An Aggie Win and a Powerful Mass

Oh y’all. How could I let this Monday slip away without giving some major props to my sweet, sweet, amazing Aggies?

I hesitate to say that Scott and I are the biggest Aggie fans on the planet – because we know some stellar fans – but with every fiber of our being we are hard-core Aggies. I’ve cried so many tears over our teams, football, basketball, soccer, baseball and the like. We’ve been “so close” so many times.

But this year is different.

Coach Sumlin is hungry.

Kliff Kingsbury is rocking the five o’clock shadow.

Our players are excited about playing again.

The SEC conference move was a game changer.

Saturday afternoon, we all settled in to watch the game and then realized, “Oh man, three of us are scheduled to serve at Saturday night Mass.” Too late to get a sub and, I like to think we have our priorities straight. We kept repeating, “We will not put football above God. We will not put football above God.”

So, when the Ags were up 20-0 in the first quarter, we were BESIDE ourselves with glee. As in, jumping like crazy morons in our living room, glee. As in, I’m surprised we didn’t hurt ourselves glee. Halftime came and went and we left at the start of the third quarter at 20-14. Surely the hour at Mass would help the Aggies score, right?

Then Fr. Ron laid down the hammer. His homily caused us to put the Aggies to the side and focus on the words of St. Therese and scripture. You see, Fr. Ron is battling throat cancer. His recovery has been brutal. When he said, “I am humbled by so many of you who have been sick for much longer than I have been. I see your faces in this very room and I am humbled.” And then he got choked up. I did, too. He ended with, “So often we look at God and say, ‘I don’t need to be filled by you because I’m already filled by other stuff.'”

Bam. Fr. Ron, you knocked that homily right out of the park. You reached so many hearts this weekend. I am grateful to have you in our parish, helping lead the flock. He even cracked a few Aggie jokes for good measure.

After Mass, we hustled back to the house, but with renewed hearts. The boys clicked the TV on and screams of joy ensued. It was fourth quarter, with less than five minutes of play.

Tick, tock, tick, tock. INTERCEPTION by Deshazor. My house quite nearly came off the foundation. After nearly two hours of high-fiving, hugs, tears and game replays, we got the kids settled in bed and Scott and I enjoyed the peace and quiet.

“Fr. Ron’s homily was awesome, wasn’t it?” Scott whispered.

“Indeed.”

And all the Aggie Catholics said AMEN.