neighborhood located near Kenmore Square that includes walking-accessible beautified parks and adjacent attractive medium-tall professional and residential buildings—I observed religious as well as lay professors individually tutoring students; both were seated facing library study tables or sitting near desktop computers. Unaccompanied students, who were reading or studying, were also present in the library.
Wondrous was seeing many computer devices, which became widely used in the mainstream of society in the 1990s. Neither desktop nor laptop computers were present on college campuses in the 1970s, except those having been installed in small numbers within large universities. Tonight, while standing inside Cushing Library, I recalled meeting the honoree of Cardinal Cushing Library, the late Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Richard Cushing, on Easter Sunday, in 1961. I was seven years old. Unexpectedly, the memory of encountering a senior leader in the Catholic Church, who presided over the diocese of Boston, reignited me.
Easter Sunday morning, in 1961, after driving into Boston, Massachusetts, Reagan family attended the 9:00 a.m. service at St. Anthony Shrine, which was a High Mass. The primary celebrant, Cardinal Richard Cushing, clerically led the full ceremonial service, which included music, incense, and assistance from fellow priests. Several deacons assisted Cardinal Cushing. As Reagan family members entered the cathedral, there were no accessible seats; only standing room was available. Mom was probably holding one-year-old infant Valerie, as she accompanied Dad, sister Lizzie, then eight years old, brother Jared, then four years old, and me.
After Easter Sunday Mass celebration, Cardinal Cushing and fellow Mass celebrants, who were walking behind him, proceeded toward the entrance of St. Anthony Shrine. As Cardinal Cushing and I greeted one another, he extended his left hand toward me. I bent slightly forward and kissed a large solid gold ring he was wearing, which had been placed on his left-hand ring finger. Exhibiting a square-shaped setting, the noticeable ring contained red ruby gemstones.
In the 1950s, kissing a ring that a Cardinal was wearing, which identified a Cardinal as such, was a Catholic tradition; performing the gesture was viewed as a symbol of trusting and respecting Catholic Church values as well as leadership of the church. When the tradition ended, I do not know. Before I kissed the ring Cardinal Cushing was wearing, I looked upward and toward him. He was smiling. Profound kindness, compassion, and mercy he emanated touched me, instantly. I was pierced, with holy fear. Experiencing intense uncertainty, I trusted that no harm would befall me. This exemplifies true holy fear. Holy fear is also known as true love.