Living Monstrance

Rick Pitino is the head basketball coach at the University of Louisville.  He is one of the greatest college basketball coaches, and one of the things that he says is that when he recruits high school students to come to Louisville and play on the basketball team, he looks for a certain type of person.  He calls them, “PHD’s”.

No, he is not looking for supergenius 17-year-olds who can shoot three-pointers and play mind games with the opposition.  PHD stands for Poor, Hungry, and Driven.

Those are the people, he says, that he can do the greatest things with.  Those are the people he wants on his team.

This morning I went downtown Boston to a homeless shelter that some friends of mine visit each Saturday morning.  We set up outside the shelter and give away free hot food, coffee, and clothes.  We also hand out prayer cards and literature and any other religious articles people might like.  We listen to these men and women who come from the shelter and pray with them and for them.  It is a privilege.

Well today we were wrapping up after we ran out of food, when one last person came out looking for food.   I said, “I’ll get you something to eat - is there anyplace nearby you know of?”  “Yeah,” he said, “just down the street.”  “Let’s go.”

As we set out, I said, “I’m Jerome, what’s your name?”  “RJ,” he replied.  Then began a long conversation as we went to a subshop, ordered, and ate together.

His wife died from cancer a year ago - and then his whole life fell apart.  He became depressed to the point of being unable to work, or even concentrate.  He left his house and began wandering, and ended up in the shelter.  “This is the first time I’m telling someone else about it all,” he said.  He had kept all the turmoil inside, and it was tearing up his whole life.  He had come to the point of suicide, when he finally sought help from  a therapist a week earlier.  He was finally beginning to let it out.

He was at rock bottom.  But now there was light.  He was becoming driven.

At the end of the conversation, I asked him if he had a Bible in the shelter.  He said no.  I said, “I have an extra one, you can have it.”  We went to my car and I took out the Bible and gave it to him, along with a Divine Mercy prayer card.  After he flipped through it, he looked at me and said, “Thank you, Jerome, you made my day.”  After we said our goodbyes, as he walked away, he announced out loud from across the street, “This is the best day so far!”

RJ is a PHD.  When you come to the Lord as a PHD, when you come to Him poor, hungry, and driven, you come away rich, filled, and at peace.  “If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink.” (Lk 7:37)

Be a PHD with the Lord.  He wants you on His team.