Alex Delvecchio memorial reflection

I preached  the memorial service for NHL Hockey hall of fame legend, Alex Delvecchio, at Modetz Funeral Home, Saturday, July 12. (2 Corinthians 4:5–10, Psalm 23, Matthew 11:25-30.)

We do not come to God alone. Someone brings us to faith, and we help others find their way to God. There is no solitary way to heaven. In our Catholic imagination, If we’re going to be saved, we are saved together.

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Transcript

A friend of mine loves to tell this story about her then nine year old son who posed this challenge to her. "MA, prove to me that you love me more than I love you."

She simply said, "I would die for you." Hmm. He didn't say another word, just went out to play. But later that day, when he came inside, he said, "Ma, you win."

Love always wins. Love wins by giving love away.

When we imagine God, we use words like Almighty, all powerful, forgetting that Christ was born into our world as a helpless child. God so loved the world in this way that God gave His only Son that the world might have life through him.

Paul has a wonderful image for what this looks like. We have this treasure in clay jars so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. Jesus has chosen those who are vulnerable in this world to be vessels for God's love, grace, mercy and wisdom. God becomes one of us in order to share most fully and deeply in our life that we might share in God's life.

That's what David discovered, as we heard in the words of the 23rd Psalm. David begins by talking about the shepherd. "The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul."

In the next verse, something extraordinary happens. David abruptly changes pronouns. He's no longer speaking about God, but to God, "though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me."

In the midst of his journey through the valley of the shadow of death, David suddenly realizes he is not alone. God is there with him. It was in the dark shadow of death that David saw God.

Jesus said, Come to me, all you that are weary, and I will give you rest, The struggles of life are the very things that help us to grow and become real. Jesus became human, literally put on flesh, embracing all of human life, its joys and hopes, its grief and anguish, God in Jesus, invites us to bind ourselves to God.
"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me."

A yoke is what you use to bind two beasts of burden together. The God we get is the God who walks with us and carries our cross with us. Jesus, in effect, says to us, "I've got the other side."

The word religion comes from a Latin word that means to bind. God, in Jesus, binds himself to us and to each other.

We do not come to God alone. Someone brings us to faith, and we help others find their way to God. There is no solitary way to heaven. In our Catholic imagination if we're going to be saved, we are saved together.

Alex had a Catholic heart. He spent his entire 24 Season NHL career with the Detroit Red Wings. Talk about faithfulness. Alex was bound to this team and to its fans.

But here's the part I find most interesting. While he scored 456 goals, Delvecchio was equally known for his exceptional playmaking skills, tallying 825 assists. That's almost two to one, assists to goals.

Here's how I think about this. Every one of us dies alone, and when we die, each of us stands alone before God. But that's not the whole story. In our culture, we prize our independence. But in the ancient world, no one thought of themselves as individuals. They were part of a people. Right from the beginning, God recognized it's not good for humans to be alone. So we are made for each other, and we believe that all the ties that knit us together as one do not unravel with death. Whenever we come together for mass, we believe that the whole communion of saints gather with us in prayer.

Charles Peguy, a French poet, said that at the time of Jesus, the idea of the resurrection from the dead was already percolating; It was in the air. So when Jesus was raised from the dead and appeared to His disciples, the disciples would not have been so surprised that Jesus had been raised from the dead, but that he was alone. Where are the others? Because what happens to one happens to all. In the words of St Paul, Christ is the firstborn from the dead. 

So we are not alone. When we stand before God, all those who love us stand with us. And all those we have loved (This is where the assists come in. - When we didn't seek our own glory, but gave our lives away in love) -  they too stand with us, assisting us, urging us to hold on to love and not let go.

In the end, love always wins.

When you walk with God, you walk without fear. When you walk without fear, you allow for vulnerability and cultivate love. When you walk with God, death is no less, but love is much more. Love is, as David's son Solomon wrote, as strong as death.