Baseball Moms

The boys of summer are back! It is baseball season once again, and what a great start our World Champion Cardinals are off to! They have at this writing, 9 wins, 4 losses and haven't lost a series yet. Lots of good times for Cards fans!

But this week there are a couple of great baseball stories coming outside of Cardinal Nation. And as I think about the players involved, I wonder just how proud their moms must be of their boys.

The first great story is that of Jamie Moyer of the Colorado Rockies. He got his first win of the season this past Tuesday night against the San Diego Padres, giving up two runs in seven innings pitched. But the real story is not this fairly ordinary sounding win but that Moyer is now, at age 49, the oldest Major League Baseball player to win a game! I love stories like this, but perhaps even more so when I realize that Mr. Moyer and I very likely graduated from high school the same year. Add to that a bit of trivia: in attendance at the baseball game were his wife and seven of his eight kids; the Moyers are also devout Catholics. I think I'll be following him this season!

The second story happened just today. The Chicago White Sox pitcher, Phil Humber pitched a perfect game today! That is only the 21st time in MLB history--that's an impressive stat!!--that a pitcher has successfully retired 27 consecutive batters. Wow! Congratulations, Phil Humber!!

I can only imagine how proud these players' moms must be. I'll bet they find themselves reminiscing back to their sons' Little League days and wonder how they made it all the way to the top of their game as professional baseball players. I'll bet they remember way back when, but not so very long ago, sitting on those hard bleachers with a lot of other parents cheering their own kids on. Seasons have come and gone, games have been won and lost, and their boys are still after all these years, their Mom's favorite ballplayer.

I will likely never know what they feel like today, their grown sons playing professional baseball. But I do know the feelings they had watching their young sons play ball. Today our youngest played the first game of his season. The team lost the game, but our son had a great day, and I was a proud mom!

His first position on the field was 2nd base. The first inning out there the batter hit a high fly ball to him and he caught it, and held on, falling to the ground. He got up and touched second base, putting out the runner who had not tagged up. Woohoo!!! What an exciting play for a 4th grader!

In the next inning, Coach needed another catcher. Since our son was the only other kid who had come 'equipped' to play the position, he began gearing up. He caught well, but the play of the game was when a batter on the other team hit a fly ball to the outfield. Several players were involved in getting the ball back in, and by this time the runner was rounding 3rd base for a possible in-the-park home run. Well, in comes the ball right to our son who is standing ready in front of the plate on the third base line. He catches the ball and just like Yadier Molina, tags the runner coming down from third. He's OUT!! And the crowd goes wild! (OK, maybe not wild....)

In yet another play he picked off a runner at 1st base. He was definitely thinking as he played, and all the hours of watching baseball and listening to the radio have helped him to know his game. I even noticed as he held his glove up to catch the pitch, he would wiggle his right hand fingers, as though giving signs to the pitcher. Nobody else noticed, but I did, and I had to smile.

What a game! Our guy was flying high all the way home. After we got home and had dinner, he was sitting in his place at the table, just staring into space, and he said somewhat dreamily, "I just love playing baseball." Yeah, and I love watching you play, little guy! 

There is just something about this time of year when once again the boys come out to play the game of baseball. There is just something altogether better when your own boy is on the field. He will not always have a great game like he did today, but just as I'll bet Mrs. Moyer and Mrs. Humber feel about their sons this week, today, and at all of his games, he is my MVP.

Play ball!

Laetare Sunday

Again, HSMom is gracious enough to let her husband place a quick post of the events of today, Laetare Sunday.  We were fortunate today to assist at Father Daniel Chavarria's first Mass at St. Mary's Assumption in St. Louis.   Unfortunately I had only a camera phone so the images are not up to par, but the Mass was beautiful nonetheless.  The faithful were graced with the new priest's blessing after Mass.

Let us all pray for regularization.  These are dark times for the Church and indeed Western civilization.

Lord give us priests.  
Lord give us holy priests, 
Lord give us many holy priests and religions vocations.

HSDad

Taking of the Cassock and Clerical Tonsure on the Feast of the Purification

Wow - that title is a mouthful, but so it was on the second day of February in Winona, MN.  Once again HSMom readers, I am permissioned to guest-post on her blog ... maybe it was because my birthday just happens to fall on this feast day, maybe it is just out of blind charity (which is actually what I suspect).  In any case though, the caveat is that HSMom is more refined, better practiced in the virtues and much more benevolent than I  (as my wife, I got the better of the deal, to be sure).  That said....

My family and I were blessed to have witnessed the beautiful ceremony of the Taking of the Cassock and the Clerical Tonsure at the seminary chapel on the high hills of Winona on a foggy, chilly February second.  My nephew was one of a significant number who received his cassock on this day, which is but one of many steps in his journey towards the Priesthood.  Such a beautiful ceremony and we the faithful who attended were privileged to have been a part of it.

