More on discipline

As I entered church for Mass today, I realized that much of today's Gospel passage correlates with the Olympics.  Athletes training for the ultimate reward, standing on the podium in front of the world after competing against the top participants in their respective event.  We see them on television or on the internet while participating, but do we really know their story. I watched an interview yesterday of the Gold Medal holder for the women's triathlon. I don't readily recall her name as I write this, but she talked of the sacrifice she made to become the medalist and of equal importance she mentioned her husband who was a professional cyclist who took up the slack at home in order for her to reach the pinnacle achievement.

As we are know only a few reach the heights of medaling in the games just as we are told about the few that are able to pass through the gate to heaven in the Gospel reading. This is not deny the hard work that many athletes put into training in order just to get to Olympics. Anyone who has trained for for any competition knows that there are sacrifices to be made both personal and physical. We all would like to be recognized on our areas of competition, but it requires training hours and hours of training. Even then one is not guaranteed success.

Having coached, played and watched sports for years I am quite familiar with over confidence.  In track runners are coached to run all the way through the finish line, not take for granted you have won just because you are in front.  In professional sports we hear of teams who don't take the underdog seriously only to lose the final game because of their brashness and presumption that they are going to win.

In order to reach the proverbial podium, disciplined and structured training must be at the center of our life. Sacrifices have to be made, those of worldly concerns, materialism, money, etc. One can never assume that just having label Christian is enough as well as attending Mass. The training must include a steady diet of true practice of forgiveness, compassion, prayer, attending reconciliation, and works of mercy. Just as the athlete follows a diet in order to attain success, we must as well attend to our spiritual diet. Each competition, in our case this could be the trials of life, serves to strengthen us. No athlete instantly makes it to the Olympics or for that matter any athlete does not make to the highest levels of their sport without trials, pain, and sacrifice. Perhaps we should as well endeavor to be like athletes training in order to attain our personal podium with our fellow travelers in heaven as our audience applauding our success.