There are two things that serve as my major distractions as of late. They are my job and the Milwaukee Brewers.

While they both deliver variable amount of stress, the Brewers are the more fun option, especially since they currently have the best record in Major League Baseball (as of this writing, that is — I would hate to see a 6.5-game lead over the Detroit Tigers disappear by the time you read this, or worse, a nine-game lead over that team from Chicago in the division).

There are a lot of things on this Earth that take up our time, attention, and energy.

Whether they are baseball, another sport, a different hobby, or so on, we always need to be sure that our distractions aren’t taking us away from our important priorities, the most important of which is our Faith and living out our call.

Our Earthly delights can be even more meaningful when we can connect them with our Faith or find genuine truth, beauty, and goodness within them.

You could try this with almost anything, but I’m going to attempt to find good in the sport of baseball, since I’m going to be spending so much time on it between now and the Brewers’ final game this year (either a World Series win or a crushing playoff defeat — there will be no in-between).

Finding the good

The Catholic Faith and baseball actually combine very strongly in Milwaukee.

Every year, the Ballpark Day of Faith takes place at the Brewers’ home stadium (I still don’t call it by its newer name).

This day includes Mass celebrated in one of the stadium parking lots, a meal before the game, and a ticket to the game.

It serves as a fundraiser for worthy causes as well as a chance for community within the atmosphere of a Major League Baseball game.

Many ballplayers have been Catholic, as imperfect and in need of prayers as some of them were.

Babe Ruth grew up going to a Catholic boys’ school and was later part of the Knights of Columbus.

Stan “The Man” Musial, longtime St. Louis Cardinals great, once had Cardinal Timothy Dolan praise the hall-of-famer’s life as “jam-packed with phenomenal baseball achievements” and free from scandal (according to an article from Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan.).

Tommy Lasorda, longtime Dodgers manager, is quoted in an article from EpicPew as saying, “I like being a Catholic because of the faith. The faith is very true. I was taught by the Sisters for my first eight years of school, and they not only taught me religion, they taught me so many other facets of life.”

Lest you think Catholics are a thing of the past in MLB, current Washington National pitcher Trevor Williams is a content personality on the Hallow app.

The best of humanity

While food prices at the ballpark are a bit questionably high, most facilities pride themselves on care and hospitality to their patrons.

They might want your money, but they do want you to be happy, have a good time, tell your friends, and come back too.

While scoreboards and other stadium features have gotten quite noisy and overstimulating, there is still a beauty in the well-kept greenery of the baseball field.

Mankind works with nature’s gifts to create the pleasing sight of the grass, lines, “dirt,” and bases.

The grounds crew members come out a few times a game to make everything look nice, for a brief moment before play resumes.

Being in the stands near people you’ve never met before, sharing in the moments of the “old ball game,” can create instant connections and memories.

I’ve never been a “high-five everyone around me when something good happens” kind of person, but for some, it’s a great way to love thy neighbor.

We can also be tested and learn to love neighbors (or enemies) when someone in the rival colors shows up and is near us.

It’s only a game, right?

Teach me how to pray

Unless you’re a New York Yankees fan, you have probably suffered great anguish and pain as a baseball fan.

You know what it’s like to go on a journey of many ups and downs with one goal in mind and have it end in devastating fashion.

“That’s life,” right? Even if you feel something is deserved and worked hard at, and practically earned, it doesn’t always work out.

Twenty-nine teams have to accept that every year, especially those who were true title contenders and have been for a while.

Even within a game with an alleged 90-plus percent chance of winning, things can happen, many of them bad.

We can learn how to give thanks when our team makes a miraculous comeback, but we can also deal with everyday loss.

Even a good team loses about 60 times per year, and even the best hitters don’t connect more than 60 percent of the time.

As our bishop would say, “But God still loves you” (he seriously said this to me as I was discussing with him the concept of a Brewers loss and the eventual pain of an October exit).

Thank you for reading.

I’m praying for you.