To the Band of Brothers: February 17, 2025
This weekend, I was in Sarasota with our crew team and their families for the first regatta of the season. It’s been a few years since I attended one of these races and I had forgotten what an extraordinary production it is. Not only is the complex where the racing takes place and the efficiency with how the various crew teams work impressive, but also the set up of our parents to help endure close to twenty hours of racing throughout two days.
Like a nomadic tribe venturing through a desert, our parents pitch camp and create an oasis of comfort that makes the hour you have to wait between five-minute races not only bearable but actually enjoyable. As a matter of fact, if medals were awarded for spectator sites, Belen Jesuit would be the Michael Phelps of USA Rowing.
My favorite moment of the weekend came Saturday night when we gathered together for Mass. After a long day of sport, when both athletes and fans were exhausted, we huddled into a small conference room at the hotel to celebrate the Eucharist. It was, as it always is, a fitting way to give thanks to God who deserves all the glory and praise.
The readings were particularly appropriate and, as is always the case, the words of the Old Testament provided the key to unlock the gospel reading. The prophet Jeremiah says, “Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh” (17:5). Then he says, “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is the Lord” (v.7). He follows both opposing verses with an image of a barren bush planted in a desert for those who trust in men and a flourishing tree for those who trust in God.
This helps us make sense of Luke’s account of the Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6: 17, 20-26). When Jesus seemingly pins those who are blessed because they are poor and sad now against those who are cursed because they are rich and happy, Jeremiah helps us understand that the key is trust. The messianic warning is that when we are rich and happy we tend to forget about God and place our trust in men. Like barren bushes, we root ourselves in wealth and power and influence, thinking these things can sustain us.
This is why celebrating Mass in Sarasota after a long day of competition and on the eve of another is so important. It’s not simply an exercise to fulfill an obligation, but an expression of trust in the Lord. It is a personal and communal demonstration that even though an athlete places his trust in the rowers who sit in the shell with them on the day of a race, they ultimately place their trust in God, who sits in their heart every day as they race through life.
Auspice Maria.
BELEN JESUIT PREPARATORY SCHOOL
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: webmaster@belenjesuit.org
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: webmaster@belenjesuit.org
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School was founded in 1854 in Havana, Cuba by Queen Isabel II of Spain. The task of educating students was assigned to the priests and brothers of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), whose teaching tradition is synonymous with academic excellence and spiritual discipline. In 1961, the new political regime of Cuba confiscated the School property and expelled the Jesuit faculty. The School was re-established in Miami the same year, and over the next decade, continued to grow. Today, Belen Jesuit sits on a 30-acre site in western Dade County, only minutes away from downtown Miami.