Great Story

My good friend Father Shaun Mahoney told Mary Kate and I a great story last week that I wanted to share for this weeks post. Father Shaun is the head of the Temple Newman Center, and really loves the school, so he has been enjoying Temple's resurgence this year in Football, as everyone in Philadelphia knows, Temple is having an unbelievable football season, they are 8-2 and it looks very likely that they will get a bowl birth. Temple has been the doormat of college football for years, so its exciting to watch. (I knew they were going to be successful the first time I heard their coach speak, his attitude and self confidence was great).

Well last week Temple is playing Miami of Ohio, who is the opposite, they are having a terrible year, and Father Shaun gets a phone call from the athletic director asking him if he would say a Mass for the team before the game, because many of the players are Catholic. Father Shaun was obviously conflicted, because he loves Temple Football. But they asked, so it was only right that he said mass for the players.

Father Shaun said he didn't know what came over him, but he decided to give the players a rousing homily that I thought was important for us as well. He said there's 2 ways of being lost, the first way is the man who is living a life of decadence far away from God, this is the image of the prodigal son, living in a far off land. The second way to be lost, is to be lost within the Church. This is the experience that we all go through, when we stop expecting God's power. We fall into an unhealthy routine, and we just believe that, "life is what it is," I can't change and life certainly isn't going to change. We forget that the God we worship at Mass, is the same God, who parted the Red Sea, who created Heaven and Earth. He can do all things. Its easy to stop believing this. But this is a form of being lost, because its not true, God can do all things, all we have to do is ask.

Well, the last place Miami of Ohio team, played inspired football, and led the entire game versus the 1st place Temple team, but to Father Shaun's great relief, Temple kicked a field goal to win the game in the closing minutes. They lost the game, but they received a winning message for their whole life, don't be afraid to expect God to act, because He can and He does!