SF Giants & the Joy of the Moral Life

A very WARM WELCOME to you, esp. if you love the Giants and/or are a 49er Faithful!! 

For me, it all started with Darryl Strawberry, Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and Head Coach Bill Walsh in the 80s.  And the teams are STILL at it!! 

Strawberry is now an ordained Protestant minister, and Montana is a parishioner at our Bay Area Catholic parishes.

And here's special shout out to my Dad who was the first 49er Faithful and to my Papa Hardie for helping me with some of my sports facts.  Thanks for helping my homily go from sports to God.  I think about 1,500+ people heard this over a total of 3 Masses.

BTW, I was semi-joking about the Raiders in my sermon, and I'm sure things will look up soon, so keep your heads up, Raiders fans and hang tough!

Let's go Giants!!!

CLICK HERE FOR DEACON DENNIS'S SHORT HOMILY/SERMON:

Version #3 (12pm Mass)



Legendary SF 49er Quarterback Joe Montana Wearing SF Giants Outfit

 Version #2 (8am Mass)

 (This homily was a lot slower than the 12pm homily.)

 

 Version #1 (Sat. 5pm Mass)



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HOMILY #13: Moral Relativism v. the Greatest Commandment

(Alternative Title: SF Giants & the Joy of the Moral Life)

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

October 25, 2014 @ 5pm Mass

October 26, 2014 @ 8am & 12pm Masses

San Francisco Bay Area sports teams are some of the finest teams in the country.  Two teams with great records right now are the Giants and the Niners.  (Sorry, Raiders fans, maybe next homily cycle!)  [wink]

I recently taught some kids how to play baseball.  I noticed that those who really had fun were those who understood some basic rules of the game.  They needed to know how to do a base hit.  They learned how to do a sacrifice hit to bring a team member on 3^rd base to home plate.  The rules did not exist to restrain their freedom-- but to make players free [emphasize].

Without these basic rules, there would be chaos.  What if 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick or Joe Montana all of sudden started throwing the football to the referees instead of to the wide receiver or what if Pablo Sandoval started throwing the ball to the pitcher?  What if these athletes started screaming, “What does it matter?!  It’s all the same.  //  Seven yards versus 1 yard…One base or two bases…It’s all relative. Besides it’s only one game.  The coach will understand.” 

No, of course not, that is silly.  No real sports fan would say that this type of relativism works in a game; otherwise, it wouldn’t be real football or baseball.

I’ve exaggerated this real life example to make one simple point: If we don’t like being a relativist in sports or in other areas of our lives; then, all the more we should not be moral relativists in keeping God’s Commandments.  In today’s Gospel, we hear Jesus telling us the greatest Commandment in the law, which is to love God with all our whole heart, soul, and mind, and our neighbor as ourselves.  Our Lord Jesus Christ in John 14 said to us, “If you love me, you will keep my Commandments.”  Thus, it is in our keeping His Commandments that we practically show our love for God. 

For some reason, in society, when people talk about the moral law and the Commandments, some like the idea of moral relativism.  But we must be on guard against moral relativism, which will prevent us from loving God and keeping His Commandments. 

Moral relativism says that morality just comes from culture or whatever we make of it.  Here, human beings decide what is right or wrong.  We say, “It doesn’t matter.  All human actions are equal.  Or I can pick and choose which commandments or Church teachings fit me.  It’s relative.” 

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI said that relativism is like letting oneself be "tossed here and there, carried about by every wind of doctrine.”

He said that we, however, have a different goal: the Son of God, the true God and true man. He is the measure of true humanism. … we must guide the flock of Christ to this faith. And it is this faith - only faith - that creates unity and is fulfilled in love.

The opposite of moral relativism is seen in today’s Gospel.  The love of God and neighbor is the opposite of the “love of one’s ego”.  Jesus shows that God’s law makes us happy in this life and in the life to come. 

Jesus summarizes the law as love of God & love of neighbor.  How can we practically keep God’s Commandments, which are not intended to restrict our freedom, but to make us truly free, for freedom isn’t doing whatever we want to do whenever we want to do it, but true freedom is “being able to choose and do the good we’re supposed to do.” 

Here are some concrete ways we can show God we love Him and thus, keep the first and greatest of all the commandments mentioned in today’s Gospel.  Commandments One, Two and Three have to do with loving God specifically, and Commandments Four through Ten have to do with loving our neighbor.  I will just focus on these three Commandments to love God today. 

The First Commandment is this:  I am the Lord your God.  You shall not have other gods besides me.  One way to keep this is through prayer, faith, and by putting God first in every area of our lives.  Do we give God the first moments of our day in prayer when we wake up in the morning?  Do we make time for spiritual reading each day to nurture our personal relationship with God?

The Second Commandment: You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.  Why is it that most of the time God’s holy name is mentioned in public or in Hollywood movies it is used as a cuss word? We can strive to bless His Most Holy Name more.  And if we ever hear God’s Name being used in vain, we ourselves can add an aspiration, or make it into a prayer, such as “Jesus Christ, have mercy!” or “Blessed be God.”  We can offer prayers of love and adoration of the Most Holy Name of Jesus in reparation for all the times we hear God’s name being used in vain, especially in casual conversation.  Going to Adoration, too.  

The Third Commandment: Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.  We can joyfully follow the moral law of love of God when we make it a priority to go to Sunday Mass, especially as a family, and to avoid unnecessary work on that day, so that we can truly make time to reflect on God’s goodness to us and thank Him for all of His blessings.

In the Commandments, God does not command the impossible.  On the contrary, we are commanded to love.  The Ten Commandments are not the "Ten Suggestions".  They show us very specific and concrete ways to love God and each other.  Just as parents give their children rules to follow to help guide and protect them from harm, Our Heavenly Father gives us the Commandments to follow to help guide us and protect us from harm, so that we will be happy with Him in this life and in the next.  The Commandments will make us happy, even if they are sometimes difficult to live—(That is why He gave us the 7 Sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist, and Reconciliation, to help us keep the 10 Commandments).  Like the rules of sports and life, God’s commands make us happy and truly free.  If we wish to love God and keep His Commandments; then, let us, entrust ourselves to Our Blessed Mama Mary, who will help lead us to her Son.  Like the Psalmist, we, too, will say, “I love you, Lord my strength.”

May the Holy Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation help us to love God and neighbor and fight the moral relativism of our society!  And whether or not we are Giants or Niners fans, let us remember that just as a 49er fan is called a 49er Faithful, let us Christians be all the more not just 49er Faithful but “Christian Faithful” in love with God’s commandments. 

Let us live the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind and with all your strength.  And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

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APA citation of this site:

Purificacion, Dennis.  "Homily #13: SF Giants & the Joy of the Moral Life (Moral Relativism v. the Greatest Commandment)," blogged at www.MarysDeacon.blogspot.com on October 27, 2014 (Vallejo, CA: St. Catherine's Catholic Church, October 25-26, 2014).