Now after all that, you might say, you must have some great memories. You know what? There are really only two moments that I remember clearly. One was a really heads-up timeout that one of our players called near the end of our last game.

The other memory isn’t about winning at all. It’s about what happened with the tenth player. Keith was our tenth player, but, unlike the other superstars we had, Keith had never played basketball before in his life. The dribbling, the shooting, all the rules were new to him – he was starting from scratch. Let’s just say that competitive athletics probably wasn’t his thing, and with his gym shorts pulled up a little too high and the timid look in his eyes, he didn’t quite instill intimidation in our opponents.

But he loved being on the team, and the team loved having him on the team. Keith got a lot of playing time, but he couldn’t score. When he was in the game, the guys would do everything they could to get him the ball and set him up. But he couldn’t quite understand it. Game after game went by, and still he hadn’t scored. In fact, I don’t even remember him ever making a shot in practice either.

One game, he was sitting next to me on the bench, and we were winning by some huge margin. He leaned over to me and said, “Coach, we’re winning by a lot.” We are, Keith. A few minutes later: “Coach, there’s no way they can come back.” Well, we’ll keep on playing, Keith. “We’re gonna win again.” He loved being on the team.

In the next-to-last game of the season, we were winning big again. The final minutes were winding down, and Keith was in the game in a crowded gym. There was another young man covering him who probably shared Keith’s basketball acumen, and he was playing the tightest defense imaginable on the poor kid. It was getting physical, too. Everyone noticed. Our players called out to the referees, but no response.

Then something happened. Keith got the ball far outside, just inside the three-point line. The other kid was all over him, hacking away with arms and body. Keith wielded the ball in frustration, and gave it an awkward heave toward the basket.

Just then, the whistle blew for a foul on the other player … and then what seemed like a long pause passed as the whole gym held its breath …

SWISH! In it went!

Our whole team erupted. All the parents who had been coming to our games erupted. We were all cheering ,and word must have got around that it was his only basket the whole year. The whole gym as abuzz, and Keith’s face was red as a beet.

And, he was going to the line.

“Keith you got fouled – now you get to go to the free throw line. You get one shot Keith.” One of the players showed him where to go, and everyone lined up. The referee tossed him the ball.

Everyone paused. He couldn’t hit the free throw, too, could he? Another awkward heave, and, bang, off the backboard …

And in!

This time, the whole gym erupted, both teams, all the fans, everyone, you name it. A three-point play for Keith? Impossible! I jumped up with a loud, “YES!” The whole place was alive. I don’t think Keith knew what to do, but he kept smiling in his embarrassment. I almost cried, I was so happy for him.

They were the only points he scored all season.

At the end of the season, we had a team picture taken. In that picture, in the front row, in the very center spot, sits Keith – holding the team ball.

He loved to be on the team, and the team loved him to be on the team.

There are many great saints in the Church, a lot of people who have done really remarkable things and lived amazing lives. There are many holy and talented men and women who have been Popes, bishops, priests, sisters and nuns. They have achieved the greatest accomplishments in human history. Even today, there are great achievers of great things for God and men in the Church. When you look at them in action, you come away thinking, there’s no way the enemy can win.

But what if you’re not at that level? What if the Church and discipleship are all new to you, and you find that you don’t know how to pray, you stick your foot in your mouth, you don’t even know the ropes, and you feel out of place?

Just be on the team. Just be in the Church. Love to be in the Church, and know that the Church loves you to be in it.

And don’t be surprised if the greatest moment is about you.

Be on the team, and the Lord will put you in the prized spot.

Front and center.

“So the last will be first, and the first last.” (Mt 20:16) “For my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor 12:9)

About ten years ago, my old girlfriend was looking to buy a car and I was helping her out. Aftr searching for a long time (too long a time), she noticed a car for sale by a private owner. She wasn’t comfortable going alone and so I went with her to help out.

We drove to a public spot to meet the seller and check out the car. After meeting the man and looking at the car thoroughly, we left and checked out some of its history. She decided she wanted to buy it.

