Thanksgiving is a time in the United States where families come together to give thanks to God, catch up with relatives….and watch NFL Football. This is actually good, provided that these three things are put in the right order. As the legendary Packers head coach Vince Lombardi would always say, “Think of only three things: your God, your family and the Green Bay Packers-in that order.”
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Lombardi hit it right on the nail with that line and it shouldn’t be surprising. He was instilled with religious and family values from an early age, growing up in a large Italian-Catholic family in an immigrant neighborhood in Brooklyn.
Bread for the Family, Bread for the Priest
Vincent Lombardi was the oldest of five children, while his mother (Matilda Izzo) belonged to a clan of twelve brothers and sisters. The Lombardi’s would spend a lot of time with the Izzos, especially on Sundays. After attending Mass, the two families would get together and share in a traditional Italian feast, which lasted the entire day.
Along with family members, priests were a very common sight at the Sunday gathering. During the week, Vince’s mother would always bake two loaves of bread; one for the Lombardis, one for the priests. Vince was often given the task of delivering the bread to the parish rectory. Vince developed a solid relationship with the priests over the years and often went to ball games with them.
Growing up in such an environment, Vince was instilled at an early age that God and family were intertwined and religion was not something distant, reserved for only for Sundays, but was simply a part of every day life.
Vince Lombardi: On the Road to the Priesthood
In fact, being an altar boy at an early age inspired Vince Lombardi to desire to be a priest. He freely chose to attend a high school seminary program and was the first in his family to pursue religious life. It was in seminary that Vince was instilled such values as discipline and virtue. He also started to attend daily Mass, which would become a part of his routine for the rest of his life.
Yet, there was one thing missing from his life: football. Vince loved football and the seminary program did not have a football team. After three years of intense study toward the priesthood, Vince made the decision to discontinue his theological studies and pursue his love of football.
This led Vince Lombardi to enroll at Fordham University, where they offered him a football scholarship. He still received a solid formation from he Jesuits of the university, but he was also given a chance to go deeper into his passion in life.
Practice what you Preach
Eventually Lombardi would go on to be an assistant coach for the New York Giants and then was made famous by his head coaching at the Green Bay Packers. He maintained his daily habit of going to Mass before attending meetings and kept a Bible and Missal on his nightstand. Vince prayed daily to St. Anthony and St. Jude and kept an old black wooden rosary in his coat pocket, which he would finger throughout the day.
He did not preach to his players, but everyone knew of his Catholic faith. He was not one to pray for victory over his next opponent, but he did worry that his team might lose if he didn’t pray. Vince knew the importance of religion and kept it first and foremost in his mind. Being Catholic was a part of who he was and it was always given precedence over football.
Unfortunately, Lombardi did not always put family above sports. Years after the fact, his son reflected that he would have rather had him home more often than being a coach of an NFL team. One striking example of this obsession with football was the fact that Vince Lombardi never made it to any of his son’s high school football games. His own father was a loyal fan of Vince in his college days, but Vince was too worried about the next game that he often would spend days away from his family at his office, studying film.
Family always before Work
While Vince Lombardi was not perfect and did not always practice what he preached in regards to priorities, we should take a close look at our lives and see where our time is spent. As I wrote last week, prayer should always be given top priority. After that, our vocation needs to come next. God has called us to be in our vocation and He has given us specific tasks to complete. As a father, I am entrusted with the care of my children and my primary goal is to help my spouse get to Heaven. If I fail at these tasks, I endanger my own soul.
Put in another way, we can see where our priorities are by how much time we spend with each activity. As Jim Beckman puts it, “There are things we do with our time every day, and if we track our activity, we’ll see what is truly important to us.” (God Help Me, How to Grow in Prayer). Now if we work 8 hours a day, it may not immediately reflect our priorities. However, if we look at our weekends and see where we put our time, we can instantly see where our priorities are. Take a month and measure out the time given to faith, family and work. This will be a clear indicator and will challenge us to practice what we preach.
This Thanksgiving, let us reflect on where our priorities are and let us truly practice what Vince Lombardi preached, “Think of only three things: your God, your family and the Green Bay Packers-in that order.”
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Sources used for this article
When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi by David Maraniss