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.