It is edifying to witness the deep spirituality which these  young men exhibit, for they are preparing themselves for the tasks which our Lord  will place before them in their journey towards Holy Orders.  And this joy resounds far beyond the confines of  the chapel.  From the programme, "Ordinations have a profound significance for  Catholics.  The young clerical student sees in them the fulfillment of his  youthful visions, the goal of his aspirations and labors during the many years of  his college and seminary life ... ". 

I reflected on the day.  The ceremony - most of which was devoted to the Clerical Tonsure, took nearly 4 hours from start to finish.  The homily by his Grace, Bishop Bernard Fellay, was as it would be from a father to his sons, and for the faithful, as from a father to his family. Beautiful.  I reflect on our own Archdiocese's vocation efforts and what it means  "... for a beloved boy to rise from Order to Order until he ascends the altar, a priest of God"  There is a confidence and purpose in the hearts of these young men that is immediately apparent.  Its radiance draws a soul to its goodness.  It gives one hope if one fully understands the dignity and mission of the priest, especially for those who respond to the call of God to abandon all and follow Him in service for the salvation of souls.  Again from the programme, "How many parents would not do much more to foster priestly vocations among their sons if they had a better knowledge of the exalted dignity and profound significance of the priesthood?  It is just such an understanding attitude towards priestly vocations that must be developed among our Catholic people ..."

A priest is called to sacrifice, to witness, to lead by example, to be courageous in standing up against immorality and vice in all its ugliness, against those who would demand compliance to laws and ordinances in full conflict to Catholic teaching, be they in secular society or within the Church herself.  Faithful Priests and Bishops are at the vanguard and we must support them with our prayers and action that they do so with humble courage.  We must pray for these men in formation to become the worthy priest God is calling them to be.

Saint Thomas Aquinas in Winona is a seminary of the Society of Saint Pius X, and as are all orthodox seminaries forming goodly young men into priests of the Church, worthy of our prayers and charity.  I am grateful to have been a part of this day and the significance of it in the lives of all who witnessed or participated - a wonderful birthday present to be sure - and I reflect on it a few thoughts: Pray for our priests, pray for all our priests in formation, pray especially for the full regularization of marginalized traditional communities and societies within our Catholic Church.  Pray for our fellow Catholic faithful, be they laymen, priests or Bishops to practice a greater charity towards their traditional brethren.  The springtime of faith that Blessed Pope John Paul II spoke of - it is my personal belief it will be born from the wellspring of these communities who have kept the Faith of Tradition.

When the Goin' Gets Tough....

In my youth (not so very many years ago) I would have finished that line with:

....the tough go shopping!!

Well, the Mall not holding near the allure for me that it once did, I'll modify the old saying just a bit to.... the tough meditate a little on St. Francis deSales. Printed in this space before, but worthy of repetition:

"The everlasting God has in His wisdom forseen from eternity the cross that He now presents to you as a gift from His all-knowing eyes, understood with His Divine mind, tested with His wise justice, warmed with His loving arms and weighed with His own hands to see that it be not one inch too large and not one ounce too heavy for you. He has blessed it with His Holy Name, annointed it with His Grace, perfumed it with His Consolation, taken one last glance at you and your courage, and then sent it to you from Heaven, a special greeting from God to you, an alms of the all-merciful love of God." 

* * *

 

 St. Francis de Sales, ora pro nobis!

The Little Things

Most readers will know that for several years now my husband and I and our boys have assisted almost exclusively at the Mass in the Extraordinary Form, also known as the Traditional Latin Mass. We have learned a great deal about our faith over the years and we continue to grow in our love for this Mass handed down to us through the centuries by Holy Mother Church. But it is so much more than 'just' the Mass. It is so much more than the Latin. It is so many things, in fact, that I'm sure a blog post won't adequately cover them all.

Therefore, I'm not going to get into detail about the prayers of the traditional Mass, or following the 'old' Liturgical Calendar, or the reverence and beauty inherent in all of the traditional Sacraments with the priestly vestments, the incense, the bells and sacred music that go along with them. Instead I will mention just one of the 'little' things that happened today.

At St. Francis deSales Oratory, after Mass there was a very nice display of items for sale, crucifixes, nativity scenes and other statuary made by Christians in the Holy Land. My husband and I decided to purchase a crucifix and after doing so, hastened to find one of the canons to bless it before we left.

We found Canon Wiener and he was very pleased to do this for us, but he would have to do it in the Sacristy, and could he keep the crucifix and return it to us on Wednesday at homeschool co-op? We said of course, that would be fine.

After talking with Canon Wiener my husband and I looked at each other, both thinking the same thing: that's never happened before! Any time in the past that we've asked a priest to bless a sacramental, he has done so on the spot, regardless of where we were. But not this time. We learned today that there is a right and proper place to bless Sacramentals, and I would bet a proper vestment as well.

