2020
February 2 _ Presentation _
•
Malachi
3:1-4 • Psalm 24 • Hebrews 2:14-18 • +
Luke 2:22-40 •
[__01__] There was a reason why my father – when I
was a child -- took me to a church prayer-breakfast. But it was not because of
the breakfast. However, … breakfast was enjoyable. I never forget a good meal.
We went to the breakfast because
there was a visiting speaker, a New York Yankees retired baseball player
speaking. His name was Bobby Richardson. He played for the Yankees in the ‘50’s
and ‘60’s.
And, he spoke at the microphone. He
talked about God, about his Christian faith, his spiritual life encouraging us.
I had never heard anyone talk like this who was not a Sister of Charity or a
priest. He was a “normal” person. Maybe you think I am normal, maybe you
don’t think I’m normal. In any case, he was what we call “normal”.
We went because Bobby Richardson was
the speaker. When my father was in high school, he was a bat boy / ball boy for
the New York Yankee at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. It was the best summer job
you could have and he got out of school early to go and be there in time for
home games.
My father was pretty much the lowest
of the low on the Yankee totem pole. But, he did – as a ballboy – warm up the
outfielders by playing catch between innings.
He was in the dugout. He was on the team plane for a couple of road
trips, was at the World Series. But all
of that happened well before I was born.
Now, there at the church breakfast.
And when he saw my father he said, “I know you…I know you from somewhere.”
[__02__] I told my Dad that I was impressed
that Bobby Richardson remembered him, years later. My father pointed out that
Richardson was one of the really kind and humble players on the team, someone
who talked to and would remember a lowly batboy.
I read somewhere that Derek Jeter
also was known to talk to batboys and relate well to “normal” people.
This recognition by Richardson of “I
know you from somewhere” was also an indication to me that my father had a
life, an existence, identity apart from being my father.
This separate identity is hard to
imagine for a child, it may even be hard to imagine for an adult thinking about
our own parents, that they had a life before they became Mom or Dad.
That they had a “normal life”
or…what I’d like to describe as a “hidden life.”
[__03__] In
the Gospel this Sunday, we read about the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple.
And, this is beginning of the hidden life of our Savior. It’s a public moment
when Jesus is presented to Simeon and Anna at the Temple, for this ritual
purification, this prayer. For a child, this is done 40 days after birth, and
today – February 2nd – is 40 days since December 25th.
We witness this hidden life of Jesus
in the Temple,, that only a few people see – Simeon and Anna …this hidden
moment is now revealed later to many in the Gospel.
And, Jesus has a longer hidden life
from the time of his infancy and until age 30 when his public ministry starts –
and he does the things we are familiar with – walking on water, multiplying the
loaves, parables, miracles, suffering, death and resurrection.
Jesus’ hidden life is also important
for us. All of us have a “hidden life”. This is normal.
St. Paul wrote: “Your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
And, here I do not mean that we have a
shameful dark side that we are trying to hide from the paparazzi / cameras and
reporters. Rather, we all have a life of the soul and we are trying to understand
our own thoughts, our own intentions, our own consciences. Our own journey. It
may take our entir lives to understand another person, even to understand
ourselves.
Socrates – the Greek philosopher in the
writings of Plato – is expressed this way that it is important to examine our
lives.
Socrates, the Greek philosopher is
quoted as saying that the “unexamined life is not worth living.”
So, we are call called to examine
our lives. That’s normal. A normal life.
And, to experience conversion and change
in our lives. That’s normal.
[__04__] It seems only possible discuss the life
and legacy of Los Angeles Lakers’ player Kobe Bryant if we talk about what he
did off the court, as well as what he did on the basketball court .
Last Sunday, the big news – and the
big news all week – was that 9 souls – 8 members of a Los Angeles basketball
team community together with their helicopter pilot – 9 souls in all – lost
their lives in a tragic helicopter accident in Los Angeles.
All 9 of them need our prayers for
their eternal rest; all 9 have a hidden interior life with God.
Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers legend –
together with his daughter, Gianna, was among them.
Kobe is remembered as a start. Some
people remember him as a very arrogant young 18-year old NBA player who came
straight of high school the pro’s and did not pass the basketball enough and
was always shooting when he should have been passing and how he evolved…to a
more supportive team player and along the way won many
awards,
All-Star and MVP, NBA Finals…
But, was that the normal life of
Kobe? The All-Star, NBA….
That’s really we call “normal”
What people have been reflecting on
… whatever made Kobe heroic, or contributed a sense of humility or holiness, or
enabled him to be husband father, all that took place away from the basketball
court.
It took place in church, in his home
with his mother and father, in his home trying to love his wife and daughters
and care for them.
Yes, Kobe Bryant was a superstar, wealthy,
had certain advantages, but he also experienced a moment of scandal, a moment
of infidelity for he himself was responsible.
He was called to be transformed.
And, all of us in some way are called to be
changed, to be transformed, to move – in our lives from:
► infidelity to fidelity
► pride or arrogance to humility.
►fear to courage
All of us are called to be transformed away
from our fears. That’s normal.
All of us are called to repent of our sins.
That’s normal too.
It’s normal to receive God’s grace and
forgiveness, to struggle and then move forward. That’s a normal Christian life.
And, then to share that by our own efforts to
forgive others.
That’s normal.
[__05__] Another element that could have
contributed to Kobe’s transformation was the fact that while he was a basketball
player and the say in the sports business that he was “owned” by the
Lakers, and could be traded, or cut.
Did Kobe think that he was just
owned that he was an object? But,
certainly in his moment of infidelity, treated someone else as an object.
That’s not normal, we are all called to repent away from that.
God wants us to know that you, that
I, that every one has an inner, hidden, intrinsic value and dignity.
Jesus reminds us this in John
15:15. Even God who created us does
not “use” us as his handiwork, but
encourages us as his children or Jesus says: “I will not now call you
servants, for the servant knoweth not what his lord doth. But have called you
friends, because all things, whatsoever I have heard of my Father, I have made
known to you.“ (John
15:15)
And, to those to whom much is given much will
be expected.
That’s not the equality or
enforcement of Title IX or the government law of equality, that’s the Gospel.
That’s normal …
In the playing field, we see as Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI wrote that “in a
time when exemplary personalities [who the young person respects is] lacking,
the champion athlete indirectly becomes an “educator” for the young people look
to them for guidance.” (Author: Bishop Josef Clemens, “Sporting
Activity in the thought of J. Ratzinger/Benedict XVI”, p. 5)
In sports, we see the balance
between freedom and discipline and between what is the immediate and long term
goal, between the individual the community and team… what really matters, what was summarized well
by St. Paul in 1st Corinthians:
“Do
you not know that the runners in the stadium all run in the race, but only one
wins the prize? Run so as to win. Every
athlete exercises discipline in every way. They do it in order to win an
imperishable crown, but we an imperishable one. ” (1
Corinthians 9:24-25) [__fin__]
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