woke up today in a bit of a haze. It’s July 31…the Memorial of St. Ignatius of Loyola and…the Dodgers are 34.5 games in front of the Giants. How can you not smile. I have been thinking about baseball, soccer and prayer the last few days because with all the joy that the 34.5 game lead over the Giants (and it’s still July) gives me watching and listening to the games this weekend was a bit troubling. Why you may ask would it be troubling when the Dodgers have a 34.5 game lead of the Giants? “Well, it’s all about noise.” would be my response. Dodger Stadium is the third oldest park in baseball at this time moment. (If you can guess the forth oldest, I’ll be you a beer.) Fifty years younger than Fenway and Wrigley Field it is a beautiful place to watch a game of baseball. And yet, something was amiss a I watched and listened…it was the noise, a constant noise and blaring noise that seemed to fill every nook and cranny of the game.
As many of you know, if you have read prior reflections, I am praying my way through Robert Cardinal Sarah’s book “The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise” which may be why I am becoming so attuned to the noise surrounding our lives. He writes, “How can we express in concrete words a “silent music’? This musical phenomenon is necessarily a faint, humble sound heard by God alone. It consists of the notes produced by the harp of our heart when it is consumed with love.”(#77) And this is where silence, baseball and prayer come into the blessing of life. The art and beauty of a baseball game is meant for silence: the pauses, the breaks, the moments between when the “silent music” can be seen and heard in the waiting and anticipation of the next pitch or hit, the catch or cheer that is raised for a few moments only to enter once more into the voice of silence, the watching and waiting.
When I lived in Seattle before moving to Oakland my friend Carl and I would often spend evening watching the Seattle Mariners in the old Kingdome, where we would watch some pretty awful teams…one that finished 39 games back (the Giants still have hope.) One of the greatest blessings was the quiet of the game…not many fans…and a lot of conversation (and a few beers) as the game went on…it was the silence/quiet that was the blessing.
Which brings me to soccer…it is a game not meant for silence. The singing, the chanting the joy of the beautiful game is meant to be a unison of voice lifted high together and joined as one as the action takes place always moving, shifting and forming and reforming the shape of the team as the ball is moved about with grace and joy.
To me the beautiful game of soccer is like our Sunday liturgy, we come to gather and sing, pray and lift our voices as one. To enter into the joyous blessings of the differences of life being lifted up to be transformed and made new for this moment of time together seeking, sharing and being sent forth with blessings of the beautiful gift of life.
Baseball is more like the contemplative prayer of participating in the gentle rhythm of daily life where we watch, wait and act as the moment of blessings places itself into our midst. It is at this holy moment, the moment of the hit, where we all move together acknowledging the “silent music” bursting forth into new life.
Maybe I worry too much about the noise of Dodger Stadium and desire the silence of the past too much but I do think and know deeply this one important thing…the love of the game is found not in the noise but in the moments between.
In life this is where God is, where he desires us to be…with him pondering, preparing and listening to the “silent music” of love.
God Bless
Fr. Mark

Go Dodgers.
(4th Oldest…Oakland Colosseum)