This is just another of so many little things that enrich our faith. Nothing is trivial, nothing is just by-the-way. Not that blessing Sacramentals in a crowded vestibule after church as we've experienced before makes it necessarily trivial. But certainly the extra care of time and place taken to fulfill our desire for a blessed crucifix today, for us at least, carries with it a level of importance, of reverence, that will translate into our own care for how and where we place the blessed crucifix in our home and further venerate it.

This is what I mean by the little things. Our faith is so much bigger than we are, so much richer than we even know. And we are just overwhelmed with thanksgiving to Our Lord for His leading us to the Traditional Latin Mass community where the small things matter enough that a bigger deal is made of them than anywhere else that we've been.

Truly we are blessed. But at the same time we grieve for that which has been lost over the past nearly 50 years since Vatican II, and for all the Catholics who have no idea what they're missing out on. These 'little' things should never have been lost. It is our Faith, that which has been handed down over the centuries. And Lord-willing and with the help of the Holy Angels and Saints, we will continue to learn and grow in this faith, through the big and little things.

God bless you!

Leave the Game Alone!

Anyone who has been a baseball fan for very long has been on both the up-side and the down-side of a terrible call by an umpire. Not just a a strike being called a ball, but a 'big' one, like what happened last night in Game 3 of the World Series when Cardinal Matt Holliday was called safe after being tagged on the shoulder before making it to first.

It was a bad call. A real bad one that led to a 4-run 4th inning for the Cardinals in what would go on to be a 16-7 victory over the Rangers in Texas. And in the aftermath there will no doubt be a great deal of talk about the value of the 'instant replay' to assist in making those close or controversial calls. Well, I am not one to call in to the local sports-line to air my view, nor will I write an email or even 'tweet' about it. But I do have a blog! So hey, for what it's worth, here is my opinion on expanding the use of video replay in Major League Baseball.

I'm against it, plain and simple. I know, I know, it could have changed the outcome of the '85 Series between the Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals. I wasn't in St. Louis back then, nor was I following baseball close enough that I remember the Don Denkinger blown call. But I've heard a lot about it, and as gut-wrenching as I'm sure it was, I maintain my position that baseball should not be sullied by expanding technology.

Baseball is a game that is very much determined by human heroism and human error. The manager makes a great move to the bullpen and he's the hero of the game. The manager puts in a pinch hitter and he strikes out in a critical at-bat; the manager needs to be fired! The players themselves make spectacular plays, or they throw the ball away and cost the team the game. But, you may say, that's the team manager and coaching staff, those are the players. The umpires though, they are a third party that shouldn't be able to determine the game by their errors.

Well, as much as I hate to see a bad call, and as much as I commiserate with the 'patrons of the game' that looked on as mighty Casey took strike one....

"...Kill him! Kill the umpire!" shouted someone from the stand;
And it's likely they'd a-killed him had not Casey raised his hand..."
--Casey at the Bat, by Ernest Thayer

.... I still don't think the 'answer' is to bring instant video replay to the game. In fact, I think the problem does not need an answer. Why not? Firstly, because if left to the human beings who play, manage and call the game, there is an element of charm to it, admittedly sometimes an agonizing one, but an element none-the-less that would be lost if the calls were given to the perfections of instant replay. Secondly, I think it all balances out. I think every team gets their equal share of tough breaks. I think a team destined to win the series or any given game for that matter, can't ultimately be beat by the umpires. The umps are part of the game of baseball. They make bad calls now and then. Period. Leave the game alone!

And really, think of the ramifications of expanding instant replay. Where is the line drawn with it? Just at controversial plays out in the field? Why? A missed ball or strike on a key pitch in the game can just as easily change the game's outcome. And if we're going to look at tape after every challenged play, really, why even have human umpires? Aren't we technologically advanced enough to have balls and strike called electronically, to let a computer yell a monotone "Safe" or "You are out of there," after a slide into home-plate? Thrilling, huh?

No, leave the game alone. Let the umpires do their job with or without their perfection and our satisfaction, and leave the video instant replays to taunt those of us watching at home. My dad (RIP) was a Little League manager for many years and a diehard Red Sox fan all his life. He always said the umpires can't beat you and I think he was right. Ultimately--with perhaps the rare exception-- the team who plays the best baseball is going to win the game. I'm willing to put up with that rare exception, be it on my side or not, to keep the game as it is, with all the perfections and imperfections of those involved, players, managers, coaching staff and umpires.

Play ball!

.... and Go Cardinals!

What a Sunday!

Solemn High Mass at St. Francis deSales Oratory... coffee/donut hour following Mass, kids playing, Mom and Dad being ever-so warmly welcomed back ... home to change into comfies before heading out to an afternoon at the home of good friends... visiting with many friends over delicious wine and snacks... kneeling together for Canon's prayer of blessing... back home to watch the boys' cherished "Sunday night movie".....

What a lovely Sunday.

Happy Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary!