Pacquiao, Freddie Roach and the Act of Shepherding

Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ The King

by Frank D. B. Savadera, SJ

Who is FREDDIE ROACH?  Of course, we know him as one of the BEST ... if not the BEST among the world’s BOXING TRAINERS in the world ... having trained OUR pound per pound boxing champion MANNY PACMAN PACQUIAO. 

What people don’t know about him is that FREDDIE ROACH is himself a former professional boxer ... who went by the SCREEN NAME ... LA CURACHA (cockroach) ... or the CHOIR BOY.  Roach turned professional in 1978, fighting as a light weight and winning his first 10 bouts.   Roach also had a very good trainer in the person of EDDIE FUTCH ... also the trainer of boxers Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick – GREAT FIGHTERS ... four of the five men who were able to defeat the legendary Mohammad Ali in the ring. 

But going back to Roach.  He has two other brothers who were boxers.  Their names: JOEY and PEPPER.  In 1982, after winning his first 10 bouts in the lightweight division, FREDDIE appeared with his two brothers JOEY and PEPPER for a historic series of boxing matches in Boston aptly dubbed the FIGHTING ROACH BROTHERS. First on the ring was JOEY who fought and won over his opponent.  Then came PEPPER who fought and won over his opponent.  Then came the last bout.  Being in the MAIN EVENT of the entire series ... and after his two other brothers had already won ... Freddie was highly favored to win his bout.  HE LOST!  He recovered in his next two succeeding bouts ... then his career took a steep dive ... that he needed to RETIRE from boxing at the age of 26 years. 

It may have been a real difficult time for FREDDIE ROACH to retire at an early age.  It was his training coach EDDIE FUTCH who kept him closest to the boxing ring.  Eddie asked Freddie to be his right hand man and assistant trainer.  He worked and worked hard training younger boxers ... and for the most part of it, he remained UNPAID (at least for five years). 

BEHIND EVERY CHAMPION BOXER is a GREAT COACH!  We would like to think that Freddie Roach is Manny Pacquiao’s GREAT COACH.   

Psalm 23 tells us:  "The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. In verdant pastures he gives me repose. Beside restful waters he leads me; he refreshes my soul. He guides me in right paths for his name's sake."

Also in the book of EZRA, we read:  “I myself will look after and tend my sheep. I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered ... when it was cloudy and dark. The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal ...”

THE SHEPHERD is CLEARLY ... CLEARLY ... overly concerned for his sheep.  He brings them all together ... protect them from the wild beasts that prey and threaten the life of his flock.  WHO ARE OUR DAY TO DAY SHEPHERDS?  Can we just remember one person from whom we learned much in life.     

DO YOU KNOW OF JUST ONE PERSON ... WHO TRULY GUIDED YOU ... WHO KEPT YOU STRONG AS YOU BATTLE THE CHALLENGES OF LIFE? 

GOD SHEPHERDS US SO THAT WE MAY BATTLE THE FORCES OF DEATH.  Our reading from the first letter to the Corinthians tells us:  The shepherd CHRIST ... must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.  The last enemy to be destroyed is death; SO THAT GOD MAY BE ALL IN ALL.   

Since we talked about FREDDIE ROACH ... I’m reminded of this story about a roach ... ipis ... o OK OK.  I heard someone before describing God as OK-OK.  Isn’t that blasphemous to think of God as OK-OK.  Where do OK-OKs go?  Di ba they are the only one’s who can CREEP into the smallest cracks in the house?  So ... according to this person ... GOD IS LIKE OK-OK ... because he creeps, penetrates and enters even the smallest cavities of my heart.  GOD SHEPHERDS US SO THAT WE MAY BATTLE THE FORCES OF DEATH.  HE RULES OVER ALL.  Such that in the end:  GOD MAY BE ALL IN ALL.  

Back to FREDDIE ROACH.  Did you know also that Freddie Roach has PARKINSON’S DISEASE? It is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system.  Symptom are movement-related. It affects a person’s motor abilities.  As such a person suffering from Parkinson’s disease experience shaking, rigidity and slowness of movement.  As we know, the late Pope John Paul II was affected by Parkinson’s disease and we saw how the Blessed John Paul went through and endured his illness publicly.

I think this is also why FREDDIE ROACH is a great coach.  He coaches hard ... he gives his all ... imagine the schedule and the tiredness ... given the fact that he himself is afflicted with a grave disease.  MARVELOUS!  I think this reminds us that when we are called to COACH someone ... or simply do ministry for the Lord ... He doesn’t call us simply because we have ALL the resources.  God calls us more so .. even when he knows that we are weak.   As we rely on him as our shepherd ... is it possible also that he asks us to SHEPHERD others back to him.  We say, Lord how can I do that when I simply have a lot of things to do.  I do not have all the skills and knowledge required for the work.  WHEN GOD CALLS, HE CALLS US WITH A CLEAR KNOWLEDGE OF OUR WEAKNESS.  When he ask us to GIVE, he ask us to give not because we have more.  We give out of our poverty.  We give even amidst our situations of lack.  I think this is what the Gospel means when it say:  “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.”  WE ARE ASKED TO SHEPHERD OTHERS ... to give ourselves more so to others ... not so much because we have things in abundance ... but more so even amidst our experiences of lack and poverty. 

“Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you.”

The Lord, indeed is our shepherd.  There is nothing more that we can want.  Can we allow ourselves to be led by the SHEPHERD?

God shepherds us so we may battle the forces of death.  So that GOOD will prevail always over the forces of evil ... and in the end GOD MAY BE ALL IN ALL.   

