“Dan, go to Seth’s room and get one of his Phillies caps for Father Dan.”
“OK. I’m just getting ready to leave. I’ll be right there.”
Now besides trying to schedule classes for Rebecca, making sure that I have my camera, binoculars, backpack, etc., I am supposed to get a cap for Father Dan. No problem, I can multi-task too. I am going as fast as I can so I don’t miss the bus that is taking us to Citizens Bank Park to see the Phillies. I’ll do it right now so I don’t forget. Two steps towards Seth’s room is all the time it took to know that I was on a wasted trip. The trip was destined for failure, not because there are no Phillies hats there, it’s destined to fail because Seth has the head of a twelve year-old and Fr. Dan has the head of, well let’s just say that there is a sizeable difference between the two craniums that would share the same cap. I perform a spin move, pivoting adroitly on my right foot as my mind tries to locate my extra Phillies caps. Now there is an oxymoron, ‘extra Phillies caps’. A person can never have too many Phillies caps.
I find two with little difficulty. See what I mean, they are lying around everywhere. One is my original fitted Phillies cap that I’ve had for many years. It hasn’t been all sweated up like every other cap I own. However, the sweat band is a little yellowed. The second cap is a jewel. It is new though old. It is new to me but it commemorates the Phillies 2007 division championship. The clock is ticking so it’s gotta be one of these.
Not so surprisingly Fr. Dan picks the new looking divisional championship cap. Good choice. The cap looks good on him too. By the way, since it wasn’t fitted it could be left out in the back and made larger by adjusting the Velcro straps. And to think I was sent to get one of Seth’s caps.
The only thing mentioned in the Bible more than money is love. I think when money is mentioned it does not always apply to coins and folding paper but to our material possessions. It can mean those things that we have, those things that we hold onto and cherish. Our cars, our family photos, our homes, our Phillies caps. Years ago, I learned a life lesson from Larry Burkett of Christian Financial Concepts. In teaching about borrowing and lending, Larry taught that we should never lend money to someone unless we were willing to give it to the person to whom we were lending it. The reasoning behind this was that when you ‘lend’ you do so with the full intent of getting it back. What happens when you don’t get it back? What happens when the borrower cannot repay or return the borrowed property? The lender fells cheated. The borrower feels shame. A rift is created. This rift could be in a family, in a neighborhood or in a church. A separating such as this is not good and should be avoided.
We make it to Philadelphia, get into the stadium, find our seats and prepare to watch the ball game. “Have you seen Fr. Dan?” Why would my wife be asking me that question? What happened? What do I do? What did one of my kids do?
So I calmly reply, “What happened now?” Ann begins to laugh as she says. “He got your hat autographed!” My first thought, which until this time has been under wraps inside my skull, was “That’s great. Now I’ll have an autographed cap like Seth does.” The reality of that thought lasted about as long as a drop of water on a hot skillet. I knew that the cap was no longer mine. I was at peace with that thought instantly. I knew the joy Seth felt when Jamie Moyer signed his cap. We still look at it. I knew the joy I felt when I gleaned autographs from my boyhood idols. I felt the same exhilaration that Fr. Dan experienced when he had my cap, his cap, autographed by Greg Luzinski.
He returned to my seat and sheepishly recounted the story in detail as to how he ran into his baseball hero and had but one item onto which #19 could easily affix his autograph. His cap. Did I want it back? After several offers to return the cap with the autograph and after hearing the same refusal and the same “No I gave it to you, now it’s yours” answer, he began to get the feel for ownership. He also got the same life lesson I have had. Never lend something that you cannot afford to give. In one simple act two people were filled with joy. Fr. Dan, with his autographed cap that I overheard him showing to everyone and me, filled with the joy of knowing that I was able to provide an opportunity for unbridled happiness to spring forth in someone.
Fr. Dan was also able to get a full Sunday’s homily from the experience. God was able to use something I had learned years before to touch not only two guys who love the Phillies but an entire parish community. – Dan
Matthew 5:42
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