Upon thinking about my old friend Tony Gallagher, a very decorated sports writer for 40 years with The Province newspaper in Vancouver, recently, the two of us had a chance to meet and catch up.
Tony covered the Vancouver Canucks for many years as well as three Olympic Games and pretty much every other sport.
He has been inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame, Vancouver College’s Sports Hall of Fame and has been awarded the Elmer Ferguson Award for excellence in hockey journalism.
However Tony’s biggest claim to fame may be that he has been a longtime choir member at St. John the Apostle Parish in Kerrisdale. During our brief talk about the state of sports today and the actions and salaries of star athletes, Tony said the real Hall of Fame is right there as he pointed towards Jesus on the cross.
This is not to suggest the human-centred approach that we can earn our way to heaven but only to indicate that this is what we want our ultimate destination to be after this life.
Our path towards heaven begins by carrying our cross on a daily basis. Here are some thoughts on daily ways we can live a holy life that are comparable to the training for success of high performance athletes.
Finding a good coach/spiritual director: The degree of excellence an athlete reaches is impacted by his or her coach.
This relationship helps give direction and structure to the athlete’s training and competition. Similarly, we as Catholics cannot underestimate the value of a good spiritual director.
This is someone who can help you with your daily prayer life and be with you as you navigate through hard times in your personal and spiritual life. A spiritual director can help you identify, with humility, your shortcomings and to give you a game plan to fight through the tough times with Christ.
A spiritual director can help you grow in magnanimity in loving and serving God.
Learning, practising and developing a good technical foundation: This is where most athletes begin their growth. The need for practice is obvious in developing any athletic skill .
Building our faith is much the same.
Read Scripture, the writings of the Church Fathers and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Develop a solid foundation and learn what we believe and why. This will give you confidence in your apostolate and apologetics and help you grow closer to Jesus.
Prepare for the big game/for Mass: Before setting foot on the court or field, athletes will go through their pre-game routine.
It may be a pre-game meal, physical warm-up, a pep talk by the coach, or a review of the game plan.
In the same way, we should not eat for an hour ahead of Communion. We, as the faithful, should pray before Mass with an examination of conscience and possibly confession in order to receive our Lord in the Eucharist. Be prepared to lift your heart to the Lord and ask Mother Mary to escort you to the altar of life to receive her Son’s beautiful body.
During big sporting events, there are opening ceremonies during which players enter and the national anthem is sung. During the Mass, the procession is the entry of the priest. We all sing a song of praise to our king, Jesus. One major difference is that when the final whistle blows an athlete may have experienced a victory or a defeat but after Mass we who have participated have all come out as winners.
Daily focus: Championship athletes know how to always focus on their goals. We, as Catholics, must remember that we are always in God’s presence. We are asked to bring our faith into everything we do at work or play with family, friends, co-workers and acquaintances.
We must think of Jesus not only when we go to Mass on Sunday. This is what the world wants us to do but we must resist. We are asked at the end of Mass to love and serve the Lord and go out and proclaim the Gospel. Visiting the Lord in an adoration chapel daily can help with that.
Cue words: In the most pressure-packed moments of any game, sports psychologists suggest athletes use effective cue words. When a tennis pro is about to hit a second serve on a pressure point in tennis, it’s much better for an athlete to avoid thinking “Don’t double fault” but instead “Reach!”
When facing temptations in daily life, Catholics can use prayers like the rosary or say quick prayers like “Stay with me, Mother Mary” or “Have mercy on me, Lord, as I am a sinner” or “Come. Holy Spirit.”
Remain positive and hopeful: In athletics, you always need to remind yourself you can and will bounce back from setbacks. In our faith, Jesus teaches us there is always hope through his mercy. Never doubt this. God’s ways are not our ways when it comes to forgiveness. his mercy is infinite. He sees and knows the goodness within us and we need to see this and be persistent until the final whistle.
Goals: In sports, we set out goals for the week and season (short term), the whole year (intermediate) and the athlete’s career (long term).
In our faith, we should review before going to sleep our holy goals for the next day. Remind yourself also of your mortifications, your virtue goals and for whom you are praying.
In sports, one goal may be a victory but this is only a temporal crown. Remember that St. Paul reminds us we are playing for an imperishable crown. Many athletes want to make it into the Hall of Fame in their sport but remember that our end goal is far superior, to reach paradise, meeting face-to-face with the ultimate Hall of Famer, Jesus Christ.
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