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| Hunter, Kandi--and Zoe! |
(Christmas 2014: This homily was given on December 25, 2014
at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I. by Fr. Raymond Suriani. Read Matthew 1: 18-25.)
[Fro the audio version of this homily, click here: Christmas 2014]
Hunter Mahan is a professional golfer—and a pretty good one
at that. I’m sure most of the golf fans
here have heard of him. He’s won several
times on the PGA Tour since he joined it back in 2004, when he was in his early
twenties.
On Saturday, July 27, 2013 he was in great
position to win yet another tournament—this one the 2013 Canadian Open in
Oakville, Ontario. The prize money he
was competing for that weekend was over one million dollars.
Not bad for four rounds of golf, eh?
And he was ahead by two shots going into Saturday’s third
round. Definitely not a bad position to
be in.
His tee time that day was 2:50—a little later than usual
because of a rain delay, so he decided to spend the extra time warming up on
the practice range. But his practice
session was suddenly interrupted when his agent, Chris Armstrong, ran up to him
holding out a cellphone. Hunter took the
phone and spoke to the person on the other end for a few moments. Then he handed the phone back to Armstrong,
and without any hesitation whatsoever he took his equipment, packed up his
belongings, dropped out of the tournament—and headed off in a car for the
airport to get on the first available flight to Dallas.
Which, of course, leads to the obvious question, Why?
Why would a PGA professional who was leading a golf tournament that had
a huge cash prize just pack up and leave?
Well, it’s because the person calling Hunter Mahan that
afternoon was his wife Kandi—his pregnant
wife Kandi, who had gone into labor with their first child 3 weeks early! This was July 27; her due date was August
16. She actually called her husband from
a car while en route to the hospital.
Now I’m happy to say that he made it home in time! Hunter Mahan made it there in plenty of time to
see his daughter, Zoe Olivia, born at 3:26 the following morning.
But his decision to leave the Canadian Open when he was in
the lead by two shots caused quite a bit of conversation in the sports’ world
for a number of weeks afterward. It was
hard for some people in our extremely materialistic society to understand why
Hunter Mahan made the decision he made.
Maybe it’s even hard for some of us to understand.
He, incidentally, has never regretted leaving the tournament. Not for a single second. For him, it was all about PRIORITIES! As much as he wanted to be the 2013 Canadian
Open champion and win a million-plus dollars, his wife and child meant much
more to him. Being there for them was a
much higher priority than a worldly honor and a big paycheck. As he said in an interview a few weeks later,
“When I am done playing golf, I’d rather be noted for being a good husband and
good father than anything else.”
I tell you this story on Christmas Day for a reason—a very
important reason. It’s because this
beautiful feast of Christmas also happens to be about PRIORITIES!
Perhaps we’ve never thought about it that way before, but
it’s true nonetheless.
And first and foremost, IT’S ABOUT GOD’S PRIORITY OF US! The fact of the matter is, for the Creator of
the entire cosmos—for the all-knowing and all-powerful Lord of the universe—WE
ARE A PRIORITY! And we’re not just any
old priority, we’re A TOP PRIORITY!
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his
only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have
eternal life.”
You could modify that text to say, “For God considered each
and every one of us to be such A PRIORITY—such an important and precious
priority—that he sent his Son Jesus Christ into this world to die for our sins,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal
life,” and it would mean the very same thing.
All of us need to hear that—especially those in this church
right now who are close to despair.
Nothing is more precious to a good father than his child. Just ask any good father you know and he’ll
tell you. And yet the best father of
all—the heavenly Father—sacrificed
his only begotten Son for our eternal salvation. And he would have done that if we were the
only person in human history who needed redemption.
For him, each of us is—and always will be—a most precious
priority.
Of course, the real question is: Is HE a priority for us? He
should be—he deserves to be—OUR MOST IMPORTANT PRIORITY in this life.
But is he?
Is the Lord enough of a priority for me to make time for him
every Sunday and holy day by attending Mass?
Or are other things—like sports—more of a priority?
Is the Lord enough of a priority for me to make the effort
to talk to him (and to listen to him) every day in prayer?
Is the Lord enough of a priority for me to examine my life
honestly every day in light of the gospel, and to seek his forgiveness
regularly in the sacrament of Confession?
Is the Lord enough of a priority for me to make the daily effort
to help my brothers and sisters in need, as Pope Francis has been telling me I
should?
Is the Lord enough of a priority for me to change my life
where it needs to be changed, so that I can be a more faithful disciple of his
divine Son?
Those are important questions for us to reflect on today
(and I include myself in that group).
It took me a while to figure out how to end my Christmas
homily this year. For a long time
nothing came to me. So I continued to
pray about it and think about it over a period of several days, and finally,
last week when I was on retreat on Ender’s Island, it came to me. (I trust it was an inspiration of the Holy
Spirit.)
All of a sudden I realized: It’s there in the name! The thought I should end my homily with this
year is there in the name—her name.
I told you a few moments ago that Hunter and Kandi Mahan
named their beautiful new daughter Zoe Olivia.
Remember? Well, the name Zoe comes
from a Greek word that means “life”—and not just ordinary, natural life (the
Greek word for natural life is “bios”) but rather supernatural life! In fact, that’s the word which is used in the
New Testament to signify eternal life: the risen life of Christ, the life of
heaven, the life Jesus Christ died on the cross to give us! A form of it is found in the verse I read to
you a few minutes ago—John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his
only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have
eternal life.”
So the bottom line is this: Hunter Mahan had the right
priority when he left that golf tournament last year—and he was rewarded. He was rewarded with a beautiful little girl
whose name points us toward the life of heaven.
He was rewarded with Zoe!
Which is exactly what happens to those who make God and
their relationship with God THEIR VERY FIRST PRIORITY on this earth! When all is said and done, and they leave
this mortal existence behind, they, too, end up being rewarded with “Zoe”.
And that reward—that Zoe—lasts forever!