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Too Much ~
Rick was a local athletic legend in our community. He was all-conference in three sports, and all-state in two of them. He played two sports in college, with great success, and kept his humility. He managed the gym in the summer. After seeing the severe limits in my game in junior high, he said if I arrived at the gym fifteen minutes before the scheduled opening every day, he would give me some pointers and some drills to help me become a better player. I had individual attention from the one of the best players I had ever seen, and it helped a little, although it did not make me any taller or quicker.
A few years ago, I ran into Rick at a church function and saw him for the first time since that summer of seventh grade. (Knowing I had no future in basketball, he was not entirely surprised I became a priest, and my memory of the shooting lessons was much clearer than his.) Not surprisingly, sports were still a big part of his life, although he doesn’t make a living at it. He coached his daughters’ basketball teams in the summer, fall and winter. He also told me that his daughter in seventh grade had played more games than he had in his entire career that lasted through four years of college. He said he didn’t think the kids were getting the fundamentals, and they were simply playing too many games. It was just too much.
He and his wife made a decision to limit the number of games the girls would play, and encourage them to participate in a number of different activities, more open gym time and fewer organized leagues in the off-season. Their decision was not necessarily welcomed by some coaches, since his girls came from a gene pool that made them very good players. Even without some of the extra off season leagues, they good players in high school, and are still happy with the game after their playing days are over.
Rick and his wife saw the challenge so many of us face in the world today: Too much. Too much of a good thing becomes a bad thing, and too much of worldly things distracts us from heavenly things. They did something courageous and wise for their family, and pulled back a little. Lent gives us the chance to pull back. We are invited by the Church to set aside things of the world, otherwise good in themselves, to realize the better things that await us in Heaven. When we give up the chocolate, meat, or TV, we learn that we can live without it. What we can’t live without is Jesus. The fasting reminds us that we wait for something better than we are giving up. The “too muches” in our lives muddy that water, and create confusion, making us believe the stuff in our lives is an end in itself.
We are now in Lent and have an opportunity to confront the reality of too much, whether it is too much stuff, too much time on things that don’t help us grow spiritually, or too much of the otherwise good things we have. As we look at the “too muches” in our lives, let’s take this opportunity in Lent to step back, learn that we can live without, and prepare our hearts for something far greater.
We can experience freedom from the “too muches” in our lives and have a blessed and holy Lent.
Fr. Tom Wilson, Pastor
- Read a spiritual book. Take a few minutes every day to read a simple book on prayer, and growth in holiness. Two suggestions are: Holiness for Housewives and Other Working Women by Dom Hubert Von Zeller and Lent and Easter Wisdom: Daily Scriptures and Prayer from Henri Nouwen (both available at Holy Cross Books & Gifts).
- Take a day of prayer or go on retreat. St. John's Abbey Guesthouse in Collegeville; The Franciscan Retreat House in Prior Lake and Christ the King Retreat Center in Buffalo offer private and group retreats.
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