Friday, November 8, 2019

MY TEAM IS 8-0 and I am STILL a GOOD CATHOLIC

I have had some interesting interactions the last few weeks with the 'Super Catholic' crowd.  I am blessed, of course, because oftentimes my first reactions to their comments is to burst into laughter.  No, not because I am deriding them; rather, because I honestly think they are making a joke.  It is only later that I have to apologize to them for hurting their feelings and listen to what they are telling me so that I can respond with measured charity and a semblance of intelligence.

Their big worry right now is that I am committing a sin against the first three Commandments and so they are making sure I know how wrong it is to put something before God.

Why are they worried?

I am a huge football fan.  I just love the intricacies of the game.  No, I have never wanted to play it - it is far too rough a game for me - but I enjoy watching it, discussing strategy with people, cheering for my team and spending time with my mother who, at 98, is also a big football fan.

The favorite team in our family is the San Francisco 49rs.  We have rooted for them, as a family, since their founding in 1946.  While we do have a few heretics among us, we (including those who do not watch football) root for the Niners.  We root for them to win but we support them no matter what and for the past 15 years it has been a rough row to hoe for people like us.

This season we are having such a great time.  As of today - November 8th - we are the only undefeated team in the NFL.  That is huge for us.  We play the dreaded Seattle Seahawks this Monday night and we know it is going to be a tough, tough game.  What we also know, as Niner Faithful, that even if we lose we are going to cheer for our team and congratulate the opponents and then move on to the next game.  Win, lose or tie, Faithful.  Win, lose or tie....

My particular spiritual journey has room for this for one reason - it is not the most important thing in my life.  Is it important? You betcha.  I loves me my Niners, but is it the MOST important thing in my life?  Oh heck no and everyone who truly knows me knows that - my motto is GOD, Recovery, Family and Football.  That is how I roll.  Anyone who wants to walk beside me will be walking the same path or they will simply be wished well on THEIR journey - no harm, no foul.

So how does this particular lifestyle work?  How does a day in the life of someone like me unfold?

I begin my day with prayer.

Nothing in my life today would be what it is without my acknowledging my sins, my failings, my inability to do that which is for my highest good under my own power.  I cannot achieve anything without God, I know that, and so nothing really starts unless I take the time to tell My Father I need His Grace to do the deal.  My life, which He gives me, I offer back to Him.  I do this of my own free will, another amazing gift from The Creator.  To think that He who created me did so out of the kind of unconditional love that allows ME to make the decision to even acknowledge His existence?  That is mind boggling.

Once I walk through the door of Prayer  all manner of wonders become available to me.  I have the Mass, the Sacraments, the Wisdom of Holy Mother Church, the amazing support of those men and women who pray for me every day before the throne of the Most High and the devoted love of my mother, HIS mother that He so freely gave to the world as He hung dying on a cross.  I have all this and I thank Him for it.  To pray is to worship.  To study is to worship.  To preach is to worship.  To LOVE?  Yeah, guess what.....all things must be ordered towards God and that is my goal every day.  When I fall short of that, I sin.  When I start to think I matter more than God?  I head to the confessional.

I can absolutely understand people who think being devoted to a football team is somehow less than good - some people make all kinds of stuff their god, including their own intellect and will - and so when one of the Super Catholics takes the time to remind me that being a football fan is dangerous to my spirituality I try to remember they are on a path similar to mine.  They are trying to do the best they can with what they have and their worry is that someone like me is not going to get to heaven.

What I also try to remember is that they do not have to like what I like, do what I do or order their lives as I order mine.  I have many aspects to me that must be ordered - I have a disease that must be managed, I have loves that must be ordered and I am so grateful that I am finding a way to do just that within the Arms of Holy Mother Church.

I give thanks today that my life is rich and full.  I pray for those who are wandering and cannot always find their way through the fog that the world presents to them.  I am grateful I found The Lighthouse that is Jesus Christ and His Church.

And I pray that we hand the Seahawks a loss on Monday night.

GO NINERS!


PS - Happy birthday, Stephen.  May God continue to bless you, one day at a time.




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