It's that time of year again. All the crucifixes are covered with purple cloth, you feel like you should be somber all the time, and the a-word suddenly has a different meaning. Growing up Catholic, I usually thought of Lent as an exciting challenge. It was pretty much the only time of year we would eat fish sticks, which I secretly enjoyed. The rice bowl in the center of the table was kind of neat to look at / read. And my competitive side liked the see-how-long-you-can-go-without-eating-sweets (though the actual application of it I didn't like so much). Basically, Lent was about me. (O fallen man, we can find a way to make anything be about us, huh?) Granted, I've gotten better over the years, and I'd like to think it hasn't been quite so self-centered in recent years.
But this year, I am making a conscious effort to make Lent about God, or rather to acknowledge the fact that it is about Him. My Lenten resolutions focus on removing the rocks along my path to God and loving Him more. Instead of being a competition, it is quite humbling: I have to first admit to myself that those rocks are there and that I have allowed them to be there. Then I must try to push them out of the way, and subsequently admit that they are not rocks so much as boulders and they are not easy to move.
In his homily, a priest described Lent like this: interior purification through exterior mortification. My exterior mortifications must be about purifying my soul. (Maybe that seems really obvious, and I can guarantee that I would never have argued against this, but I just didn't always practice it.) Every cookie that I don't eat, I must consciously not eat because I love Jesus more. Every glass of milk I force myself to drink, every moment in the chapel, every donation, every exterior mortification must be motivated by a desire to love Christ with the purest love that I can give Him, even when (and especially when) I don't want to sacrifice.
So while I still think that Lent is an exciting challenge, it is a challenge not because I'm competing, but because I am really not so great and it is a struggle to be virtuous. I'm excited for the struggle, though, not because struggling is fun (that is a ridiculous idea), but because through the struggles I hope to be able to love more and to clean out a better place in my heart for our resurrected Lord.
PS: Also check out Christ in the City's Lenten video series, which may or may not have anything to do with Lent... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7uqeAyCiF0.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Superbowl and Sports
Superbowl Sunday. An American tradition. Food, football, and community. It brings out the best of some and the worst of others. Apparently, more Americans watch the game than vote for the president. (So I heard somewhere, check it out for yourself before you cite me.) I left the game this evening pondering a few things. First, who has failed to introduce Beyonce to ENDOW? Second, did the lights go out simply as a ploy to fit in more commercials? Third, would Kantian morality forbid me from eating at a potluck if I didn't bring something to share? (I think so, but I don't live by Kantian morality, so my life isn't too affected.) Fourth, and the question to which I am dedicating this post, what is it about sports that attracts so many? Playing, watching, analyzing, strategizing- we love it all. After a bit of thinking, here are some reasons I've come up with to account for this almost inherent attraction. (Note that I said almost.)
In my humble opinion, the primary reason we are attracted to sports is the analogy that we draw, whether consciously or not, to life. The story of humanity. The struggle of the human heart. We want to win, to be victorious, to gain whatever there is to gain. We practice and practice, we strengthen and condition, we prepare ourselves as much as we can, we strive for perfection. Yet, at game time we always find that we are not perfect yet. We fumbled, we swung and missed, we let a goal in the net. Though we never desire defeat for ourselves, we are still defeated at times. And as crushing as it may feel at the time, we almost always can look back and see that we were able to grow and learn from that defeat. And so we practice more, and strive even more for perfection, and indeed we improve. But we seem to be striving for an infinite, for a perfection that cannot be reached in this life, yet we never doubt is worth striving for.
Sometimes, though, we may choose not to practice, not to prepare ourselves, because it's just too much work. Or we say, "Wow, look how fast that person over there is. I can't run like that, so I guess I shouldn't compete." Or we decide that we're good enough, that we're better than any opponent we could face. Then what happens? We fail. Or we might win, but we aren't really victorious. We aren't as good as we could be. Through lack of effort, or lack of confidence, or over-confidence, we actually step farther away from our ultimate goal. (Thankfully, we have such a good and merciful Coach that He will always take us back, though there is still a privation caused by our past choices that we must fight to overcome.)
I also think that sports promote the whole person- body, mind, and soul. You probably think I'm getting a little carried away right now, but hear me out. Sports are clearly tied to bodily health and fitness; I'm assuming no one is going to try to argue with me on that point. Mentally, we strategize. We think, should we give them a safety in order to waste more time on the clock? Should we start pressing now and risk giving them an easy basket? Should we set our weaker hitter on the outside when they expect us to set our strongest hitter in the middle? We design plays and try to understand our opponent's thinking. We weigh our options and choose the apparent good, and eventually we learn to see if the apparent good is a true good. We learn to follow the logic of the game and to apply that to particular situations. Our minds become sharper, more logical, more informed. Spiritually, we take the principles we learn though the exercise of our bodies and minds and apply them to our souls: discipline, perseverance, and rationality, among others. We understand that suffering has a purpose, and we don't choose to endure pain because it is an end in itself, but rather because it transforms us into the best versions of ourselves. We want the end goal more than we want comfort, and we choose to act in accordance with that.
