Sunday, October 26, 2025 – The Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
I would like to share an experience from my retreat at the Jesuit Spiritual Center at Milford. A quick side note: advertisements for the center are published in our bulletin. I can say first-hand that it is a great location for a retreat experience and a time for personal reflection and rest. I encourage you to attend one of their programs if you have the time and interest to do so.
Back to my experience. During my walks around their property, there is a golf course adjacent to the center. There is a white fence which separates the center from the course. At times I would stop at the fence and watch those playing the hole closest to that fence. I was like the “one man gallery” for them. Now, at home, I do enjoy watching golf on television and seeing the professionals make it look so easy in how they can hit and place balls. This was not the case in Milford. These players hacked, mishit, misjudged, and made poor decisions when putting the balls on the green. It was not comical, but it was not what I am used to seeing—and that is understandable. These players knew they were struggling by their reactions and language they vocalized.
As I thought about this, it prompted me to think about what I could refer to as the “Spiritual Lessons Learned From The Golf Course.” Again, I am used to seeing the pros hit many birdies or at least make par on the majority of the holes, and they do so with what appears to be minimal effort—though in reality, it is with great effort. What I saw at Milford was totally different. When we are in this church on a Sunday for Eucharist, it is easy to say “Amen” and “Alleluia.” It is easy to hear Scriptures and homily and be in agreement with the divine message and fully commit ourselves to the Catholic life. We say the Apostles Creed with conviction. We receive the Eucharist at communion, and the presence of God is real and we feel holy. We may say, “God, I am with you all the way, no matter what!” Then we proceed out of the church and move through our week—“the links of life” — and regrettably, discover that our commitment on Sunday is harder to maintain than we thought. We too hack, mishit, misjudge and make poor decisions regarding the Christian life. We can do what is right and often do, but there can be many mistakes (the symbolic balls shot into the bunker) along the way which leaves us weary at the end of the “daily round of life.” We may cry out to God, “I’m trying, but this is hard.”
Living a Christian life needs to be a very intentional experience and we need to be attentive to detail regarding situations we experience. We need to be prepared to deal with those who may be difficult for us. We cannot let others push our buttons or for us to push their buttons. What are those situations which could be as we used to say, “near occasions of sin” to be avoided. Attention and good decision making are of the essence on a day-to-day basis, or to be more precise, on a moment-to-moment basis.
To close and rap-up these words, it could be summed up by this Lenten saying regarding fasting. I hope you can make the connection:
When the stomach is full, it is easy to talk of fasting.
Jerome, Fourth Century