Tony Romo and Tuesday Night Mass: Trying to predict the future
Student draws inspiration from a Marquette professor’s homily from spring 2020
By Aidan Hatton, junior in the College of Business Administration
My celebrity encounter at Marquette did not go as planned.
Yes, that picture above is myself, my new friend Joro Rosales (who I had just met the week before at Orientation) and Tony Romo. Yes, that same Tony Romo, the Dallas Cowboys quarterback who at the time of this image had just turned into America’s favorite color commentator for the NFL on CBS.
You could not have drawn up a Sunday like this one. In fact, after thinking about it I have not been able to draw up or plan out any of my life’s “big plays,” which Romo has ironically gained fame for in the broadcast booth on CBS. However, I can at least try to emulate Tony’s other major skill in the booth: analysis. This past week I was reintroduced to a Tuesday Night Mass quote from one year ago that I saved in my phone. This gem from Rev. Ryan Duns, S.J. deserves a Romo-like breakdown.
“The difference isn’t what you learn — though we have great professors — the difference isn’t where you live, the difference is who you become, because you come to Marquette, and you experience this community, you open your hearts to hear the word of God, and you allow it to transform you, to open your eyes to see the world in a different way, to have courage to say yes to the great adventure that faith calls you on.”- Rev. Ryan Duns, S.J.Tuesday Night Mass, April 21, 2020
When I was asked to reflect on how Fr. Duns’ words have proven to be true in my life, I immediately knew I could only do it the one way I knew how. I had to dissect it piece-by-piece as if I were Tony Romo calling an NFL game.
The difference isn’t what you learn.
Fr. Duns clearly throws in a shameless plug for Marquette’s professors in this part, which I can appreciate. However, what are we in college for if not to learn?
The difference isn’t where you live.
I was watching this broadcast on Facebook Live from Massachusetts. Viewer comments during the Mass stream would regularly come in from all across the country. Anchorage to Atlanta, Memphis to Milwaukee. You name it. A Marquette community member was at some corner of the world cheering you on during that spring 2020 semester. Again though, what is the difference, Fr. Duns? We are dying to know!
The difference is who you become, because you come to Marquette.
I guess the correct answer was C. As a junior at Marquette who had never previously experienced a Jesuit education, I learned the real teaching of the Jesuit university is who we are developed into as people. Regardless of major, minor, sport or service site, who you become as a person — in true cura personalis fashion — is what a Jesuit education prioritizes and cares about.
You experience this community, you open your hearts to hear the word of God, you allow it to transform you, to open your eyes to see the world in a different way.
It seems as if Fr. Duns read the Beatitudes right before the Mass.
“Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God”
Matthew 5:8
To “open your hearts to hear the word of God,” as Fr. Duns put it, it is necessary to clean the heart. With that clean heart, you are able to, as he then explains, “open your eyes to see the world in a different way.”
There are certainly parts of our world — many shown to us front-and-center by the pandemic — that we all wish could be seen from a different vantage point or perspective. The seamless transition from heart to eyes is clearly for the anatomically inclined.
To have courage to say yes to the great adventure that faith calls you on.
My good friend Tony Romo has the blessing of being able to predict parts of the “great adventure” that is an NFL game. I do not. In fact, I have found my life to be almost the polar opposite. Believe me, I need to hear the message of this reflection myself just as much as anyone reading:
The “great adventure” that faith calls you on, that life calls you on, cannot be studied for. It cannot be prepared for the same way a college student studies for an exam. Yes, my inclination to turn on the “problem-solving mode” in my brain helps me to be productive when I need to be, but that part of my head cannot tackle the whole journey.
Almost none of my “plans” have worked.
I would not change it for the world.
The number one Bible verse that reminds me of this is Proverbs 3:5–6.
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
Proverbs 3:5–6
I frequently come back to the two middle phrases; “leaning not on my own understanding” certainly keeps me grounded to remind me I know basically nothing, until I exercise the second middle phrase: that “submission.” When I realize I do not have all the answers, they start to slowly come to me. My other good friend (besides Tony, of course) Hip-Hop has certainly reinforced this lesson.
“The opposite of faith ain’t doubt / It’s when I get it all figured out”
Andy Mineo, “Clarity” (2018)
Fine, you don’t want to hear it from a so-called “Christian” artist? How about the biggest name in maybe all of music, on his most successful song to date?
“God’s Plan, God’s Plan / I can’t do this on my own…”
Drake, “God’s Plan” (2018)
The “great adventure” that Fr. Duns spoke so eloquently about is one I have tried to plan out. Many times, in fact — all to no avail. I cannot do it all myself, and the point when I embrace that fact is the point when good things have started to come.
My celebrity encounter at Marquette did not go as planned. Neither did a Tuesday Night Mass two years later that I “planned” would be in-person. However, both of those two instances came together for this reflection containing possibly the biggest life lesson I have ever been taught.
Now that’s something you can’t plan for.