“Can you come with me? I’m not good with the negotiating part, and I’m not comfortable with it. Could you do that part for me?” She wanted an advocate.

OK.

We went to the house and met with the seller and his wife. We chatted a little bit in the kitchen, and then the ladies went into the living room so the men could get down to the dirty work in.

Well about 15 minutes later we came out to the living room with no black eyes, no bloodshed, and with a deal done. My girlfriend came away with a nice car and an extra thousand dollars. She got a good deal. Why?

Because she had an advocate.

In the world, we meet up a lot of times with circumstances that are impossible for us to face ourselves. Broken politics, a broken Church, a broken family, a sinking society, dark news from the culture of death. How do we face it? How do we confront it all, as little and weak as we are on our own? How do we live in it and live sincerely and with happiness?

Well, if we give ourselves to the Lord, He will not leave us to ourselves. “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” (Jn 14:18)

He sends us the lawyer from Heaven to negotiate life in the world on our behalf.

He sends us His Spirit.

He sends us The Advocate.

“And when he comes, he will convince the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” (Jn 16:8-11)

Then, we will get the good deal in life.

So around 3:15 or so, I heard a very loud crash on the street outside. Another person inside the Shrine ran outside. A few moments later, there were sirens. I stayed and began to pray the Divine Mercy chaplet.

Well, I kept praying after my friend returned inside the Shrine. Suddenly, I began to be inspired to pray for all who were dying. It was so much so, that I continued the rest of the hour offering the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament to the Father in the chaplet. It was so strong, I even continued til 4:30.

Praying the chaplet for the sick and dying was something that I used to do a lot more regularly, but something that I had strayed from. I don’t think I prayed it for all the sick and dying since the days I was volunteering in the hospital.

Well, after I left, I went by outside to see the accident scene. A car had been driving pretty fast and missed the curve. It went directly into the side of a building. I looked around at the bits of debris and noticed guaze packages strewn about. My heart sank. It was serious, I thought.

Later that day I received a phone call from my cousin who I had just gotten in touch with. Two weeks earlier I finally made it around to visit his parents in the nursing home. My uncle was suffering from serious dimentia, but in the last visit I was able to speak with him and he seemed very happy to see me. “You are always welcome. Always welcome. Good good good.”

So in the phone call, my cousin shared with me the news: my uncle had died. He had been rushed to the hospital suddenly for unexpected complications on Friday morning. I asked him when he passed. In the very early hours of Sunday morning.

About an hour after I had finished praying the chaplet.

“Truly, truly I say to you, he who receives any one whom I send receives me; and he who receives me receives him who sent me.” (Jn 13:20)

How awesome is the infinite Mercy of the Heart of Jesus! Who will give themselves to Him? Who will be sent?

Will it be you?

Behold I come; in the roll of the book it is written of me; I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart. (Ps 40:7-8)

I got up around 1 and headed out to the car, got into the car, started it up, and proceeded to back out into the street, and – bam – backed right into the car that was parked across the street.

“Oh, no,” I’m thinking, “not good. Not good.” I’m thinking, time, paperwork, money… Not good.

The car I hit belonged to a laborer who was working on the neighbor’s house. Usually there is no car there, and I was still so groggy from the nap that I didn’t even notice.

I went to the neighbor’s – “I backed into the car here on the street.” So the man comes out in a good mood, and asks me where I hit it. “I backed into the bumper here.” He looked at it. “There?” Yup. He smiled and said, “I don’t see anything.”

As he walked back into the house, I thanked him a few times.

No accident report, no insurance issues, no cost. What a break, what a relief.

When we make mistakes in life, it can seem like we ‘re going to have to pay a lot for them. But when we’re ready to take responsibility for them, when we confess them to the Lord, He smiles at us. He looks at the damage and says the words that take a big weight off of our mind and heart:

“I don’t see anything.”

