Tuesday, June 14, 2022

Confirmation "Coaches"

 


At the rehearsal for today’s celebration, I promised the confirmands a homily about sports, mentioning my long history as an athlete. Now I have to tell you, only one student laughed, and I think he was a bit embarrassed. I, on the other hand, was pleased that at least one of the students I was confirming was honest!  

(My father says that as soon as I had my picture taken in my hockey uniform in grade five, I was finished with the sport and thereafter the jersey was used as a Halloween costume for my siblings.)

Anyway, despite my famous – infamous – lack of athletic ability, it’s been my privilege and pleasure to know three professional athletes in the course of my priesthood.

The first was Jamie Taras of the BC Lions - a wonderful man that I knew at the height of his playing career despite the fact that I don’t know the difference between a touchdown and a field goal.

The second was Trevor Linden, who became a good friend at the height of his hockey career even though I don’t know the difference between icing and offside.

I learned much from these two men - but not as much as I learned from a second BC Lion, whom I certainly didn’t know at the height of his playing career – which came when I was nine years old. His name is Don Vicic.

Don Vicic, a parishioner at St. Anthony’s, played for the BC Lions and won the Grey Cup with them in 1964. Before that he played college football with a very successful team, Ohio State University, whose coach was so famous that even I knew his name.

When Don Vicic came to speak to our men’s group last week at what we call the “godly hour” of 6:00 am, his title was “My Three Coaches,” so I prepared to be bored because I wouldn’t know who they were except for his college coach. He surprised me enormously and delighted me when it turned out I knew two of his three coaches. And, in fact, they had nothing to do with sports.

These “coaches” were those he counted as his teachers and heroes. And the first was a parishioner at Christ the Redeemer, with whom I worked before I was a priest and whose funeral I celebrated right here. His name was George O’Leary.

George was a truly gracious and remarkable man who fought in the Pacific and was almost killed three times.

Don greatly admired this business leader – this fellow Catholic. So he went and told George he was preparing to retire. George said, “Don, you need a vision in retirement or you will be dead in three years. You need goals so clear you can see them!”

So, a dozen years ago, Don made these goals: “to grow my spiritual life, my health, my wealth, and my education.” The last of these he did by visiting 125 battlefields from both the first and second World Wars.

That was twelve years ago, and Don says they have been the best years of his life.

To keep my homily short, I will skip the second coach, who was an author and a life skills coach who gave Don some wonderful advice including “avoid negative thoughts” which the author calls “ANTS”. He calls expressing thanks to others an ANT-eater, which is a pretty good image for those of us who try to have an attitude of gratitude.

So far so good: I knew 50% of his coaches and their advice seemed solid.

And then he came to the third. Someone I not only knew but know. Don Vicic told us that his greatest coach and greatest hero was Jesus Christ.

He said, “it took me forty-five years to get there… I never understood the personal relationship with Jesus.” Forty-five years of churchgoing, forty-five years of supporting his parish, forty-five years of good family life, and he hadn’t met Jesus in a way that would fully guide and inspire and direct this fine man who wanted to be better – who wanted life to be fuller.

Often I think whether you’re young or older, we feel that we have a duty to know the Lord or even an obligation, a word I hate. What Don understood was that we have an opportunity, we have a privilege, we have a joy.

I think even the most religious person – and certainly those getting confirmed – has a right to ask, “What’s in it for me? What difference does it make with this Holy Spirit stuff?”

Here’s Don Vicic’s answer, “If I had known Christ personally when I was twenty, I’d have been a better athlete. If I had known Christ personally when I was twenty, I’d have been a better businessman, father and husband.”

This is someone who was a great athlete, a great businessman, a fine father and husband, saying that if he had known Jesus forty-five years earlier he says he would have been better. Specifically, he said that when Jesus coached him after He finally gave Jesus the chance after retirement, the coach said, “You are a son. You are an heir. You are made by God. You are loved by God. You are of infinite value.”

Now this is what God says to you, dear confirmands, this morning. “You are sons and daughters, my sons and daughters. You are made by me, created by me inwardly and outwardly. You are loved by me. You are of infinite value to me and to the world.”

Don concluded his remarks with, “What a coach!” And I would say, what lessons! We can learn them today because they are not difficult, they’re not complicated. And eventually we will be able to say with Don Vicic, “What energy my Catholic faith gives me, allowing me to have a relationship with Christ!”

I am very grateful to Don Vicic, first for allowing me to make his inspiring presentation the basis for my Confirmation homily, and now for graciously permitting me to share his thoughts on my blog. Thank you, Don! 

