Gospel reading which compared the parable of the good seed and the bad seed to choosing winning and losing teams. As I read the Gospel this morning memories of childhood ballgames came to mind, and as I read and pondered this idea of seed either being for the winning team (good seed) or the losing team (weed seed) my mind turned to the ritual of choosing teams almost every morning throughout my summers at Ford Field long ago. No matter who showed up,whether it was twenty-two or a third of that amount, the game was on. We simply went about choosing teams. Generally the better of the kids present received the nomination for being team captains, although sometimes it was determined by who brought a new bat. Just to mix it up a bit we sometimes would decide to have the youngest players be the captains, which would often result in lopsided teams as things other than skill likely factored into the choosing. This choosing of sides began with the established ritual of the bat being tossed from one team captain to the other. Then from where the bat was caught (usually around the handle just above the trademark) each captain would grasp the bat atop of the other until one of them reached the knob of the bat. Now the captain who reached the knob of the bat would be given the option of making the first choice of a player and it would go back and forth until all the kids present were chosen. Throughout this ritual each kid stood about waiting anxiously, hoping to be chosen to play on the better of the two teams. Everyone wants to be on the winning team. Yet, in matters apart from baseball there are times we choose to be on the losing team. Why would anyone want to be on the losing team, but that is exactly what we do. In our story from today’s Gospel we know that Jesus is captain of the winning team and that the devil is the captain of the losing team and yet there are times we choose to be on the losing team. The devil makes it appealing, he distorts things, and sneaks his way into our lives, but ultimately we make the choice and this is where as parents we need to be watchful as our children are confronted daily with those who rationalize, and minimize, and entice our children to pick the wrong team. Our children are surrounded by situations daily which tend to normalize things which are offensive to God; the evil one carefully wraps bad choices with irresistible packages of temptations. As parents it is our job to confront these things and pave the way for their making the right choices. We must equip our children step up to the plate and teach them to know when the evil one is throwing them a curve ball. We want them to be on the winning team. Make a great day!
Today we recall the good lives, gifts, and works of Saint Joachim and Saint
Anne—parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Heavenly Father, through Saints
Joachim and Anne You gave us the Mother of Your Incarnate Son. May we,
through their intercession, guide our children toward making the right choices.
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