We are also called to SHEPHERD OTHERS.  Feed the hungry, visit the sick ... give most generously of ourselves ... not so much because we have things in abundance ... but we give nevertheless out of our own poverty.  

PORTA FIDE: BEING PERSISTENT IN OUR FAITH

BEING PERSISTENT IN OUR FAITH

 Reflections on Wisdom 18:14-16; 19:6-9 /  Luke  18:1-8
by Frank Savadera, SJ

A woman ... a WIDOW ... a powerless persona in Palestine who had lost her husband. She PESTERS an UNJUST JUDGE to render judgment about her case;  What is the case about?  We are not sure ... but it can be IMPLIED that it has something to do with her becoming a WIDOW.   In the olden days ... a WIDOW is bound to lose everything ... all the properties left by her husband;  and so ... this is not just an ordinary WIDOW ... she was a DESPERATE WIDOW ... she was BATTLING for HER LIFE and SURVIVAL. This explains her PERSISTENCE.

PERSISTENCE IN THE GOSPEL today is LINKED CLOSELY TO FAITH.  At the end of this parable,  Jesus asked:  But when the Son of Man comes, will he find FAITH on earth?  The same FAITH as that of the widow?  The same PERSISTENCE as that of the widow’s?  FAITH is related to persistence.  Are we persistent enough that when the Son of Man comes ... today ... will he find FAITH on EARTH?

POPE BENEDICT XVI issued last October 11 ... his newest apostolic letter (you may want to read about it in the Vatican website); his MOTU PROPRIO letter is entitled PORTA FIDEI ... the DOOR OF FAITH ... which I think echoes the concern of Jesus who in the Gospel asked:  WHEN THE SON OF MAN COMES, WILL HE FIND FAITH ON EARTH?  To stress the importance of FAITH as a GIFT and VIRTUE, Pope Benedict declares the period October 11, 2011 to November 24, 2013 as THE YEAR OF FAITH (which coincides with the 50^th ANNIVERSARY of VATICAN II and the 20^TH ANNIVERSARY of the publication of the CATECHISM of the CATHOLIC CHURCH. 

Celebrating anniversaries such as these two ... represents the IMPORTANT MILESTONES that we have already experienced for ourselves as CHURCH.  Imagine how expressions of our FAITH had changed because of Vatican II (some of you may know better about this than I do).  Imagine how ... when I was studying ... our teachers would describe that THICK BOOK, the Catechism of the Catholic Church as the COMPENDIUM or SUMMARY of our FOUR YEARS of THEOLOGY (we should ALL HAVE A COPY OF THAT BOOK in our LIBRARIES).  More than anything else, I think this TWIN CELEBRATION of these TWO IMPORTANT ANNIVERSARIES speaks of how WE as a CHURCH wish to sustain our faith for the next years to come.  As the Pope himself said in the document:  We cannot accept that salt should become tasteless or the light be kept hidden.  He encourages us ... as we read in the parable of the persistent widow ... that we ourselves ... NEED BE PERSISTENT IN OUR FAITH.

PERSISTENCE IN FAITH means GROWING IN OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE FAITH.  In our academic setting ... this means CONTINUING EDUCATION in the FAITH;  Are we learning more about what we believe?  How do we know that we are growing in knowledge of our faith?  The Pope asks us ... if we are still interested in knowing what is TRUE about ourselves, about our societies and communities? Are we still sincerely searching for the ultimate meaning and definitive truth of their lives and of the world.  Do we continue to ask questions about things happening around us?  Are we willing enough ... much like that of Vatican II to explore NEW and CREATIVE WAYS of expressing our faith?  PERSISTENCE IN FAITH MEANS GROWING IN KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE FAITH.

PERSISTENCE IN FAITH MEANS CONTINUALLY PROFESSING THAT FAITH.  According to the Pope:  “Faith implies Public Testimony and commitment.   A Christian may never think of belief as a private act. And by his very existence in the world, a Christian is called to radiate the word of truth that the Lord Jesus has left us.” Further, he says, we must PROFESS THE FAITH IN FULLNESS and with renewed conviction, with confidence and hope ... that faith which is professed, celebrated, lived and prayed. 

PROFESSING ... A LIFE OF WORSHIP ... as in from the Book of Wisdom:  FOR THEY RANGED (moved around) like horses and like lambs PRAISING YOU, O LORD ... their deliverer! 

RENEWAL OF OUR FAITH.  An additional mandate from the Pope, we makes known:  Religious communities ... as well as parish communities, and all ecclesial bodies old and new, are to find a way, during this Year, to make a public profession of the Credo.   a summon to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the one Saviour of the world ... a kind of conversion ... that is not forced nor legislated ... but rather banks the love of Christ that fills our hearts ... the love that FLOODS OUR HEARTS (much like in the FIRST WEEK OF THE EXERCISES) that makes a renewal of ur very selves a TRUE PERSONAL RESOLVE and DECISION.

PERSISTENCE IN FAITH (PORTA FIDEI)

·         GROWING IN OUR KNOWLEDGE OF FAITH by searching for WHAT IS TRUE and REAL about our CHURCH, our COMMUNITIES and OURSELVES;

·         THE CHALLENGE TO CONTINUE PROFESSING THE SAME FAITH THROUGH TESTIMONY/ WITNESS; and

·         RENEWAL OF THE SAME FAITH ... experiencing a conversion of heart that is possible only BY ALLOWING OUR HEARTS TO BE FLOODED BY THE REAL AND INTENSE LOVE OF GOD FOR US.