Watching the Olympics is exhilarating.
It is amazing to watch the skill, the focus and the drive the athletes have to not only compete against each other, but also against the clock and even themselves. As I watched them bike, run, swim, jump, flip, row, shoot, throw and kick I thought a lot about how much biking, running, swimming, flipping, rowing, shooting and throwing it took to even get to the Olympics.
Watching the Olympics is inspiring.
Taking into account all the time, effort and commitment it takes to achieve the well-honed physical fitness and mental determination it takes to compete, make the entire context of the games amazing.
Watching the Olympics is food for so much thought.
The first thing that strikes me as we tune into the games on our modern flat screen TVs and our handheld devices that carry signals up through outer space so we can watch the live action, is that we are witnessing the continuation of an ancient festival that began with simple implements like the javelin and discus.
According to the Olympic website and historical records, “the first ancient Olympic Games can be traced back to 776 BC. They were dedicated to the Olympian gods and were staged on the ancient plains of Olympia. They continued for nearly 12 centuries, until Emperor Theodosius decreed in 393 A.D. that all such “pagan cults” be banned. The Olympic Games were closely linked to the religious festivals of the cult of Zeus, but were not an integral part of a rite. Indeed, they had a secular character and aimed to show the physical qualities and evolution of the performances.”
Watching the Olympics is a lesson in our faith and in Catholic perspective.
The Catholic faith too has ancient roots that we so often take for granted as we sit in our beautiful churches. We take for granted that our faith, like the Olympics grew from one place and spread across the world.
I thought a lot about what we can learn and apply to faith from watching the games. I thought a lot about the so-called losers. Losers would be defined as anyone not winning a medal even though the comedian Jerry Seinfeld called the silver medal winners “the first best losers.” With so many of the competitions fought down to fractions of seconds or points and so many pushing hard to present their personal best can we really call them losers? They are still Olympians. From opening ceremony to the close, medaled or not they will always be Olympians.
Isn’t that what trying to be a good Catholic is like? We walk into our churches as Catholics. Nothing more. Even though we might wear medals of saints, we are far from sainthood. But we are still called Catholics and we all give it our best shot to be on the same podium not with Phelps, Ledecky or Biles but with the likes of St. Francis of Assisi, St. Mary, St. Joseph, St. Anne, St. Pope John Paul II, etc. We practice that faith with our participation in the sacraments. We try to hone our faith fitness by keeping the commandments, reading the Scripture, prayer, good works, being in communion with other people of faith and generally doing unto others as we would have them do unto us. We do all that because we know what’s possible to achieve.
But, alas, we know we fall short. We fall off the beam sometimes because of obstacles like jealousy, sloth, greed and gluttony. But we don’t go to confession and Mass because we are perfect. We go to practice. Like the Olympians who began their journey for the love of the sport, we practice faith out of love and to present our personal best to God in this world in hopes of gaining the glory of the next.
That’s what we do as Catholics. We join together to go full forward in the attempt to be the first best of ourselves as children of God.
Like the runner Mo Farah of Great Britain who was clipped by another runner and fell to the ground only to roll over and jump up and win the 10,000 meter race, we Catholics have to keep going regardless of the falls in the hope our endings are just as sweet.