(June 23, 2019) | Lectionary: 169
Adults: When have you been most blessed and when have you felt a little “broken” in your service to others?
Children: Why is it important to keep on giving, even when you are tired?
by Thomas Gette
Athletes who train live a life dedicated to their sport. They put in multiple hours every day of heart-pounding, body-disciplining exercise. Obviously, there are days when they are on top of the world and the hours of training are euphoric. Then there are the days they feel sick or feel like giving up.
What keeps them motivated is not the training itself. Their focus and determination come from having their eyes focused on a single thing. They put in all the countless hours and days of work for a single moment, with the hope that they will come out on top as the winner of the event for which they have trained.
The effort and dedication do not go unnoticed. Fans flock by the millions every year to various sporting events in order to witness the fruit of all the training. They get to witness what seem like superhuman abilities. But behind all of that is the result of saying “Yes” every day and pushing through pain and weakness.
Our faith can be much like this. Living our faith requires daily practice, a daily “Yes” to God. Of course, we will have days where it feels easy to live out our “Yes” because we are experiencing extra blessings, but then there will be days when we feel a little more “broken” and honoring our “Yes” is much more difficult. Much like the athlete, pushing through requires that we stay focused on what our faith is all about.
In 1 Corinthians 9:25, Saint Paul tells us: “Every athlete exercises discipline in every way. They do it to win a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one.” We live out our faith on the journey towards the Kingdom of God, towards the reward of Heaven. This is not to say that athletes work in vain. Faith simply reminds us that we should have our eyes set beyond this world.
On this Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, we celebrate the greatest gift we have on Earth, the Holy Eucharist. Through this precious gift, Jesus remains present among us. When all is going well, we can bring our eyes to Jesus. When all is falling apart around us, we can bring our eyes to Jesus. It is then in receiving Jesus in Holy Communion at Mass that we receive the strength to endure the hills and valleys of our everyday lives.
For the athlete, winning the competition is both the motivator for and the goal of training. For disciples, Jesus is the reason we live in service to others, and our goal in service is to be his presence in the world today. Jesus is the path we walk, but also our destination. We strive to live for Christ in this world so that we can one day be with Christ forever in Heaven.
Thomas Gette is a family man with a passion for the domestic Church. He holds master’s degrees from both Franciscan University and the Catholic University in Leuven, Belgium.