“Do you not know that the runners in the stadium all run the race, but only one wins the prize? Run so as to win. Every athlete exercises discipline in every way. They do it to win a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one…I drive my body and train it, for fear that, after having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.” 1 Cor 9:24-25, 27
During the Olympics it is very difficult not to be affected by the zeal and discipline of the athletes from around the world who have gathered to compete in a broad range of sporting events. The success of the winners brings elation and inspiration. The disappointment of those who performed less-than-their-best when it counted the most tugs at the heartstrings. Dreams are realized for some while, for many more, they go unfulfilled. Yet, in spite of disappointment, there is an underlying gratitude for having had the opportunity to compete at the Olympic Games. Having arrived at the Olympics at all is a victory in itself!
St. Paul uses the image of athletic competition to tell the early Christians in the city of Corinth that true disciples of Christ strive with the totality of their body, mind, and spirit for the life that is ours through faith in the Risen Jesus. He is telling each of us that we are to be as disciplined and focused, if not more so, about our Christian vocation as those Olympians are in their various sporting events. Each one of us is called to possess an Olympic-sized fervor for living and spreading the Gospel, striving for a quality of life that is more valuable and rarer than medals made of gold, silver, and bronze.
St. Paul admits that, before meeting the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus, he would qualify as an Olympic gold-medal winner in all matters of religious observance of the Jewish Law. When he encountered the Risen Jesus, he came to realize that all of his striving for perfect religious observance was of little value when compared to the Spirit-filled life that Jesus has won for us. The first realization was to see that the most meaningful victory, the conquering of death, had already taken place. It is not something that one needs to strive to accomplish, not that any of us ever could. The second realization was to see that living the Gospel truth each and every day, regardless of circumstances, is all that matters. In this is LIFE—ETERNAL LIFE—life that is fully immersed in the Spirit of God. It is a life that never fades or ends. All things of this earthly realm, on the other hand, perishes.
Roughly 2,000 years later, this truth has not changed. Some people are “religious Olympians,” that is, perfectionists when it comes to the rules, regulations, and rubrics of religion—like Saul of Tarsus—with little energy spent on showing God’s loving compassion to others. Their zeal for rigorous religiosity leads them to judge others for not being like them. This is the hypocrisy that Jesus preached against.
“Spiritual Olympians,” on the other hand, strive for a whole different kind of “perfection”—to be wholly aligned with the Spirit and will of God within oneself as Jesus was in his earthly life. These spiritual athletes wrestle with the inner impulses of the human will to love the self above all else and to appease the promptings of the ego rather than to be led by the Spirit of Holy Love with full self-surrender. This is a far more difficult and hidden endeavor. It doesn’t gain notoriety or wealth or public recognition. It isn’t fun or pleasurable. Earthly benefits are few and far between. It requires self-sacrifice and resilient perseverance in spite of daily failures. Acceptance of the things one cannot change is essential. It demands a daily willingness to be pushed beyond what one can see, what one wants, or what one can reasonably expect. And, by persevering in this way, one is transformed by grace—holy and amazing grace. The false-self (ego) is beaten down like hammered metal and the true Self emerges with strength, courage, and passion. It is the way of crucified Christ, the Suffering Servant.
Those whom we call saints are of this latter category. However, there are thousands of unrecognized spiritual Olympians who dwell in our midst. Perhaps you may be among them. Let us run so as to win an imperishable prize so that we all might arrive together at everlasting life.
By Sister Therese Haydel, OSB