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Greatest Commandment of All from Christ

 

sportingchancepress.com

Surprising, inspiring, and all very human, Patrick McCaskey's Poems About the Gospel is a perfect book for all seasons--including Lent. Patrick McCaskey is a Vice President and Director of the Chicago Bears , Chairman of Sports Faith International, as well as the author of our Sports and Faith Series. He is also a grandson of George "Papa Bear" Halas. Poems About the Gospel is available from Sporting Chance Press, Amazon and select bookstores like the Little Way in Crystal Lake.

The Greatest Commandment of All from Christ

Mark 12:28-34

The scribe asked a well-intentioned question.

Jesus devoted time to teaching him.

The scribe understood the reply of Christ.

After the reply, there were no more questions,

Not even from Detective Colombo.

 

Saint Augustine said: love God is the first

Commandment; love neighbor is the ac-

tion.  If you love your neighbor, you can see God.

If you love your neighbor, your eye is cleansed

To see God.  John said, “If you do not love

Your neighbor whom you see, how will you be

Able to love God whom you don’t see?”

 

Name three Chicago first-round draft choices

With the first name Kyle: Long, Fuller, Schwarber.

Patrick McCaskey

Copyright 2020, Sporting Chance Press

Pilgrimage Book for Lent

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Pilgrimage

Awakened by modern fascination with places like the Way of Saint James, many athletes whose achievements are celebrated in this Sports and Faith book have made pilgrimages part of their faith journey. The Holy Land, Rome, Lourdes, Fatima, Assisi, and several other places of interest and their origins are examined. Author and a Chicago Bears Vice President, Patrick McCaskey, has peppered the book with his own poems and narratives on all things McCaskey. The popular author’s own literary and papal pilgrimages are here. McCaskey shares personal episodes that readers will find simple, insightful, and touching. Pilgrimage shares stories of exemplary athletes and others who are successful in sports and life. These writings are often the product of the author’s efforts on behalf of Sports Faith International, an initiative that honors devout athletes and coaches. In Pilgrimage, some of those featured have left sports for religious vocations, a college volleyball star, an Olympic Speed-skater, and a professional (female) football player!

From Our Pilgrimage book on Saint Thomas Becket

One of England’s greatest men, Saint Thomas Becket, was born in London in 1118. Becket was well educated and worked as a clerk and accountant. Later, he studied law. Becket quarreled with King Henry II and he was murdered in the Canterbury Cathedral on December 29, 1170. 

Thomas Becket joined the household of Theobold, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who became his patron. Becket became Archdeacon of Canterbury and then King Henry II made him chancellor. Becket was a close friend and companion of the King. Becket also enjoyed a lavish lifestyle. Thoroughly in the King’s corner, Becket enjoyed his positions and the rights and privileges that came with them. 

At the time, a movement called Gregorian Reform was gaining momentum. Gregorian Reform fostered the moral integrity and independence of the clergy. It promoted free elections to clerical posts, the sacredness of church property, freedom of appeal to Rome, and clerical immunity from civil courts. The Church wanted to control its clergy and move away from civil authorities’ control. 

When Theobold died, Henry II wanted Becket to become the Archbishop of Canterbury. Becket encouraged Henry to select someone else. He was concerned and many scholars suggest that he saw his duties change as Archbishop. But Henry saw that Becket became the new Archbishop. Becket seemed predisposed to his king’s views, but with his new responsibilities he suddenly made an about-face and took the side of the Church and Rome. Moving away from worldliness, he became devout. 

The situation was complicated. Henry II was falling back on how things had been formerly arranged in England under Henry I. Henry II issued the Constitutions of Clarendon, documents that drew a line in the sand and asserted the King’s right to punish criminal clerks, forbid excommunication of royal officials and appeals to Rome, and give the King the revenues of vacant sees and the power to influence episcopal elections. At first, Becket agreed to the Constitutions of Clarendon, but then he revoked his agreement. Thereafter, Henry and Becket were in opposition. 

When Henry went to prosecute Becket, the Archbishop left for France. When Becket returned years later after a truce had been made, more conflict between his office and Henry’s returned. Henry voiced his frustrations: “Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest!” Four knights, “perhaps” taking Henry’s wish literally, famously slew the Archbishop in the Canterbury Cathedral.

Within a couple years after the death of Thomas Becket, Pope Alexander III (1159-1181) canonized him. Becket’s burial place at Canterbury became a popular place of pilgrimage. Henry II was an early pilgrim. Relics of Becket were collected and people who came into contact with them were cured of disease. The faithful making the pilgrimage to Canterbury were given a medal badge with the symbol of the Becket Shrine. Monks placed Becket’s marble coffin in the crypt of the Cathedral and built a wall with gaps in it that permitted pilgrims to kiss the Saint’s final resting place. The wall protected the coffin from theft. 

In 1220, Becket’s bones were moved behind the high altar and placed on a raised platform supported by pillars. Canterbury was already a place visited by pilgrims, but after Becket’s death pilgrimages grew rapidly. 

In the last century, Becket’s story was dramatized by T.S. Elliot in his play, Murder in the Cathedral. Elliot uses a chorus like classic Greek plays and he explores the Saint’s internal conflicts as his death approaches. Elliot’s play was written as fascism was growing before World War II. Elliot taps into the rich tapestry of the Becket story and looks at four temptations similar to those of Christ. The fourth tempter tells Becket to seek martyrdom for the glory of it. A temptation that is described as “the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason.”

At the time of the Reformation, Henry VIII, who broke away from the Catholic Church in England, had Becket’s bones and his shrine destroyed. Henry VIII was an advocate for royal rights over the church and had battled his own Becket-like figure, Thomas More, the Lord Chancellor. More opposed Henry’s annulment of marriage to Catherine of Aragon and believed the Reformation to be heretical. Like Becket, More was killed for his views. Thomas More was canonized a saint in 1935.

Poems About the Gospel: Jesus Christ Went Fishing for Disciples by Patrick McCaskey

Sporting Chance Press

Surprising, inspiring, and all very human, McCaskey's Poems About the Gospel is a perfect book for all seasons. Patrick McCaskey is a Vice President and Director of the Chicago Bears. He is also a grandson of George "Papa Bear" Halas. Poems About the Gospel is available from Sporting Chance Press, Amazon and select bookstores. 

          

Jesus Christ Went Fishing for Disciples by Patrick McCaskey

 

          Matthew 4:18-22

From the Navarre Bible commentary,

We know that Christ called “His first disciples

To follow Him and leave everything behind.”

If the Apostles had played football, they

Would have been a great team.  Jesus would have

Been the coach like George Halas.  Peter would

Have been the quarterback like Bill Wade.

Andrew was Peter’s brother.  They would have

Been used to playing catch in the yard.  Let’s

Put Andrew at tight end like Mike Ditka.

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were

Known as the sons of thunder.  They would have

Been the running backs like Payton and Suhey.

Copyright 2021, Sporting Chance Press