Today’s readings talk a lot about shepherds and sheep. Lost sheep, shepherds who don’t tend their flock, God’s plan to appoint good shepherds through Christ who will save the remnants of His flock and brings us all together. But for most of us in this modern age, while we get the idea of shepherd, it’s hard for us to relate. For most of us, the only time we have seen a sheep is on the news or in a YouTube video! And so while we may get the concept in how a shepherd tends his flock and how sheep may get lost and how a flock might get in disarray, we may not feel this story like they would have 2000 years ago. It doesn’t hit close to home. We don’t understand the level to which shepherds of that age loved their sheep. So when I think about today’s readings, I tend to think less about a shepherd and sheep, and more along the lines of something that is more relevant to today’s world – a coach.
I think of a good coach. Today, we can feel the impact of a good coach or a teacher. The coaches I had growing up, who taught me how to field a grounder, hit the cutoff man, and keep my eye on the ball. Don’t swing for the fences; just make contact with the ball. The coach who taught me the fundamentals in basketball – the perfect screen, squaring your shoulders to the basket, shuffling your feet on defense, the perfect follow-through on your shot, and dropping down to cover for your teammate who just got beat. I think about all those hours running, and doing drills, and practicing, and the coach breaking us down, and then building us up to become one unit. I think about the teamwork my coaches instilled in me, along with the discipline, work ethic, and integrity. I think about how often I see a coach bring together a group of imperfect individuals and build them into one team, working in perfect unison. Many parts, one body.
One of my favorites sports movies, Remember the Titans, is about an African-American high-school football coach in Alexandria, VA who coaches a team of newly-integrated African-American and Caucasian football players in 1971, when segregation was still prevalent and racial divisions were the norm. He worked through many trials, but the boys finally came together. But one of my favorite quotes is from this movie, when the coach is talking at half-time and saying that they just need to give their best and that’s all anyone can ask, almost hinting at defeat. A player then chimes in – “No, it ain’t Coach. With all due respect, you demanded more of us. You demanded perfection. Now, I ain’t saying that I’m perfect, ’cause I’m not. And I ain’t gonna never be. None of us are. But we have won every single game we have played till now. So this team is perfect. We stepped out on that field that way tonight. And, if it’s all the same to you, Coach Boone, that’s how we want to leave it.”
That coach turned a team of boys who hated each other because of their skin color and all that society tells them why they should hate, a group of boys running ragged with no unity, and he made them love each other, and want to die for each other, and brought them together as one, a perfect team. There is something beautiful about watching a well-coached team, working together. That must have been what it was like to see a shepherd guide his flock across the countryside. A coach guides the team, and builds the players up, and makes them better. A shepherd keeps his flock together, and leaves no sheep behind. It’s about the community and being together. Just like our faith.
Christ is ultimate coach. He has many assistants throughout the world, but He’s the head coach. He set’s the tone for the team. He’s teaching us along the way, how to field those grounders in life, how to play the hop, and how to hit the curveball. How to handle winning, and how to live in defeat. But just as in sports, the coach can only take us so far. At some point, it’s up to the players to execute.
As I wrote about last week, it’s up to us, as Catholics, to execute our faith. We need to be Catholic, and be that disciple that Jesus has coached us to be. Or, if we are some of those sheep in disarray, or those players who are all about themselves and undisciplined, we need to look to our spiritual coaches in life for inspiration and guidance in how we can become better Catholics, and Christians as a whole. We need to seek guidance and direction from Christ through the coaches of the past – the saints – and modern day coaches like Pope Francis, our priests, our deacons, our religious vocations and our lay leaders.
Through the Holy Spirit they bring our team together – all of us. They teach us how to love God, and how to love one another. They help us build the discipline and character we need through prayer, and the only way we get better at anything is through repetition. We need to be willing to accept direction and the truth about ourselves so that we can become better people. And while none of us are perfect individually, and we may not do everything perfect in our marriages, or our families, or in our parish or even the global Church, Christ will coach us in how we can achieve a little bit of perfection every day through God’s grace and His sacraments if we simply listen to Him, and be coachable.
Many sheep, one flock. Many parts, one body. One team in Christ.
