I have a minor confession to make. I’m a graduate of Providence College, and I’ve always been a big fan of their men’s basketball team; however, when it comes to women’s college hoops, I’m a UConn fan! I admit it! (If there are other PC alumni here present, I hope you’re not offended by that fact.)

It was a sad night, of course, a couple of weeks ago, when Villanova put an end to the incredible 70 game winning streak the UConn women had going. I happened to come in from a meeting, just in time to catch the last few minutes of the game. And it wasn’t pretty. In fact, it was immediately clear to me that the team wasn’t playing very well. As their star player, Diana Taurasi, would later put it, "There was no rhythm."

Now, as soon as the game was over, the crew from ESPN tracked down the very happy Villanova coach, Harry Parretta, to interview him. During the course of his remarks, he said something that really caught my attention. (Perhaps some of you heard this.) He said he talked to Shelly’s mom before the game, and she (Shelly’s mom) told him that the sisters would say a special Rosary for the Villanova team that night, so that they would play their very best.

Needless, to say, he was very thankful for the prayers! They obviously didn’t hurt the Villanova cause.

Now most people who heard him make this statement on ESPN probably didn’t fully understand what he was talking about, but I did.

You see, back in the mid-1980’s, a girl named Shelly Pennefather played basketball for the Villanova Wildcats. And she was very, very good. Actually, that’s a gross understatement. The truth is she was an All American, and the winner of the 1987 Wade Trophy (that’s the award which is given annually to the best female college basketball player in the entire country!).

For a while, after she graduated, Shelly played professional basketball in Japan (this was long before the WNBA existed). And she was very successful. But then she gave it up—the fame, the money, and everything else—to enter the convent! Of a cloistered religious order, no less; they live a life quite isolated from the world. And that’s where Shelly Pennefather (now Sister Rose Marie) is today. She lives with the other sisters at the Poor Clare monastery in Alexandria, Virginia.

I ask you this morning to think about your personal reaction to that story. What is your initial, honest, gut-level response? Is it, "That’s fantastic! How wonderful of her to serve God in this way; what a blessing for the Church!" Or is your honest reaction, "What a waste! She could have done so much good for our society; she could have inspired young women as a professional basketball player; she could have been the mother of children. How could she throw her life away in that manner?"

Jesus said, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit."

In making that statement, he prophesied both his death on the cross, and his resurrection on Easter Sunday.

But in saying those words our Lord was also giving expression to a fundamental law of human existence: whether we are conscious of it or not, the fact is that we are all constantly "dying" to certain things as we go through this life!

And these "deaths" can take three possible forms in us: we can either die to what is good, for the sake of something bad; or we can die to what is bad for the sake of something good; or we can die to what is good for the sake of something better.

The first is what the Hugh Hefners of the world do on a daily basis. They die to what is good (in other words they reject what is good) for the sake of something bad: specifically, they die to chastity for the sake of promiscuity and all that goes along with it. In a similar way, those who harbor grudges in this life die to mercy for the sake of vengeance. Those who refuse to share their time and resources with others die to charity for the sake of greed and selfishness.

The next possibility is for us to die to what is bad for the sake of something good. That’s what St. Augustine did when he had his conversion: he died to his promiscuity for the sake of chastity and purity. And that’s what we do whenever we sincerely repent of our sins, whatever they happen to be. We die to those sins for the sake of a virtue we want to possess. (On that note, have you been to Confession yet this Lent? Just asking.)

And then there’s this final possibility: we can die to what is good, for the sake of something better. This, of course, is what Jesus did in offering himself for the forgiveness of our sins: he died to this life (which is good), for the sake of something better (eternal life for all of us, who otherwise would have been condemned!).

This is what our soldiers have done in serving our country so admirably in the war with Iraq. They have died to their comfort and security (both of which are good!), for the sake of something better (freedom and justice for themselves and others).

And, finally, this is what Shelly Pennefather did in becoming Sister Rose Marie! She died to what is good (a normal life in the world; a career in professional basketball) for the sake of something better (a life of total consecration to Jesus Christ, the King of the universe!).

As we go through life, we are constantly "dying" to things. I ask you to spend some time this week reflecting on your own life. To what have you been dying recently? Have you been dying to what is good for the sake of what’s bad? (If so, then get to Confession as soon as possible!) Have you been dying to what is bad for the sake of what is good? Have you been dying to what is good for the sake of what is better?

Saints are people who do the last two of those things, and who make every effort to minimize the first.