Father Marcel Taillon<\/a>, whom he\u2019s known since the 8th grade (a priest also very dear to my family), and the many fruits of that friendship.\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cTo be able to have a consistent priest, consistent teaching but also accountability, for him to be there in all different phases of my life, phases of going into high school \u2014 we developed our faith through so many different experiences and through high school, the recruiting period, what college you\u2019re going to choose, going to college, the ups and downs of college, starting your career, moving your family,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it all culminates in moving back to where we started together, which is here in New England, and then taking on the faith journey together is something. I\u2019ve had people along the way, but Father Taillon is one that\u2019s been there for a long, long time, and has really helped me in every phase of my life.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we all look at our life as a testimony,\u201d Mazzulla continued, \u201cI think there are two different types. I think God puts people into your life for particular moments, whether it\u2019s one day, one year, whether it\u2019s three to five years. And so, how can you impact that person in the time that you have with that person? How can you use the gifts that God has given you for the time that you have? So I think then you have a few relationships that are long-lasting and go beyond time. You never want to take for granted the time you have to invest in someone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Living intentionally does really seem to be the coach\u2019s modus operandi. And he said the decision to live this way came when he realized the hard truth that we are asked to understand as Catholics.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me personally, it\u2019s believing what God says about you is true. Something so simple, but it\u2019s so difficult. And I would say for a long time, I didn\u2019t always believe what he said about me was true. When you neglect that and you don\u2019t believe it, you go and look for false truths. So they come into the things that are a little bit easier to believe. As a kid, it\u2019s easier to believe that your identity is in basketball than it is that someone who died for you and gave up their whole life for you. You have this grace, and you can\u2019t earn it, and it\u2019s just given to you. And all you have to do is accept. And that\u2019s hard to accept.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do I accept that?\u201d Mazzulla asked. \u201cHow do I believe it? And how do I live it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mazzulla also talked about keeping his wife and family close to him during the season, ruled by the verse, \u201cBut as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord\u201d (Joshua 24:15).<\/p>\n
\u201cThroughout the season,\u201d he said, his wife often travels with him, \u201cbecause I think it\u2019s important to work on your marriage just as much as it is to work on your coaching. Throughout the playoffs, she\u2019s at every single game,\u201d and they attend daily Mass together and every Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Father Kress pointed out that many people live like \u201cthis life happens to us instead of \u2018I am going to live this life with this person this way.\u2019\u201c\u00a0<\/p>\n
And Mazzulla said for him, \u201cIt\u2019s a conscious effort and it\u2019s a mindset. This is who we are going to be. We are going to interpret the things that happen to us through the lens of Christ.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe struggle of being a person of faith, Mazzulla admitted, \u201cis you\u2019re going to let people down,\u201d and he strives to live like Christ, but there are some things that baffle him in this digital age. \u201cObviously, God is omniscient, and Jesus was who he was on this earth, but I have a hard time saying, okay, how would Jesus handle Instagram?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Coach Mazzulla also shared his pre-game ritual that includes praying the Rosary with beads he had made from the old Boston Celtics\u2019 parquet floor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s important to have a perspective of God gave me my dream job at a very young age, so how can you live it to the fullest but also try to be as present as you can. Just combining my favorite things: basketball, Rosary, the Celtics, just having that pregame ritual keeps you centered and grounded on the opportunity and responsibility that God has given you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something that I cherish doing,\u201d Mazzulla shared, saying his love for the Marian prayer came at an early age, seeds planted at Catholic school.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn St. Mary\u2019s, we would do the Living Rosary, and we\u2019d represent a bead. When you pass the microphone and everyone was a bead? That\u2019s kind of how it started.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mazzulla wondered if they are still doing the Living Rosary, and I can assure you all that Catholic schools are, including here in New Jersey, where my daughter will represent her bead by wearing blue tomorrow. And I will say a prayer today that the experience might have the same impact on her as it did on Coach Joe.\u00a0<\/p>\n
God bless Joe Mazzulla \u2014 and may we all learn to live as intentionally as he does!\u00a0<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla is not one to hide his Catholic faith. Known to make Gospel references…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":362481,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3766],"tags":[7,45,75,3798,46,57001,57000,56999,2675,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-362480","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-celtics","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-boston-celtics","11":"tag-bostonceltics","12":"tag-celtics","13":"tag-diaconate","14":"tag-faith-and-sports","15":"tag-father-marcel-taillon","16":"tag-joe-mazzulla","17":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115426638426666161","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}