I would like to share the Gospel and the homily of
Fr. Vic Salanga, SJ (President of the Loyola School of Theology and Chaplain of the Ateneo Blue Booters) during the mass at the bonfire for the Ateneo Blue Booters.
For those of us following the various facets of the UAAP (and especially the green case), we would greatly appreciate the Gospel and Fr. Vic's words.
Bonfire for Men’s Football Team
Three-peat Champions
10 March 2006Gospel: Mark 5, 18-20And as he (Jesus) was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. But he refused, and said to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him; and all men marveled.”
HomilyOur gospel for tonight is really the end of the story of the healing of the demoniac. The man had been living in tombs with unclean spirits. He was so wild that he had to be fettered and chained. But he often broke loose, breaking his fetters and chains.
When he met Jesus, the unclean spirits begged that they be sent to the swine (to the baboy; the lechon that we shall be feasting on tonight!) and they did. But the pigs went headlong into the sea, drowned and died.Then the demoniac was seen sitting there, now clothed and in his right mind. When Jesus was leaving, he begged to be with Jesus -- “to be with” is a code for discipleship. But Jesus refused and said instead: “Go and tell how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you!”
Tonight, that is exactly what we are being asked to do – to go and tell how much the Lord has done for our football team, to go and tell how the Lord has had mercy on them!
Go and tell: what comes to my mind immediately is “go and tell” that in the regular season, this football team won all their games, except one draw. “Go and tell” that in the final round, this football team won the first game and so became champions. Moreover, “go and tell” that they achieved a most difficult feat – a hat trick which means three championships, three years in a row!
Go and tell: I have already mentioned in the victory Mass at the Gesù how humble and low-key our team members are; how they have performed, in the words of Fr. Joey Fermin, headmaster of the Grade School, quietly and consistently, with less-than-high powered help from the alumni. Go and tell how much the Lord has done for our team!
Go and tell: I have more things to say, this time, drawn from my own personal experience of our team.
I noticed that whenever we had Masses on Wednesdays and Thursdays, different persons were absent. I asked Mickey Ingles, our captain, and his answer, “That’s because they have classes!” And rightly so, I told myself, first things first: classes first, Mass second. Go and tell how much the Lord has done for our team!
Once I was early for Mass and I found a player sitting alone in a pew at the Gesù. I approached him and asked, “What course are you taking?” He answered, “Management Engineering.” Wow! That is one of the more difficult programs in the school. And he managed to regularly go to the 6 AM football practices! I found out later that the player was Pat Ozaeta, our three-time MVP! Go and tell!
There were also times after Mass when a player would ask: “Father, do you have time?” I’d nod and he’d continue: “Can you hear my confession?” My respect and esteem for our team continued to grow. Go and tell!
At the victory dinner at the Ingles residence, Fr. Ben Nebres and I were about to go home. It was reported that a player had just arrived. He had taken his showers after the game, went to take his exams in political science and was just beginning his supper. No one even noticed that he was missing at the victory Mass and at the dinner. No fanfare, no nothing! That man, we all know now, is Roger Lastimado, the one who knocked in that particular goal that gave us the championship. Go and tell how much the Lord has done for our team and how the Lord has had mercy on them!
Since we are celebrating a hat trick, that is three championships in a row, I think the person mainly responsible for achieving that feat is Coach Ompong Merida. In the victory Mass, I gave homage to him by reading a piece of writing entitled “Coaches Never Lose.” [This is not mine. I found it decades ago in Sports Illustrated – an advertisement for Wilson, a company that supplied sports wear and equipment.] I think it is worthwhile to read it again.
COACHES NEVER LOSE
A team can lose.
Any team can lose.
But in a sense
a very real sense
a coach never loses.
For the job of a coach
is over
and finishes
once the starting whistle blows.
He knows
he’s won or lost
before play starts.
For a coach has two tasks.
The minor one is
to teach skills:
to teach a boy
how to run faster,
hit harder,
block better,
kick farther,
jump higher.
The second task,
the major task
is to make men
out of boys.
It’s to teach an
attitude of mind.
It’s to implant character
and not simply
to impart skills.
It’s to teach boys
to play fair.
This goes without saying.
It’s to teach them
to be humble in victory
and proud in defeat.
This goes without saying.
But more importantly
It’s to teach them
to live up to their potential
no matter what this
potential is.
It’s to teach them
to do their best
and never be satisfied
with what they are
but to strive to be
as good as they can be
if they tried harder.
A coach can never make
a great player
out of a boy who isn’t
potentially great.
But he can make a great
competitor out of any
child.
And miraculously
he can make a man
out of a boy.
For a coach
the final score doesn’t read
so many points for my team,
so many points for theirs.
Instead it reads: so many men
out of so many boys.
And this is a score that
is never published.
And this is the score
that he reads to himself
and in which he finds
his real joy
when the last game is over.
Coach Ompong, this one is for you!
And to all of you, go and tell all these marvelous things that we have just mentioned; go and tell how much the Lord has done for our football team and how the Lord has had mercy on them!
Victor R. Salanga, S.J.
10 March 2006