“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” (Lk 23:34)

“I’m very weak,” she said courageously. “The disease I have is very rare. I only have a few months to live. But it’s also taken my sight.” Then she said, “I have a bible here – could you read some of it for me?”

Let me tell you, that’s like asking Pavorati if he wants to sing, or LeBron James if he wants to play hoop. “Sure – what would you like to hear?”

“I like John chapter 6.” So I opened the scriptures and read the chapter to her as best I could.

She received the Lord in Holy Communion, and afterwards, before I left, she stopped me and said, “I’m going home in a few days – could you call me and read the Bible once in a while?” Ummm … weell … I don’t normally cross those boundaries, but something about this time … OK. She put her name and number in large letters on a piece of paper.

About a week later or so, I called her up, and began to read the Bible to her. She experienced a great deal of pain and anguish over her disease, which was slowly but painfully taking her life. The Lord Jesus had brought her back to the Church only a few years earlier after a half-broken life, and she had requested that she might be a victim soul for Him. A few months later, she was diagnosed with this painful, rare, terminal illness.

But Dana had great wisdom and spiritual insight, a great and personal love for Jesus, and just listening to her, even in the midst of her periods of discouragement, was inspiring to me. It was just such a privilege to be able to know this suffering saint.

I knew that this young woman was so especially precious to Jesus, and I knew that my visits that day I met her were all about her.

How Jesus loves those who believe in Him! What a privilege it is to share in His love and service to His little ones!

If you give yourself entirely to Jesus, if you follow Him, you will be with Him in His greatest works. “If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there shall my servant be also; if anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.” (Jn 12:26)

But you won’t just be an observer, not just a passive fly on the wall. No, He will send you in His name, and your hands, your feet, your face, your voice, your words, all these will be His.

“So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.” (2 Cor 5:20)

And He will do His greatest works of mercy through you.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
Because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
And recovering of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed,
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Lk 4:18-19)

So, I went to the local hotel lobby. They have wireless access there, and they’ve let me use it in the past. “Could I use the wireless internet access.” Sorry, guests only. Has something changed? We’ve just started enforcing the policy. I would have to pay $200 and become a guest to use their internet access.

So, I went off to Starbucks. I bought a coffee and asked, “Is there wireless internet access here?” The young woman checked with another employee, another young woman Eva.

Eva came back to me.

If you have a Starbucks card, you can use the internet for a fee. “Yeah, it’s not a good system,” she said. “It’s totally not free, whatsoever.”

Then another employee chimed in, “But you can get the first two hours for free.” “But, you have to register with the Starbucks card, and that costs money,” she said. Then she looked right at me and said, “Totally not free, whatsoever.”

Then she leaned in a little closer and said, “But you know, there’s a Starbucks in the Borders across the way in the Prudential Mall. Borders just started free wifi throughout their entire store.” The whole store? Yup. “Thank you very much!”

Starbucks lost out on some money, but I did find out about a free internet spot.

That young woman saved the day for me. How did she do it? She freely told the truth. She didn’t pipe the company line, she didn’t keep things harmonious and comfortable, she told the truth. The truth – and me – was more important to her than Starbucks. I appreciate that, and I am very grateful to her.

Remember the parable of the unrighteous mammon? It’s a parable that the Lord told about a rich man who had an employee who was “wasting his goods.” Well, you know what, I bet that the rich man was not very generous with his goods. I bet he was a tightwad with his money. We know he had people in debt to him, and this was against the Hebrew Law. I think that he had “not a good system”, a system that was totally not free, whatsoever, for anyone. I bet it was unrighteous mammon.

How did the employee waste his goods? I bet he gave customers the heads up. I bet he freely told the truth. I bet he didn’t pipe the company line and make things harmonious and comfortable. I bet the truth – and the customer – was more important to him than the rich man’s property.

Pope John Paul II has called our modern global culture a “culture of death.” Pope Benedict has explained that the economic system we have now is essentially unrighteous, unrighteous mammon. And it’s dying.

