BLESSED ARE YOU WHEN INSULTED IN MY NAME

You may not be interested in the Stanley Cup, the championship of the National Hockey League. I am and hope that they continue their winning ways.

Some years ago, I took a group of altar servers to a hockey game in Pittsburgh. I was not dressed in clerical garb. The kids were having a good time and hockey can be very exciting. All the fans were into the action, especially when a fight broke out on the ice between the two teams. It is part of the game. Sometimes, I think the fans appreciate the fights more than the skating skills of the players.

There was a young man and woman sitting behind us who were very vulgar in their rooting for their team. Their language was very offensive but I said nothing to them. Most of us would have done the same. We don’t like to confront people so we try to ignore their actions. When the young people I brought to the game began to yell the same offensive words, I told them that it was not appropriate for them to be screaming such things.

Finally, a person sitting next to this couple told them to stop using such fowl language. I admired him for his courage to say something to them and I felt embarrassed that I had not done so myself. For his courage, he was rewarded with another vulgar outcry and told to mind his own business.

It was at this point that I felt that I had to say something. So, I turned around and told them that I was a Catholic priest and had a group of young people with me and that their conduct was a bad example to these youngsters. I, then, asked them to clean up their language. With that, they finally quieted down and stopped using vulgar language.

I felt pretty good about myself. After a few minutes, their team scored a goal. And they jumped up and yelled, “Up your bible!” It was their way of getting even by offering an insult to me and my faith. But, there were no more outbursts from that couple for the rest of the game. Maybe, it was because their team lost the game and they had very little to cheer about.

There have not been many occasions when I have been insulted for the name of Christ. And when I was on this occasion, I did not feel blessed. I felt anger and I was glad that, at least, I did defend what I believe to be good Christian behavior.

In today’s second reading from the Letter of St. Peter, we read: “If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you…But, whoever is made to suffer as a Christian should not be ashamed but glorify God because of the name.”