|
During this
past week, many of us who have been watching the Summer Olympics have heard amazing stories about the courage, determination, and
discipline that has helped young women and men who had a dream about
wearing Olympic gold to fulfill their dreams.
One story I recall
is about a fellow by the name of Michael Phelps who has won five gold
medals and seven medals overall. And, because of his personal honor and
spirit of sportsmanship, Michael Phelps may yet win an eighth medal
because he stepped aside to allow a fellow teammate take his place in
the lineup.
Michael Phelps
didn’t win those medals simply by wishing to win them. No, if you probe
a bit beyond the headlines and into Michael’s story, achieving Olympic
gold required hours upon hours of arduous training and physical exertion
to the point of exhaustion as well as giving up many things he’d otherwise
surely have preferred to enjoy. But, Michael Phelps had a dream about
something he wanted to achieve in his life. And, to achieve his dream,
Michael Phelps willingly embraced the personal cost of giving all of
those other things up and willingly enduring the pain and suffering that
achieving his dream required. Michael Phelps didn’t allow the high
personal cost to
deter him from
“going for the gold.”
While Michael
Phelps’ story is inspiring, it’s the story of another Olympian, Gary
Hall, Jr., that teaches us even more about embracing pain and suffering
to achieve one’s dream.
If you don’t know
this story, Gary Hall has won 10 medals in the past three Olympics. He
won four medals in the 1996 Olympics, four in the 2000 Olympics, and two
in this year’s Olympics. Gary Hall spends about six hours every day in
the swimming pool, all in his determined effort to compete in two
specialties: the 50-meter freestyle and 4x100 freestyle relay.
Like Michael Phelps,
Gary Hall has devoted hours to arduous training and physical exertion to
the point of exhaustion to train himself for the Olympics. He also has
given up many things he’d have otherwise preferred to enjoy. What many
people don’t know is that Gary Hall has Type I diabetes.
Each day, Gary has
to test his blood by pricking his finger six to eight times and twelve
to fifteen times on the days he competes. Frequent testing allows Gary to make
accurate decisions about how much insulin he needs and when. This helps
Gary to keep his glucose levels within a safe range. If it’s too high,
Gary’s large and small blood vessels could be damaged and, in turn, this
could lead to long-term complications like blindness or amputation of
his extremities. If his glucose levels are too low, this condition can
cause shakiness, light-headedness, and even unconsciousness. Gary
injects insulin on average six to eight times a day, but some days,
depending on how much he exercises and what he eats, Gary needs as many
as ten to twelve injections.
Gary Hall’s
willingness to embrace pain and suffering in order to achieve his dream
of Olympic gold makes him a role model not only for many young diabetics
but for many other people as well. For his own inspiration,
however, Gary Hall turns to older people. “When
I go to (diabetes-related) events, a walk or fundraiser or anything, I'm
able to meet people who are doing extraordinary things despite having
diabetes,”
he says. “When
I meet someone who has had diabetes for 45 years and hasn't had
complications, to me, that's inspiring. I feel better knowing these
grim things don't have to be in my future.”
For several weeks
now, the gospel selections (all of which have been taken from the Gospel
of Luke) have focused upon discipleship and what is required of anyone
who would have the dream of following Jesus. The portrait Luke paints
is perhaps one that many of us may not particularly find appealing
because, just as dreaming of wearing Olympic gold requires being willing
to embrace pain and suffering, following Jesus is also not for the
timid, the fainthearted, or the undisciplined.
For several weeks
now, we’ve heard Luke’s stories about Jesus teaching his disciples all
of which emphasize the disciple’s duty to proclaim God’s word day in and
day out. While proclaiming God’s word might not seem to present many
difficulties, how one measures success does. For Luke, successful
discipleship is measured not in the number of converts a disciple makes
but, rather, in the pain and suffering one willingly bears—the cross one
willing embraces—as other people, especially family members, relatives,
and friends, turn against a disciple—just as they turned against
Jesus—for proclaiming God’s word.
What causes this
problem and why does witnessing to God’s word lead the disciple to
experience pain and suffering? Simply put: God’s word exposes
infidelity and hypocrisy. People not only don’t want to hear this but
also don’t want it spoken in public.
Today’s reading
extends this idea, suggesting that the pain and suffering borne for the
sake of God’s word is the “narrow way” disciples must pursue. The daily
experience of walking this way builds the courage, determination, and
discipline which teaches disciples to value what truly matters in life.
For example, pain and suffering have no value in themselves; but, the
willingness to endure pain and suffering for a higher more noble
purpose—like enduring pain and suffering for the sake of God’s word and
Church teaching—is extremely valuable. Why? Because these daily
experiences provide the apprenticeship through which disciples develop
the courage, determination, and discipline needed by disciples in order
that love of God motivate them.
