You wanna know how I made 95 bucks in one day when I was 14 years old?
50 years ago, in 1973, I wanted to go to a leadership camp for high schoolers sponsored by Opus Dei in Milwaukee. I’d been on one the year before, and my parents said that if I wanted to go, I had to pay for it myself. It was 95 bucks.
It was two weeks before, and I didn’t have any money. So on a Thursday night, my mom said, “Why don’t we go to Mass, pray for this intention, and then I can take you to the golf course so you can go caddying?”
I said, “Ok, sounds like a deal.”
We went to 6 AM Mass at St. Maria del Popolo Church in Mundelein, and that was my prayer intention. It was pretty simple: “Lord, I need to make 95 bucks so I can go to the camp.”
I got out there and I sat on the bench for about 2 hours. Every other caddy was getting picked to go out and caddy. Finally, my turn came. It turned out to be a perfect loop – that’s what it’s called if you’re a caddy. It was a perfect loop because it was a member with three guests. You have two carts, I was the fore caddy, I took care of the green and handed them the clubs. After 9 holes, each of the three guests said to me, “We pay for the caddy’s lunch, right?”
I said, “Oh yes, absolutely!” And it was five bucks here, ten bucks there. I’d put it in my pocket at the end of the round.
“We give the caddy a tip at the end of the round, don’t we?”
“Oh, absolutely!” Ten bucks here, twenty bucks there. Then at the end of the game, the member paid for me as well, and I made 65 bucks on that loop!
Then a rainstorm came in, the other caddies went home, and I’m sitting on the bench. About three in the afternoon, a man comes out to play nine holes of golf. I volunteer to be his caddy – I still need to make some money!
I’m carrying his bag down the first fairway, at Twin Orchards Country Club in Long Grove, and I asked him what he did, he asked me what I did.
He said, “I’m a surgeon.”
“No way!” I said. “My uncle, Dick Murphy, is a lead surgeon at Garfield Park.”
He said, “No way! He’s my partner! We’re in the same clinic!”
I’m thinking, home run! He’s gotta give me a big tip because he works with my uncle. And he did! I made 95 bucks that day!
This is a true story, folks. If you have a need, bring it to Jesus, because nothing is impossible with God. Nothing! So go to Mass, take it to Mass as your intention. We need a real revival in the Holy Eucharist in this country, because people need hope. We’ve got hope, right here with Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, the King of the Universe, the Creator of everything who always keeps us in existence, and a Good, Good Father.
And I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the people who showed up for Jesus in Indianapolis last summer: 65,000. Thank you, and be sure to watch for another Eucharistic Encounter next week, and may God bless you!
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