The last point I will make (though I've thought of more) is that sports manifest our desire for unity and communion. This is why people have parties to watch the Superbowl, or why the stadium is packed for a high school soccer game, or why team sports exist. We want others to share our joy or sorrow. We want to feel as though we are one. The fans identify themselves with a particular team or participant, and after the game will say "we won," as if they are one with the team. The desire for unity pulls us together through thick and thin, and ultimately points to the infinite desire written on our hearts for unity with God.
So, basically, sports are awesome. I'm not saying that everyone needs to go out and join a sports league (though I would highly suggest it). But I am saying that sports teach us about life and help us to live better. And at least once a year, on a wintry Sunday, surrounded by friends and potato chips, America is reminded of the goodness of sports.
PS: Here's a link to a debate that I watched a while ago. It was pretty good and I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on it!
http://www.thomascenter.org/can-the-free-market-adequately-care-for-the-poor/
In my humble opinion, the primary reason we are attracted to sports is the analogy that we draw, whether consciously or not, to life. The story of humanity. The struggle of the human heart. We want to win, to be victorious, to gain whatever there is to gain. We practice and practice, we strengthen and condition, we prepare ourselves as much as we can, we strive for perfection. Yet, at game time we always find that we are not perfect yet. We fumbled, we swung and missed, we let a goal in the net. Though we never desire defeat for ourselves, we are still defeated at times. And as crushing as it may feel at the time, we almost always can look back and see that we were able to grow and learn from that defeat. And so we practice more, and strive even more for perfection, and indeed we improve. But we seem to be striving for an infinite, for a perfection that cannot be reached in this life, yet we never doubt is worth striving for.
Sometimes, though, we may choose not to practice, not to prepare ourselves, because it's just too much work. Or we say, "Wow, look how fast that person over there is. I can't run like that, so I guess I shouldn't compete." Or we decide that we're good enough, that we're better than any opponent we could face. Then what happens? We fail. Or we might win, but we aren't really victorious. We aren't as good as we could be. Through lack of effort, or lack of confidence, or over-confidence, we actually step farther away from our ultimate goal. (Thankfully, we have such a good and merciful Coach that He will always take us back, though there is still a privation caused by our past choices that we must fight to overcome.)
I also think that sports promote the whole person- body, mind, and soul. You probably think I'm getting a little carried away right now, but hear me out. Sports are clearly tied to bodily health and fitness; I'm assuming no one is going to try to argue with me on that point. Mentally, we strategize. We think, should we give them a safety in order to waste more time on the clock? Should we start pressing now and risk giving them an easy basket? Should we set our weaker hitter on the outside when they expect us to set our strongest hitter in the middle? We design plays and try to understand our opponent's thinking. We weigh our options and choose the apparent good, and eventually we learn to see if the apparent good is a true good. We learn to follow the logic of the game and to apply that to particular situations. Our minds become sharper, more logical, more informed. Spiritually, we take the principles we learn though the exercise of our bodies and minds and apply them to our souls: discipline, perseverance, and rationality, among others. We understand that suffering has a purpose, and we don't choose to endure pain because it is an end in itself, but rather because it transforms us into the best versions of ourselves. We want the end goal more than we want comfort, and we choose to act in accordance with that.
The last point I will make (though I've thought of more) is that sports manifest our desire for unity and communion. This is why people have parties to watch the Superbowl, or why the stadium is packed for a high school soccer game, or why team sports exist. We want others to share our joy or sorrow. We want to feel as though we are one. The fans identify themselves with a particular team or participant, and after the game will say "we won," as if they are one with the team. The desire for unity pulls us together through thick and thin, and ultimately points to the infinite desire written on our hearts for unity with God.
So, basically, sports are awesome. I'm not saying that everyone needs to go out and join a sports league (though I would highly suggest it). But I am saying that sports teach us about life and help us to live better. And at least once a year, on a wintry Sunday, surrounded by friends and potato chips, America is reminded of the goodness of sports.
PS: Here's a link to a debate that I watched a while ago. It was pretty good and I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on it!
http://www.thomascenter.org/can-the-free-market-adequately-care-for-the-poor/
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