Although many of us
might not find this portrait of discipleship particularly satisfying, it
really doesn’t tell us something we don’t already know. In almost every
worthwhile human endeavor, we all know that “practice makes perfect.”
We’ve seen a lot of that this past week in the stories of this year’s
Olympians, each of whom possessed the desire but also needed to develop
the courage, determination and discipline then needed, one day, if they
were to wear the gold.
A good pianist may
practice an hour or so for several days every week. But, a concert
pianist practices at least several hours every day of every week. The
goal frames the daily choices that need to be made. This goal also sets
the standard to determine just how much pain and suffering the aspiring
concert pianist is willing to endure.
A ballerina’s feet
and joints may ache; a marathon runner’s feet, calves, leg muscles,
back, and lungs may hurt. But, understanding knowing that pain and
suffering is the price one must pay to achieve a much-desired goal,
women and men train rigorously with the foreknowledge that that enduring
all of this pain and suffering is the price one must pay in order to
strip away every physical, psychological, and social impediment. This
distinguishes a true “champion” from an “also ran.”
Just ask any member
of an NFL, NHL, or NBA team what differentiates play in the pros from
collegiate play. Uniformly, they will tell you, courage, determination,
and discipline. Only someone who is totally committed to the
sport—which requires putting one’s spouse and family as well as one’s
personal interests second to one’s love of the sport—will succeed.
Then, after giving up all of that, one must also willingly walk the very
narrow way—embracing the inevitable pain and suffering that comes with
all of the exercise, conditioning, dieting, studying game films and
playbooks, punishing practices, fatigue, and injury—to differentiate
oneself from a “pro” by becoming a world “champion.”
For his part,
Earl Woods
maintains that, beyond all of this, being a champion requires tough
mental exercise. An aspiring champion must develop the ability to not
allow distractions cause one to lose focus on one’s goal. Earl Woods
learned this lesson from his military training and raised his son,
Tiger, to be a champion by subjecting Tiger to some very grueling mental
training. While some people may think that driving Tiger to the point
of quitting, then relaxing a bit and coming back just as quickly to push
Tiger a bit further might sound like mental abuse, this is the narrow
way that develops the mental discipline necessary to achieve Tiger’s
goal of being a PGA champion.
All of these people
know that one can only become a champion by walking the “narrow way.”
Countless other people begin the journey but, as one’s initial desire
wanes, they never develop the courage, determination, and discipline to
walk the narrow way. Then, as a consequence, these people never achieve
their dream. At some point, realizing that they really desire to walk
along a wide and spacious way, these people end up somewhere along the
wayside as others—who’ve dedicated themselves to developing the courage,
determination, and discipline to achieve their dream—pass them by.
While that’s fine
for Olympians, professional athletes, pianists, ballerinas, and other
people who dream about being champions in their own particular sphere of
endeavor, an awful lot of people don’t believe it should be that way for
Jesus’ disciples. Somehow, the dream of being one of God’s
athletes—they’re called “disciples”—should be easy and becoming one of
God’s universe-class champion athletes—“saints” they’re called—should
require little or no effort and cause little or no distress, pain, or
suffering.
These people want to
walk along a very “wide and spacious way”—one requiring little
determination on their part—and, lacking courage, determination, and
discipline, bristle at Jesus’ teaching that “only the few will be
saved.” These people further delude themselves believing they have a
close relationship with God and that the courage, determination, and
discipline associated with narrow way asserted by both Scripture and
Church teaching are “out of touch,” “irrelevant,” and “meaningless.”
These people will also boldly and indignantly ask, “Those things might
be fine for you, but what right does the Church have to dictate to me or
to anyone else how to live their lives?” Ironically, some of these
people also claim to be “faithful” Catholics, ever confident that their
wide and spacious way is God’s wide and spacious way. And, sadly, I’ve
watched many of these people leave the Catholic Church to join some
Christian denomination that requires not courage, determination, or
discipline but gives them everything they want…especially to feel good
about themselves and their relationship with God!
In today’s gospel,
Jesus seems to be asking these wanna-be champions of holiness: “What
champion ever walked the easiest way to achieve one’s dream?” “Why,”
Jesus’ disciples will be told, “that’s not being tolerant of diversity.”
Rubbing a little more salt into the wounded egos of these wanna-be’s,
Jesus furthermore states that not everyone is going to be saved! “Why,”
Jesus’ disciples will be told, “that’s not being inclusive.” And, if
that’s not enough, Jesus also indicates that there is a time limit for
training and that many people will be caught short of time and found
spiritually unfit. “Why,” Jesus disciples will be told, “that’s not
being compassionate.”
