{"id":291642,"date":"2018-10-13T10:34:55","date_gmt":"2018-10-13T14:34:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=291642"},"modified":"2018-10-13T10:34:55","modified_gmt":"2018-10-13T14:34:55","slug":"grant-desmes-journey-the-baseball-star-who-joined-a-monastery-returns-to-baseball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2018\/10\/grant-desmes-journey-the-baseball-star-who-joined-a-monastery-returns-to-baseball\/","title":{"rendered":"Grant Desme’s journey: The baseball star who joined a monastery returns to baseball"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

A few years ago, for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, I preached a homily<\/a><\/strong> about Grant Desme \u2014 a \u201crich man\u201d of our own age who gave up everything to join the Norbertines in California:<\/p>\n

In 2009, Grant Desme was one of the hottest rising stars in American baseball \u2014 a center-fielder playing for a farm team for the Oakland A\u2019s. \u00a0During the minor league season in 2009, he hit 31 home runs. In November of 2009, he was voted the league\u2019s Most Valuable Player. \u00a0When the opportunity came, he was drafted by the Oakland A\u2019s in the second round and signed for a salary of $430,000 a year.\u00a0 He was looking at a future a lot of young men dream about, where people would see him on cereal boxes and line up to have him sign bats and caps.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Via YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But just two months after signing that contract, Grant Desme announced he was quitting.\u00a0 People were stunned.\u00a0 Since the age of four, all he\u2019d ever wanted was to play baseball.\u00a0 But he realized that he wanted something else more.<\/p>\n

He wanted to be a priest.<\/p>\n

In the fall of 2010, he entered St. Michael\u2019s Abbey in Silverado. The man who seemed destined to be a household name\u00a0changed\u00a0<\/em>his name.\u00a0 Or rather, he had his name changed for him.<\/p>\n

He was given the name of Matthew.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0He asked his superior why. \u201cHe said it was because Matthew was a rich tax collector,\u201d Brother Matthew explained recently. \u201cAnd I was a rich baseball player.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI had everything I wanted,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it wasn\u2019t enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of his teammates put it this way: \u201cHis love for God took over his love for baseball.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Re-reading that homily this morning, I wondered what had happened to Brother Matthew.<\/p>\n

I found this story<\/a><\/strong> from this past June, which told the rest of the story. The fact is, he stayed at the abbey for eight years, but left in 2017. He is now trying to return to baseball and has been coaching at Ave Maria University:<\/p>\n

To understand Desme\u2019s acts, one must understand his past. When he joined the abbey, he said the toughest dreams to leave behind were not baseball-related. Winning a World Series, becoming a multimillionaire before he turned 30, having random people tweet mechanical advice at him \u2014 those aspirations were never that important. What was important to Desme, and what he found hardest to detach from, was the craving to get married and have children. Embracing monastic life meant\u00a0ending a relationship he thought had marriage potential<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Desme subdued thoughts of his alternate reality for a time, but they eventually overpowered him, validating existential philosopher S\u00f8ren Kierkegaard\u2019s claim that \u201cthe most painful state of being is remembering the future, particularly the one you\u2019ll never have.\u201d Desme may or may not know the quote, but he understands the sentiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole time really I was wrestling with what way I was being called to give myself to Christ,\u201d he said, explaining how he felt God had been calling him to service. \u201cThe desire to get married increased more and more the longer I was at the monastery, while that didn\u2019t necessarily happen with the desire to become a priest. I came to the conclusion that God was calling me to married life.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Desme has regrets, they aren\u2019t evident in how he talks about life at the abbey. He cherished being nurtured intellectually and spiritually, with extensive study appealing to his attentive nature (Schafer described him as \u201cthe kind of guy who understands things\u201d). Meanwhile, the close-knit community allowed him to forge meaningful relationships with his fellow brothers, whom he labels his best friends. Those at the abbey, including his spiritual director Father Ambrose Criste, have stayed in touch and assisted Desme since he departed.<\/p>\n

Father Criste and the rest of the Abbey\u2019s leadership are accustomed to this outcome, anyway. As Desme puts it, \u201cPeople come, stay for various amount of times and leave \u2014 or they stay forever.\u201d Few stay forever. Jeff Passan,\u00a0who wrote the definitive article about Desme\u2019s retirement<\/a>, noted about 30 percent of seminarians at St. Michael\u2019s Abbey are ordained as priests.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The story concludes:<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m grateful that I did it and the adventure just continues,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ll see what God has in store for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

To understand Grant Desme, one must understand that he will go where he feels called.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Isn\u2019t that the story for all of us?<\/p>\n

Check out the video below from this summer, which tells more of his story and includes a recent interview.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6oS40nVeDvU<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few years ago, for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, I preached a homily about Grant Desme \u2014 a \u201crich man\u201d of our own age who gave up everything to join the Norbertines in California: In 2009, Grant Desme was one of the hottest rising stars in American baseball \u2014 a center-fielder playing for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":291648,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[395],"class_list":["post-291642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vocations","tag-grant-desme"],"yoast_head":"\nGrant Desme's journey: The baseball star who joined a monastery returns to baseball<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A few years ago, for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, I preached a homily about Grant Desme \u2014 a "rich man" of our own age who gave up everything to join\" 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