We’ve all been given a gift of being stewards of unrighteous mammon. So, here’s the question: Is the Lord more important than it all?

Do we join ourselves to the dying culture and go along with it? Do we try to stand outside of it and resist it? In other words, do we serve it? Or, instead, do we enter it and use it to love and make friends with its debtees, “so that when [the unrighteous mammon] fails they may receive you into eternal habitations” (Lk 16:9)? Do we serve the Lord with it?

It’s then that we enter into the Lord’s work of saving people’s days and producing love. And storing up our own inheritance.

“He who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then, you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Lk 16:10-13)

Her Little Way has been so recognized by the Church that she is one of only three female “doctors” – or master teachers – of the Church. But not only that, she developed it without much formal training, and at a very young age, dying at 24 years old.

So what is the Little Way?

Yesterday I picked up the local paper and poked through the section on the Red Sox. There was an article on Theo Epstein, who is one of the main guys in the Red Sox who makes the management decisions. “Theo Epstein confident” was the title. He is one of the youngest of these managers in all of baseball, but he is confident because he has a certain process, a little way, of managing that is new to baseball and considered genius. He relies on objective truth as much as possible, and not emotions and gut feelings. He is a big reason for the Red Sox winning two World Series over the past 5 years.

So, the reporters asked him, how about the trades they made to help the team? Trades are 50-50, he replied. Hit or miss. It’s all about the process. “Really we look back at the process. I like our process.”

Then the reporters asked him about his gut feeling for the team, if it was like the other teams that won World Series. “I try not to have too many gut feelings about the roster, because then if you rely solely on your gut, your gut changes,” he said.

He keeps his eye on the only thing that matters for the General Manager: “All that matters is: How good are we and how are we going to play in October? And I think we’re good; I think we’re really good.” The only important moments are right now and the final test.

In Therese’s Little Way, we recognize that our own opinions and decisions turn out 50-50, some good, some bad. It’s the best we can do. It’s all about the process we are in, about relying on Truth Himself: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (Jn 14:6) We don’t rely on our gut feelings, because those change, and so we are free to abandon ourselves to the only two important moments: now and the hour of death.

Therese’s Little Way is the Lord’s Way. When you are in this Way, you’ll like the Process and love to rely on the Process.

Then, you’ll always be confident.

Happy belated memorial of St. Therese!

Why so many? Why do people want coffee – and Dunkin Donuts – so much?

Well, the other day, I drove up to the Dunkin Donuts in the gas station and went inside to get my usual decaf coffee. I went up to the counter: "Could I have a medium decaf, milk and sugar?" The young woman taking my order asked, "Was that milk and sugar?" Yes.

"Everybody wants milk and sugar."

Remember the promised land? When God saw that the Israelites were severely oppressed and enslaved in Egypt, He came to bring them out of that place and He promised to bring them to a land flowing with milk and honey:

“I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Ex 3:7-8)

What does that mean, a land flowing with milk and honey? Well, you can’t have milk without cattle, and you can’t have cattle without a lot of land, and you can’t have property like that unless you have prosperity. And, you can’t have honey without bees, and, well, imagine trying to keep beehives when you’re always fighting wars. So, God was promising the Israelites in their own language a land of peace and prosperity, a true home.

The Lord has sent His Son to come down and deliver us from our own oppressions and bring us to our own true home. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.” (Jn 14:6)

He is everyone’s milk and sugar.

“Everyone is searching for you.” (Mk 1:37)

Are you overworked, oppressed and feeling enslaved by life? Do you look for your coffee fix, your Dunkies fix, your milk and sugar each day?

He is always in the tabernacle at church, in the Eucharist. He is always waiting to be found: “Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Mt 11:28)

Now, I don’t quite know what kind of wood that door is made of, but it’s the hardest wood I’ve ever encountered. Even with a fully charged battery the drill labored, slowed down, and came to a halt. We hardly made any progress, and the drill would run out of juice. Nothing’s getting through that, I’m thinking. It’s super-hard wood.

