This article is part of the Marian Mondays Series, a weekly reflection on the mysteries of the rosary by Jonathan Conrad, owner and founder of The Catholic Woodworker.
My middle son decided he wanted to learn how to play golf this summer. Besides piano and his current Mario obsession, he doesn’t have any other big hobbies, so my wife and I really wanted to nurture this newfound interest in golf. And since I’m not an expert golfer myself, we decided to sign him up for private lessons so he could learn the right way.
At his first lesson last week, it was sunny and well over 80 degrees at 6:00 in the afternoon. Even so, my son played through nine holes on a par three course with his new instructor without complaint. I brought my clubs and played along with them, giving them plenty of space so I wasn’t a distraction.
At one point, I was just off the green on the third hole while my son was over on the other side of the fairway with his instructor. They were hidden from view behind a sand trap 20 yards away. I could hear the instructor saying something emphatically, and then suddenly a shot flew 50 feet through the air and landed on the green 10 feet from the hole.
I’d never seen my son hit the ball that high before and all I could think was, “whoa, what just happened?!”
Things just kept getting better from there and I could tell that whatever the instructor was saying was really clicking with my son. I stayed out of their way for the rest of the lesson but could hardly wait to get a recap at the end.
After the ninth hole, I got my camera out and asked my son to share what he’d learned that day so he could remember it for later. He and the instructor went back and forth for a couple of minutes, talking through everything they’d covered.
And that’s when I finally got to hear what made her teaching approach so effective: she’d used Mario, my son’s absolute favorite thing in the world, to motivate and encourage him. She did this by creating metaphors for several Mario characters, tying each one to an attribute, quality, or skill in golf so he could easily remember them. I was totally blown away by this and immediately thankful to have this woman in my son’s life.
Later that day, I spent some time journaling and reflecting on the afternoon when it hit me. This golf instructor was just one of many people who have blessed our kids' lives. Over the years, there have been wonderful teachers, coaches, therapists, and more who have shown up at just the right time to make all the difference for our boys.
I filled an entire page of my journal listing everyone who has blessed our family in some way. When I was finished, I felt overwhelmed with gratitude seeing all those names in one place.
This sense of gratitude brought to mind the fifth Luminous Mystery, the Institution of the Eucharist, whose fruit is thanksgiving. It reminded me that Christ both gives Himself to us in the sacrament and continues to serve and love us through others.
Looking at this long list of people who have helped my children, I can see clearly that they’ve all been Christ to my family in some way. And it strikes me just how beautiful the Body of Christ is when we are living as He teaches us to live: by loving and serving God and neighbor.
Whether in receiving the sacrament or seeing Christ in those around us, Jesus richly blesses us—and even more so when we take the time to slow down enough to see and appreciate those blessings. That’s certainly something I’m going to try to do more often.
Who has been Christ to you lately?
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