“4-9-1”

Discouragement is a heavy pressure that can cause a person to lose heart…and when you lose heart, you can lose the battle.  If you’ve watched any football lately, you have probably noticed that some teams have gotten beaten pretty thoroughly, and at a point, they look beaten…. their countenance becomes downcast…. their eyes glaze over, their shoulders slump, …. it’s not pretty. 

In 1960 the Chicago Cardinals  NFL Football team moved to St. Louis; they spent the next 27 years as the St. Louis Football Cardinals. Despite a few winning seasons, it was overall a pretty rough 27 years. Between 1969 and 1973, their record was “4-9-1” for four of those five years. “Hey Dave, how do you  think the Cardinals will do this year….. write it down….. 4-9-1. (4 wins-9 loses-1 tie) As a side note, Judy and I moved from St. Louis in 1972 and the Football Cardinals actually won the division championships in 1974 & 1975 .…. maybe I was the problem…..hmmmmmm.

Spiritually, we need to be very careful of discouragement. We all will have a tough season here and there, even going 4-9-1 at times. Yet we must keep fighting. Saint Louis de Montfort gives us some insight to help us continuing to fight. “If by chance your conscience is burdened with sin, take your rosary and say at least part of it…. Jesus will plead for you and will obtain for you contrition and theforgiveness of your sins.” That’s a great suggestion; maybe you don’t have the energy to say a full rosary or spend an hour in Eucharistic Adoration….but say at least a part of the rosary…maybe it’s a decade, maybe 4 Hail Marys….. just do something and Jesus will run to help you.

We read at Mass today about the people of Nineveh who’s record was a lot worse than 4-9-1. Yet somehow the Lord wanted Nineveh to survive, to recover, to make a turn around. He sent “reluctant Jonah” to wake them up, shouting thru the city,  “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed …..  and believe it or not, the people of Nineveh believed God ….. the king ordered all to  call loudly to God and to turn from their evil way ….. who knows, God may relent and forgive, and withhold his blazing wrath, so that we shall not perish.” (Jonah 3:1-10) 

Well, guess what?  God did relent and forgive and Nineveh was spared. With God we don’t have to succumb to our poor first quarter or first half, or first 59 minutes…. it’s never too late to call upon the Lord. “If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, Lord, who can stand? But with you is forgiveness that you may be revered. (Ps. 130)

Let’s never give up. With the Lord, we can always recover. When discouragement is banging on the door, let’s call on the Lord…let’s take our rosary and say even a decade while we wait for the Lord to hear our cry. And Who knows ? Well God knows… and he will help us. And that is always good news.

Note:  The Football Cardinals did win the NFL Championship as the Chicago Cardinals in 1925 and 1947. They never won it in St. Louis. They did make it to the Super Bowl in 2008 as the Arizona Cardinals, but lost to Pittsburgh. But who knows… it may be just around the corner, so don’t be discouraged.