Well, it just so happened that in fishing around, I found an old corded electric drill in the garage. “Let’s give this a shot.” This drill doesn’t have its own battery power – instead it plugs into an outlet. Well, we plugged it in and gave it a few whirls and it started up. So, we put it to the test.

Sure enough, it sawed right through the super-hard wood. Why? Because it was plugged in. It was connected directly to the 120-volt, 15-amp line power supply.

What does that mean? That means that it was plugged into the national power grid. It was plugged into the power source. The drill could draw as much juice from the source as it needed to saw through that rock-hard wood.

We all encounter an insurmountable mountain of an obstacle in life. For this, trying to work through it on our own power won’t cut it. We need to be attached to the power source, Jesus Christ. I can do all things in him who strengthens me. (Php 4:13) Attached to Him, we can draw as much of HIs Spirit as we need.

Then, we can cut through anything.

I will help you, says the LORD;
Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
Behold, I will make of you a threshing sledge,
New, sharp, and having teeth;
You shall thresh the mountains and crush them,
And you shall make the hills like chaff;
You shall winnow them and the wind shall carry them away,
And the tempest shall scatter them.
And you shall rejoice in the LORD;
In the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.(Is 41:14-16)

My roommate Tim was telling me about the house we’re living in right now. He owns the house, and he shared with me what happened to make it the 5-guy Catholic men’s house that it is right now.

Apparently, he came back from a lot of work outside the Boston area recently and found that the top 3-bedroom apartment was trashed. The place was left a mess, with even graffiti on the walls, garbage strewn about, and a lot of property missing. He planned that he would clean it up in a few weeks and live in the largest room on the top floor, with another friend of ours living in one of the other rooms.

There was one big problem though.

Bed bugs.

Yes, those little critters had infested a bedroom, and when he brought an exterminator in, he got some news. “All the paneling in the house has to go.” I guess bedbugs can nest in areas behind wall paneling and spread throughout the house. Who knew?

Well, if the paneling comes down, then the walls and the door trims have to be redone and everything has to be painted.

Now, a cleaning job was turning into a whole renovation project.

Tim was telling me, “I’m thinking, why am I doing all this? I know for some reason God wants me to be doing this. I don’t know what it is. I’m out of money and I just want to get started with a job and living a normal life, and I’m stuck fixing this entire house. I don’t have the money for it, and I’m wondering while I’m letting all my frustration out with the sander, what is this all about?”

Well, a short time later, another guy from St. Clement’s Shrine suddenly decided he’d take the third bedroom in the apartment.

And then, suddenly, the tenants in the first-floor unit decided they were leaving in a few weeks. Great, now I need another tenant, he told me. But just then, he heard that I was looking for a place. Tim invited me over, and we began to talk. He started to share some thoughts about maybe connecting the two units together and making one big Catholic men’s house. I liked the sound of it, and after a little time in prayer decided I was in.

A few days later, another guy from the St. Clement’s community called up Tim. One visit and he was in.

So what’s this all about, what’s my point?

When Tim started out, he had the largest bedroom on the top floor of a 3-bedroom apartment. By the end of it all, he has the smallest bedroom on the bottom floor of a 5-bedroom Catholic men’s house called the Sacred Heart House, with four brothers and many more brothers and sisters that visit, two kitchens, a common living room, common dining room for house meals, and a chapel in progress in the basement.

“Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many that are first will be last, and the last first.” (Mk 10:29)

What happened?

Two tiny little things happened:

Bed bugs. And Tim’s yes.

God loves little things. Oh, I tell you, God loves the littlest things. He does all His greatest works with little things, so that we can see His power and love, so we can know Him and be with Him. He humbles pride with the littlest things and raises up the lowly with the littlest things. Little Mary gave Him a little yes, and then He changed the world and all of history with it: “He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly.” (Lk 1:51-52)

If you feel God calling you, remember He only wants something little. He does His greatest works with littleness and He can use anything little to turn lives upside down in a heartbeat.

Even bed bugs.