Sunday, August 13, 2017

The Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - August 13, 2017

While I am away on my vacation, I give you my annual “postcard” written in advance. My intention is to give you some idea of the fun I am having, and then I will see if I can come up with some sort of a spiritual point to make on top of it.

Last week I wrote about my baseball vacation (though some might speak of my baseball obsession). Last Sunday I was in Minneapolis to watch the Minnesota Twins, and from there I went to Milwaukee to watch the Brewers. Those were my 36th and 37th overall major league ballparks. Now, with most of a week left in my vacation, I am about to leave Milwaukee for the final stage of my fun.

I like to take a little more relaxed time towards the end of vacation. At the same time, I like to see other sights and even perhaps get to a minor league baseball game. My original plan once I settled on this year’s destination was to come home by way of Indianapolis, Indiana and Columbus, Ohio. Indianapolis is the Pirates top farm team, but they were not going to be home at that time. But I did plan on seeing the game in Columbus. My plans changed fairly drastically one night while watching television.

Eight years ago my baseball trip took me to see the Toronto Blue Jays. Toronto is one of the most fascinating cities, but one sight I had to see that year was the Hockey Hall of Fame. That seemed like a particularly good idea after I had made those plans on the Penguins won the Stanley Cup in 2009. So on June 11, as I watched the Penguins wrap up the Cup again, I started to wonder what it would take to go from Milwaukee to Toronto. (That was a trip I could not practically make last year since my vacation was taking me to Florida.) While it is certainly not as direct as my original plan, it seemed perfectly manageable. And on the way home, I hope to see the Indianapolis baseball team in Buffalo.

I love to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York periodically. But as hockey is my second favorite sport, I also find the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto to be a wonderful place to visit. It always reminds me of how fortunate Penguins have been, considering some of the great players we have seen. Obviously Mario Lemieux was the greatest. But I was a fan back in the days when the Penguins wore blue and white. We have seen Hall of Fame players like Andy Bathgate, Leo Boivin, and Tim Horton (who was a great hockey player even before he started selling donuts). And although they were not in the Hall of Fame, we have gotten to see Jean Pronovost, Pierre Larouche and others. The fact that we put up with some teams that looked like they might never learn to win has only made the five Stanley Cup championships that much sweeter.

I suppose I could use all of that as an analogy for how the Cross leads to the Resurrection, or I could use the Hall of Fame to talk about our devotion to the saints. I think I will let you draw your own conclusions. All I ask is that you pray for safe travels for me, and know that I will look forward to being back with you next weekend.

                                                                                               Father H