Sunday, June 12, 2022

The Indwelling of the Trinity and the Interior Life (Trinity Sunday C.)

 


When my mother was living in our parish, I always knew what people were saying! Not that anyone would complain about me directly, but there’s always be someone who’d tell her “I think it’s dreadful what Mrs. So-and-So is saying about your wonderful son.”

When Mom agreed with the critics, she was quick to let me know and to offer good advice.

One time she said that some folks were bothered by my absences from the parish. She said I should write about my travels in the bulletin and tell them where I was going.

That worked well, but now we don’t have a bulletin! So I am going to tell you where I was this week, and why.

At Archbishop Miller’s suggestion, I went to a retreat in the U.S. that was offered for those who direct programs for permanent deacons, as I do in the Archdiocese.

I wasn’t sure why we needed a special retreat, but I quickly found out. It was organized by an institute dedicated to the spiritual renewal of the permanent diaconate at the Franciscan University of Steubenville. Its focus is simple but profound: making the interior life of deacons the priority.

In training good men like Deacons Steve and Marty, I have not worried too much about their interior life; we spend more time on making sure they can preach well and serve generously.

During the retreat and Deacon James Keating's lecture that preceded it, I became convinced that I often get things the wrong way around—and not only for deacons, but myself as well.

The spiritual life must be number one, not just for priests and deacons but for every baptized Christian. Jesus tells us as much in the famous story of Martha and Mary. We all remember what he told Martha, the worker-bee. “Mary has chosen the better part.”

We are getting ready for some serious pastoral planning, to plot the course for Christ the Redeemer Parish as the pandemic ends. We’ll ask how the Lord wants us to grow in faith, rebuild community, form disciples, and care for others in new circumstances.

But after this week’s retreat, I hope we will start by thinking about our interior life. And there’s no better day on which to start than today’s feast of the Holy Trinity.

I could preach for hours on the truths contained in what Christians believe about God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—but if those truths stay outside us, they’re just theology.

When we look at how our faith in the Blessed Trinity changes us inside, we start to realize the power and importance of this doctrine.

Today’s readings aren’t easy to unpack. But we can go straight to the heart of the matter with one phrase from St. Paul in the second reading: “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given us.”

What does he mean? Jesus tells us in St. John’s Gospel: “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them and make our home with them.” (Jn 14:23)

The Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it clearly: this means that “even now we are called to be a dwelling for the Most Holy Trinity.” (CCC 260)

Christian life doesn’t get more “interior” than that.

And yet how many of us are aware each day that the Father, Son, and Spirit are living and moving at the center of our being? And in times of trouble, how often do we stop to realize we are never alone? Never without someone to talk with, never without someone to comfort us.

Someone once said that Catholics who understand the indwelling presence of the Trinity can pray to God within their hearts as if before a Tabernacle.

What if this ancient teaching is new to you? I wouldn’t be surprised, because it’s a well-kept secret of our faith, for some reason. What should we do next?

The late Jesuit priest Father John Hardon lists three implications of the indwelling presence of God in our souls. They offer a good action plan.

First, gratitude. Thank God for having chosen to dwell in you. Thank God for making us creatures in whom He can dwell, so that He can know and love us the way that He loves Himself.  

Second, awareness. We need to be aware of the special, intimate presence of God in our souls. If we are not as aware of God’s indwelling, it is not because He does not want us to be aware; it can only be we aren’t recognizing his presence and responding to him.

Thirdly, conversation. Prayer is many things; but the most fundamental thing is a conversation. God by His indwelling is constantly talking to us; that’s also clear in today’s Gospel, where Jesus tells us that the Spirit will guide us into all truth. He will speak to us, precisely in the depth of our hearts where he is dwelling.

The path to discovering God within is through prayer. But we are not always listening.

Father Hardon offers wonderful clear-cut advice: “Search, scour, dig, beg God to make you more conscious of His presence.”

How’s that for a challenge? “Search, scour, dig, and beg.”

If you’ll excuse the image, it’s almost like a treasure hunt: God dwelling in me can be the “pearl of great price” to which Jesus refers in the well-known parable of the Kingdom.

The rewards of finding the treasure are numerous, beginning with a deep intimacy with God. But as St. Paul tells us today, there are other blessings as well—knowing God in our hearts makes it possible to suffer with Christ and in Christ, and to find hope in every situation.

Finally, a specific proposal. If you want to experience and understand God’s indwelling presence, but you’re not that comfortable with silent prayer, join us for the next Water in the Desert, this coming Saturday, June 18, at 7 p.m.

Water in the Desert is an invitation to a deeper interior life, which is the great promise of today’s feast to each of us.