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An Emotional Half-Hour

I started with spiritual reading, and I was greatly consoled by mediating on this text from the Gospel: "As the Father has loved me, so I love you." I think we think of "Christianity" as a system much of the time. We have books, conferences, and symposia on "Christianity's Impact On X, Y, and Z" and so forth. That's fine, as far as it goes. Try never to forget though that the Holy Trinity--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--made you and loves you. The Holy Spirit is Himself the fruit of the love between the Father and the Son, so if God wants to share that love with you and me, there is a very good chance we have no idea the life we could be living now, or in the world to come. I tried to simply stay there in the moment. The saints are the saints because their lives became one long moment of remaining with Jesus.

And then it game to my mind again that Tim Duncan retired today. I admit, I got a little choked up. Timmy is the Spurs. He makes them go. I tried to put it in terms that people would understand, and I realized that Tim Duncan is the Derek Jeter of basketball. Annoyingly consistent, maniacal work ethic, face of the franchise, almost a player-coach. Duncan's nickname is "The Big Fundamental." There are bigger stars, but not greater ones. One of the reasons the Spurs are so great is that perhaps the two greatest Spurs came back-to-back, and briefly overlapped. "The Admiral" himself embodied that professionalism and class, and Timmy just carried it on.

There is a fleeting quality to professional sports; one season bleeds into the next, and we are aware that this isn't the most important thing in the world. And yet, the amazing consistency and longevity--and the emotional bond created by the whole endeavor--seems to require acknowledgment.


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