I’ve shared much of the following with two Confirmation classes and
hope that the current class, sponsors, parents, and everyone else young and old
will read this too. So often sports simulate life and are great analogies
for reality. Danny Abramowicz, former All-Pro wide receiver and coach
(Offensive Coordinator) for the New Orleans Saints does it all the time on his
TV program on Men's Spirituality, "Crossing the Goal on EWTN and ewtn.com Thursdays 10:30 pm U.S. Eastern Time, Sundays 6:30 pm, and Mondays 6:30 am. He
speaks at Men’s Conferences all over the United States, including the 2012 Steubenville Diocesan Men's Day of Renewal.
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The Communion of Saints (Longmans 1893):
The Church Triumphant,
the Church Militant, & the Church Expectant |
This
past Sunday, after Candlemas Day when Simeon prophesized that the Christ child
will be “a revelation of light to
the gentiles” (Luke 2:32), most of us will be watching the Super Bowl at least for
the ads. You know what? YOU’RE IN THE SUPER BOWL……. not that Super
Bowl, but the much bigger Super Bowl of life…..every one of us. How much time is left on the clock? You may still be toward the end of the 1st
Quarter. Or you may be in the 4th
Quarter and not much time left. What’s
the score in your case? Do you have a
good lead? Or are you behind, playing
catch up in your preparation for eternity?
In
our Super Bowl, the real one, it’s Team Light against Team Darkness. Which team are you on? In this very serious game of life, the stakes
are high…….Eternity…….eternal happiness with God in Heaven or……Hell. The forces of evil, the demons of addiction,
and the idols of power, prestige, money, and illicit pleasure play for Team
Darkness. We play by the rules…….the Ten
Commandments and the teachings of the Church.
Team Darkness only plays by the rules when convenient and beneficial to
them. They play to win by any
means……every dirty trick imaginable that they can get away with. They’re clever and they’re mean. They win when they get you to be on their
side for eternity. Since the Fall of Man
in the Garden of Eden, life has been a battle between the forces of good and
evil........a struggle “with the principalities, with the powers, with the
world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits” (Ephesians 6:12).
We, the Church Militant are the players. Our coach is the Church that Jesus Christ
founded…….the word that He inspired (the Bible) and Church teaching on its
application, its guidance. Our fans are
the saints in heaven (Church Triumphant) and the poor souls
in Purgatory (Church Expectant or Church Suffering). They pray for us and cheer us on. When we join the team, we’re baptized with
water and the Holy Spirit during pre-game warmups, usually as a baby, to get us
ready with sanctifying grace, the divine life in our souls, as members of the
Church.
Before
every play we say a quick prayer for God’s help. The player, who fumbles the ball by
committing a mortal sin, is relegated to the bench because he’s useless in that
state. But there’s Confession to clean
our souls, to get up and keep going, and get back into the game for Team
Light. It’s for venial sins as well to
examine how we’re doing, learn from our mistakes, and gain graces to become a
better player. During time-outs (at
Mass), we receive the nutrition of the Eucharist, Christ Himself…….our
sacramental Power Ade so to speak. After
a serious injury, especially during old age, we receive the Anointing of the
Sick that gives us graces and often helps us recover and play a bigger role for
the team.
At half time we receive the sacrament
of Confirmation, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, to come out stronger and
tougher for the second half. We may also
receive the sacrament of Matrimony or Holy Orders to obtain special particular
graces for the state of life or position we choose on the team.
Throughout this very real game of
life, where the stakes are eternity, we take some hard hits and are sometimes thrown
for a big loss. Each time we offer it up
to the Lord, keep trusting in His help and will, pick ourselves off the ground,
and keep going, never giving up. We
block for each other through the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. We help each other in a spirit of love and
charity. In striving for the trophy,
eternal life, remember the words of the great coach, Vince Lombardi, a daily
communicant: “Winning isn’t everything;
IT’S THE ONLY THING” since by winning this game of life, we gain everything and
by losing we lose everything. LET’S GO
TEAM LIGHT!
Sports in Developing Virtue. St.
Paul used sports in one of his Epistles:
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets
the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the
games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last,
but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like
someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I
strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others,
I myself will not be disqualified for the prize” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). In other words Life is like a race…..a
struggle toward the finish line.
Pope
Francis and St. Pope John Paul II love sports.
The saint gave a homily on sports and saw its value for developing
virtue, saying: “St. Paul the Apostle
proposed the image of the athlete to the Christians of Corinth in order to
illustrate Christian life and as an example of effort and constancy.” See
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St. Pope John Paul II enters Rome's Olympic
stadium October 29, 2000 to say a mass for the athletes' Jubilee. for the Holy
Year and later watched a friendly soccer match between the Italian national
team and a selection of foreign players in Italy.
Often sports develops virtue,
especially under a good coach who teaches values (virtue). Catholic athletes give their testimonies on www.blessed2play.org. My daughter Naomi is on the Swim team of
Franciscan University of Steubenville.
When the swimmers complain during a hard workout, the coach will say
“Offer it up; let’s go.” Training
requires a lot of self-discipline. Urban
Meyer, coach of national champion Ohio State and Joe Lombardi, Offensive
Coordinator for the Detroit Lions endorse www.SportsLeader.org
as a virtue-based mentoring and motivation
program for coaches. The blog http://sportsleaderusa.blogspot.org
shares stories from coaches all over the country on transforming lives. For more information contact Lou Judd - ljudd@sportsleader.org.
That’s what interscholastic and intercollegiate
sports are all about…..to develop self-discipline in training; constancy;
perseverance in not giving up; teamwork; charity in
encouraging and helping others on the team; sacrifice in unselfishly playing
for the team over self; humility in
taking correction and guidance; servant leadership; courage to
take hard hits and face difficult obstacles; mental toughness or focus; honesty
in playing fair and doing what’s right, responsibility in accepting assignments
and doing one’s part on the team with one’s best effort, sportsmanship with the
opposing team, school spirit. The
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (www.naia.org)
for smaller colleges has a program for its athletes called the “Champions of
Character”. See www.championsofcharacter.org and
its core values of integrity, respect, responsibility, sportsmanship, and
servant leadership. The student athlete
can learn even more virtue under adversity
Sports is often practice for
life. What is the big prize for winning
the very serious real game of life? What
are the six words that will tell you that you won the Super Bowl trophy after
the clock ticks down to zero…..of course with God’s help and mercy. It all boils down to SIX words. “WELL DONE GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT……..enter
into the joy of your Lord” (Matthew:25:21).
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