Friday, September 19, 2008

Some thoughts for the football team mass

The Gospel today is very short and tells us basically three things...
The first is that Jesus was constantly on the move.
He didn't wait for people to come to him or seek him out
Rather
He sought them out
He was on a journey

The second thing we learn from the Gospel is that he did not journey alone
he had people with him.
As he shared his ministry with the disciples
The Apostles journeyed with him.
They preached with him, they healed with him
If he walked the roads of palestine by himself he would have never reached been able to touch the lives of so many people

13 mouths can preach more than one
26 hand can touch more than two
26 feet can journey more than two
More people's lives were touch because of the hard work of the disciples

But today we learn that there were even more people who assisted Jesus in his journey
There were many women who traveled with the group
Jesus and the disciples depended on them for food and logistical support.

As they traveled proclaiming the kingdom of God they were very much sustained by the work and generosity of these women
They were the unsung heros who fed them and found them places to sleep.

All of this teaches us that proclaiming the Kingdom of God like any important task takes a team.
You all understand what a team does.
You all understand that everyone can't be the quarterback or call the plays

You understand that everyone even the person who places the ball for the kicker has an important role to play (we saw what an important role indeed a couple of weeks ago.)

You understand that everyone has a task to perform
All of them are different
but all of them essential.

10 years ago we used to have a kid named Andrew Notardifrancesco...
they used to call him the mutant because he had legs that were huge.
When Notar was around we used to run the ball like crazy

It's been years since we ran the ball like that....
Our team suffered because we never really had that skill in our arsenal
No one was able or maybe willing to step us
for years we didn't run the ball well.

I hear now that Greg Brown is healthy we are running the ball again.

It's the same way with God's Kingdom
Everyone is needed
Everyone has their role

When no one stands up we suffer the kingdom of God suffers.

No one is exempt.
All of us have a task to perform
And everyone has to step up

Sometimes people sit back and say
Preaching the kingdom is someone else's task
Bringing people to God is someone else's job
Helping people be the good people they are called to be is the job of the priests of the good kids.
That's just plain wrong.

Fellas it is so important to examine ourselves
What are we doing for other people?
What are we doing ?

Do we ever help anyone ?
Do we ever go out of our way for other people?
Are people better because they know us or are they worse?

Have we ever encouraged someone to be the man he was created to be or have we just sat back and watch them go down the tubes?

We are all part of God's team
and we will be judged by our commitment
to helping other people find their way to God

Whether we are football players or not.
We will be judged...
All of us

Amen

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