Thank you very, very much, my friend, Carl Erskine. This is certainly one of the happiest days of my life. It’s also an occasion which may be destined for inclusion in Guinness’s Book of World Records: -- It’s the first time in world history that a substitute second baseman on the Yale College baseball team has been introduced to any audience anywhere by one of the most famous Hall of Fame pitchers in baseball history!
To me that really means a lot. I only had one chance in my life to bat against a pitcher who was wearing a major league uniform. He was pitching for the old Washington Senators in a pre-season, exhibition game ... against the Yale Varsity. I got to bat as a substitute in the 7th inning. He fanned me on three pitches! I thought he was the equal of Walter Johnson or Don Sutton or Roger Clemens; but the next day I was back on the bench at Yale and that pitcher was sent down to a Class “D” team -- the lowest level in organized baseball. Neither one of us ever got higher!
So, Carl Erskine -- to be with you, to be introduced by you -- makes my day, my year, and maybe my life!
Carl, however, is not only a famous athlete he’s a successful banker, a wise and compassionate father, a community leader, an eloquent speaker, and a dedicated volunteer. He is also a believer in the doctrines and values of the Church of God. So am I!
I’m not a member of the Church; that’s true. I’m a Catholic. But I’ve been told that your Church emphasizes the ideas, values of Unity, Servanthood, and Holiness. And with those three concepts I am in total agreement. In fact I believe that Holiness should be the principal objective of every person’s life! I even believe that Thomas Jefferson could have made one improvement in his Declaration of Independence ... When he wrote that “all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”..., he should have written “pursuit of holiness”... Because it is the pursuit of holiness which alone can produce the true happiness all human beings seek. Nothing will energize your spirit, ennoble your mind, or strengthen your backbone more than a commitment to “the pursuit of holiness”.
Maybe you expected me to tell stories today about my son-in-law, Arnold Schwarzenegger, or my sister-in-law, Jackie Onassis, or my nephew, John Kennedy, or my daughter, Maria Shriver, or my cousin, Pam Shriver, the tennis player.
We can talk about them later if you like. But just for another minute I’d like to focus on Holiness.
Why? Because it’s crucial for the future of our country, crucial for your future, and for your happiness. Yet very few people seem to know what Holiness is all about.
Here’s my idea on Holiness, and here’s why I think it’s super important for us all.
Holiness is not just falling on your knees six times daily to pray. Holiness is not just following rules and regulations; it’s not just self-discipline or obedience to lawful authority, or generosity with your time and money. Holiness is all those things, but it’s more.
Holiness is giving your self, your own person, your own sense of humor, your intelligence, your personality, your strength, your beauty, your car, your clothes -- whatever you are and whatever you possess -- giving all those things and your whole personality to others!
Why?
To get elected President of the Class
- No -
To become popular
- No -
To make friends, and influence people
- No –
You give your self because that’s what God does and is! God gives Himself/Herself every micro-second of every day and every night for every person, and for all of Creation. He/She keeps Creation going! He/She made the world -- everything -- including you and me. He/She keeps us alive. He gives us life. He gives us liberty.
He gives us the chance to pursue happiness and holiness. And God inspires in us a desire for those things: -- life, liberty, and happiness. Just as He even gave His/Her only son, Jesus, for us, we are to give our selves for one another.
That’s what Holiness is!
It’s God’s own Spirit, His Very Nature!
It’s His/Her Essence: -- Perfect Giving, continuous Giving, unselfish Giving...That’s what each one of us is called to do ... to do as He does, and thus to become Images of Him/Her to become a picture of Him/Her, a movie of Him/Her. His/Her Likeness in the World... Giving ourselves without ceasing...
But, is that possible? for you and me, for every one of us, for Carl Erskine and his wife and son, for my wife, and my daughter,Maria, and my four sons. And for everyone in this Chapel.
How?, you say, can this be done? Is it really possible? What about getting good marks in school, a good job, making money, getting married, paying for tuition?
Many people believe and say that these essential, urgent problems come first. Holiness has nothing to do with these problems and urgent needs.
But they are wrong. It can be and should be holy to work hard...in school or in any job -- as long as you do your work not just to satisfy your own ego, or simply to beat another person, or to prove you’re Number One! Work hard, study hard, get good marks, make money, but do those things so you can be better prepared to help ... help your family, help your neighbors, your city, your country. That’s Holiness. If your motives are right, you are right. That’s you on the way to Holiness.
Fortunately, our country is full of opportunities for Holiness... opportunities in sports, in business, in the medical and legal professions, in nursing and social work, in teaching and coaching, in politics and government, and on and on.
You can earn a living working in Headstart"; in the “Job Corps"; in the “Peace Corps"; in Legal Services for the Poor; teaching in our schools and colleges; coaching in “Special Olympics”.
It’s God’s own Spirit, His Very Nature!
It’s His/Her Essence: -- Perfect Giving, continuous Giving, unselfish Giving...That’s what each one of us is called to do ... to do as He does, and thus to become Images of Him/Her to become a picture of Him/Her, a movie of Him/Her. His/Her Likeness in the World... Giving our selves without ceasing...
But, is that possible? for you and me, for every one of us, for Carl Erskine and his wife and son, for my wife, and my daughter, Maria, and my four sons. And for everyone in this Chapel.
How?, you say, can this be done? Is it really possible? What about getting good marks in school, a good job, making money, getting married, paying for tuition? Many people believe and say that these essential, urgent problems come first. Holiness has nothing to do with these problems and urgent needs.
But they are wrong. It can be and should be holy to work MISSING SOMETHING
Every one of them will have been coached or helped every day, week in and week out, by parents who gave their time and love, by coaches who gave their time and love, by teachers who gave their time and love. By airlines like Pan-Am Airlines who will fly all those athletes free-of-charge from all over the world to Chicago and on to Notre Dame. By Nike which gives them their shoes; by Hardee’s who will be giving them food; by Olympic “stars” who will be giving their time to the festivities: -Mary Lou Retton, Rafer Johnson, Pele, Dr. J., maybe even Larry Bird! By Whitney Houston who will be singing, -- free-of-charge.
Forty years ago -- even twenty years ago -- not one of those athletes would have been playing any sport. No one, not even their parents, would have seen them competing in any contest. Most of them were locked up in institutions, or hidden away in private homes, -- an embarrassment to their parents, an economic drain on society, another inexplicable burden visited on suffering humanity by an inscrutable God.
Yet this summer they will all be there as a result of work, holy work, performed by volunteers all over the world!!
By their unselfish giving of their selves, their time and ability, these parents and Volunteers are proving that holiness works. It produces happiness.
We are called upon to prove, by our actions, that we believe what the Bible says, that we believe in the infinite value of all human beings no matter how maimed they may be.
By our work we can prove that nothing transcends that concept and that value -- the value of a single human being, made in God’s image, destined to live forever with Him, worth more than all the rice in China, all the gold in Africa, all the money on Wall Street, all the bombs poised for death in Siberia or Utah!
Nothing, and no one, my dear friends, is more important than one Special Olympian -- or one Volunteer, who, quietly, dedicates himself or herself to the service of humanity.
Everyone who does so fills the world with holiness and love.
Everyone who does so helps us all to overcome fear, replace hatred with friendship, minimize envy and pride, build confidence in one another and establish peace under God. That, my dear friends, is Holiness. That’s Happiness, too.