All of this is
enough to make the timid, the weak-willed, and the
undisciplined—those who really don’t want to be disciples or to pursue
the narrow way—grow indignant, become distracted by their negative
feelings about what Scripture and Church teaching require, and to quit
the spiritual, moral, and religious training regimen that would assist
them to become universal champions. Why? Because the cost gets too
high in terms of the personal price these wanna-be disciples are
required to pay.
Only those whose
words and actions reveal a heart fully and completely committed to
God—who put love of God before all other considerations—are in the type
of training that will help these disciples to fulfill their dream of
becoming saints. Others might express a fondness for God—they might
even attend Church weekly and perhaps even daily—but, lacking the
courage, determination, and discipline taught through daily experience
of patiently enduring pain and suffering for the sake of God’s word and
Church teaching, these people allow other less goal-oriented impediments
to get in the way, to distract them and, ultimately, to take a detour
straight to the wayside. And, then, of course, we all die.
A casual approach to
any meaningful human endeavor—take a marriage or raising children, for
example—where there are no rules and excuses are the currency traded, is
not a recipe for success but only for excess and, in the end, for utter
failure. The narrow way—the courageous, determined, and disciplined
way—requires putting God first in all things and, then, letting the
chips fall where they may.
To put God first
means taking a stand for God’s word and Church teaching and, then, being
willing to suffer the consequences. This is the apprenticeship that
tests our courage and determination and develops the discipline we need
to be holy people.
To put God first
also means entering the fray of moral debates and stating honestly,
forthrightly, and humbly what God requires of His children. Then, by
patiently enduring the personal cost—suffering the ridicule, the
animosity, and the estrangement that others throw our way—apprentice
disciples each day courageously determine anew to walk the narrow
way and to embrace the disciplines that, one day, will make them
saints.
In this sense,
putting God first really means embracing the Cross—just like Jesus
did—to the point where we focus not upon ourselves and what we want but
upon God’s word and Church teaching and what we need to do in response
to this revelation. Like a good coach, Jesus’ “hard” teaching about the
“narrow way” and the “few” who will achieve faith’s goal should light a
fire under the keester of every wanna-be disciple, pushing each one of
them a bit further than they would have otherwise ventured.
Yes, there will be
those who will attempt to deter us from achieving our dream so that they
won’t have to confront the choices they’ve already made and the deals
they’ve already sealed with the forces of evil. Yes, there will be
those who will come first in the eyes of the world and we may even find
ourselves wishing to be like them. But, Jesus tells his disciples—and
that’s you and me—that these are the people who will be last in God’s
sight. They won’t be universal champions—sporting the gold of God’s
divine light—like Peter, Paul, Monica, Augustine, Ignatius of Loyola,
St. Rita of Cascia, Maximillian Kolbe, Katherine Drexel, Mother Teresa,
John XXIII, Dorothy Day, and Pope John Paul II.
Too tough? Too
uncompromising? Too unyielding? Sound like your Dad? Then, consider
what the author of the Letter to the Hebrews taught us today:
…do not distain the
discipline of the Lord or lose heart when reproved by him; for whom the
Lord loves, he disciplines; he scourges every child he acknowledges.
Endure your trials as
“discipline”….At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but
for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to
those who are trained by it.
So strengthen your
drooping hands and your weak knees. Make straight paths for your feet,
that what is lame my not be disjointed but healed.
The narrow way always presents difficulties and challenges. Achieving
the goal found at the end of the narrow way takes courage,
determination, and discipline. This is why Jesus told the person he
healed, “Go, and sin no more.” This is why Jesus told the rich young
man, “Go, and sell everything that you have.” That’s why Jesus
challenges his disciples to be better than they think they can be.
Along the narrow
way, pious sentiments and wishes are not enough. Fabricating excuses to
justify bailing out is not enough. Making an effort to change but not
translating that effort into sustained action is not enough. Being
ready to run away when the going gets rough, but conveniently providing
little escape hatches all along the way is not enough.
To become a
universal champion and to wear the gold of God’s divine light requires
possessing the courage, determination, and discipline to do what is
necessary to implement the spiritual, moral, and religious changes
called for by Scripture and Church teaching. And, whether we engage in
making those changes or not is the only standard that accurately
measures how sincere our love of God truly is.
As we can learn from
the courage, determination, and discipline characterizing the communion
of the saints, the dream of being a universal champion isn’t impossible
to realize…that is, if we possess the heartfelt courage, the
single-minded determination, the willingness to develop the disciplines
that will enable us to give ourselves fully to God as we pursue our
dream of wearing the gold of God’s divine light. |
HOMILY
