Football Depression

Letting liturgical times and seasons mark our life

05/10/2022

Jn 10:22-30 The feast of the Dedication was taking place in Jerusalem. It was winter. And Jesus walked about in the temple area on the Portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you and you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me. But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”

Protestants like to say there are “times and season” in our lives. Are you familiar with that expression “times and seasons”? What are some of the seasons that mark your life? For many people sports season are most important: football season, basketball season, baseball season. Some people actually suffer depression after the Super Bowl because there is no more football to watch.

Fr. Daniel and I pay close attention to the seasons of tennis. Right now it is “clay court season” with the minor tournaments that lead up to the French Grand Slam called “Roland Garros”. After the championship game, Fr. Daniel and I will feel depressed and mope around the rectory for a few days.

Yet others are attuned to the economic seasons, the best times to buy and sell. Someone on the Trinity Trust mentioned last year that “It was time for a downturn in the stock market”. In other words, even the stock market has “times and seasons”, ups and downs, a regular ebb and flow. And some people’s lives revolve around these regular “times and seasons”.

In the gospel today, we see the times and seasons that marked Jesus’ life. John notes: “The feast of the Dedication was taking place in Jerusalem. It was winter.” If you read the gospel of John very carefully, you will discover that he often makes note of what feast was happening when Jesus did certain things: the feast of Passover, or the feast of Tabernacles, or the Feast of Pentecost, and today the feast of the Dedication. In other words, Jesus’ life was also marked by “times and seasons”, but not tennis season or the seasons of the stock market. Rather, our Lord lived by the spiritual seasons of Jewish feasts, the ebb and flow of liturgical life in the Jerusalem Temple.

What was the feast of the Dedication? In the year 167 B.C. King Antiochus Epiphanes wanted the Jews to adopt Greek culture and customs. So he entered the Jerusalem Temple and in the place of the Tabernacle in the Holy of Holies, he erected a statue of the Greek god, Zeus. That would be the equivalent of someone coming into I.C. church, removing the Tabernacle, and on this altar putting up a statue of Buddha or a Hindu statue of the god Shiva with his four arms and four hands. Would that offend you as a Catholic? Well, it sure as heck better!

And that certainly offended Judas Maccabeus, who led a revolt against Antiochus Epiphanes and defeated the Greeks. The feast of the Dedication commemorates the re-dedication of the Temple, and the light of the Menorah in the Temple. Lighting of the Menorah would be similar to lighting the red Vigil Light here at I.C. In other words, the Dedication symbolizes the defeat of pagan, idol worship and the restoration of true worship of the living God.

And that feast is the backdrop for John chapter 10, and Jesus’ teaching of being the Good Shepherd. That is, Jesus is the new Judas Maccabeus, who has come to restore true worship to the living God, his heavenly Father. That is how the times and seasons of Jewish feasts give shape and direction to Jesus’ life. These feasts are what give Jesus the greatest joy, and if we can use this word properly, even cause his depression.

My friends, one of the customs I am so pleased by as the pastor of I.C. is that so many of our parishioners’ lives are also marked by the “times and seasons” of the liturgy. What do I mean? Well, for sure we love sports seasons and we watch the stock market and we love the spring, summer, fall, and winter months. But we are also deeply immersed in the liturgical times and seasons of the Church year.

We look forward to Holy Thursday and the washing of the feet. We fast on Good Friday. We dress up and celebrate Easter Sunday. We make plans around Christmas to visit family and friends. And so many still come to midnight Mass, which here at I.C. is surprisingly still at midnight! We observe Ash Wednesday with ashes on our foreheads. We confess when we eat meat on Fridays of Lent. We light Advent wreaths in church and in our homes during the weeks leading up to Christmas, the birthday of the Light of the world.

In other words, the times and seasons that mark our days, weeks, months and years are also the great feasts of the Church. These feasts should be the cause of our greatest joys, and if we understand and use this word properly, even the cause of our depression.

Praised be Jesus Christ!