Quite
likely, most of us have never heard of “Minuteman Parking,” a firm
that has been providing full service parking solutions on the West
Coast since the firm was founded in 1995.
Because its employees are the first and last impression any guest
will have of a client’s company, the mission of Minuteman Parking is
to provide superior hospitality. Every employee must be personally
committed to provide superior hospitality and to deliver spirited
service to every guest.
To
this end, every employee must follow at all times what Chris Fox,
the firm’s
President and Owner, calls the “10 Commitments of Excellence”:
1.
enthusiasm is the fuel of great service;
2.
honesty and integrity: each individual is responsible for his/her
own actions;
3.
every guest is greeted with a warm welcome and a fond farewell;
4.
teamwork builds trust, support and forms us into a cohesive unit;
5.
workplace knowledge of your job and area enhances the guest
experience;
6.
a positive attitude reflects well on you, your department, and the
establishment;
7.
common courtesy is expected everywhere, in the hospitality business
it is essential;
8.
respect of our guests, yourself, and your teammates reflects in our
job performance;
9.
professional behavior ensures your guests that they are in good
hands; and,
10.
exceeding a guest’s expectations is our main goal.
If
you haven’t
heard of Minuteman Parking or Chris Fox, I’m
sure
you
don’t
know that Chris Fox has been eating Wheaties—“The Breakfast of
Champions”—and collecting Wheaties boxes for more than 20 years. In
his office, Fox has on display more than 300 Wheaties boxes.
Why? Fox wants Minuteman Parking to be a champion in its
environment and, in his estimation, no human being has ever been
placed on a Wheaties box for coming in second place. The only
persons or teams earning the honor to be placed on a Wheaties box
are champions.
“There
is no room for second place at Minuteman Parking,”
Fox notes.
“The
guy who comes in second doesn’t
get
the contract or keep the customer.”
As an entrepreneur, Fox is passionate about his collection and what
it represents because, for him, Wheaties is one of those old
American brands that are synonymous with success. That is the
name of the game: to be a champion.
To
achieve this outcome, Fox tells his employees they must make four
personal commitments: 1) to excellence; 2) to others; 3) to self;
and, 4) to one’s integrity. To have a successful relationship or
career—“to be a champion”—one must make and keep these personal
commitments. To this end, Fox suggests that his employees examine
their lives and ask themselves: “What would qualify me for placement
on a Wheaties box?”
“If
you discover that you don’t qualify,”
Fox says,
“now
is the time to change.”
How are people to change in the manner Chris Fox is talking about?
The Wheaties’ “Breakfast of Champions” homepage offers a
“recipe” to
consider. The
subtitle on the homepage states: “Fuel, win, repeat…”
First: fuel. One needs to imbibe or eat the right fuel so that
person will possess the energy required to make the change. Second:
win. One needs to direct that energy toward the goal so that
person will experience success. To win, Wheaties champions have
coaches who assist a
“wanna
be”
experience the success required to be a
“champion.”
Third: repeat. The process doesn’t
end with one or two successes but
begins anew. A successful person needs to fuel up again and
again and again to direct that energy toward the ultimate goal, so
that by doing this time after time after time, the change as well as
success become habitual.
For Chris Fox, this is what makes a champion, whether as an athlete,
a valet, a concierge, or bell staff. But, for Chris Fox, the
most important of all is to be a
“champion”
human being.
As
Catholics, our
goal is to become spiritual champions, what’s called a “saint.”
To “do
this,”
we
must make three personal commitments: 1) to love God and neighbor as
we love ourselves; 2) to become perfect as our heavenly Father is
perfect; and, 3) to fulfill our personal vocations. To be a
spiritual champion—to be a saint—we must make and keep these three
commitments.
That
is our
mission. In this regard, we might examine our lives and ask:
“What would qualify me for sainthood?” If we discover that we don’t
qualify, now is the time to change.
To
assist us to change, we have a “Breakfast of Champions.” But,
we must “fuel, win, repeat…” if we are to
“run the good
race” and “fight the good fight” to their completion,
as St. Paul reminds us. That “Breakfast of Champions” is the body
and blood of Jesus Christ. It is his true body and the true blood,
not some mere symbol or sign, which brings us into Holy Communion
with God. This great gift gives us the power to bring to
fulfillment those three spiritual commitments.
First, fuel. We need to partake of the body and blood of Jesus
Christ so that we will possess the energy we need to change.
That is why we gather here―to
receive the fuel we need if we are to love God and neighbor as we
love ourselves, to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect, and
to fulfill our personal vocations. Just as a car can’t run
without fuel, so our souls can’t run without the fuel they need.
Second, win. We need to allow the body and blood of Jesus
Christ to direct that energy toward our goal so that we will
experience success and allow success to build upon success. A
“win”
doesn’t come about by wishing. Nothing breeds success like
success.
Like
Wheaties champions, we also have coaches to assist us in winning.
Those coaches? The wisdom contained in Scripture and Church
teaching which possess everything we need to know if we are to win.
Third, repeat. The process begins all over again: we need to
fuel up again and again and again to direct the power given to us in
the body and blood of Jesus toward the goal, so that by “doing this”
time after time after time, the change as well as the wins become
habitual.
“Practice makes perfect,” we are
told. How true that is! But, we practice not simply to
become better and better at what we do. No, practice
strengthens and perfects us in virtue so that we will accrue more
and more wins as the body and blood of Jesus Christ change us.
This is what makes a spiritual champion—a saint—no matter what our
status in life may be: young or old; rich or poor; beautiful or not
so beautiful; tall or short; thin or fat; educated or uneducated;
fully abled or partially abled; married or single. It matters not.
In
considering this “Breakfast
of Spiritual Champions,”
let’s
not overlook an important theological point.
As
Catholics, we believe the bread and the wine become the body and
blood of Jesus Christ when we gather as a Eucharistic community.
When we “Do this in memory of me,” we understand that Jesus Christ
becomes fully and completely present in his body and in his blood.
However, although we may understand that the substances—the bread
and wine—are transformed, we will never grasp fully how that takes
place.
If
we wish to understand better how that transformation—what is called
“transubstantiation”—does take place, we need to look beyond the
ritual itself—the “Do this in memory of me” part that takes place
here in church. In addition, we have to take a good look at
ourselves—“Do this in memory of me”―by
evaluating whether we allow
our
reception of the body and blood of Jesus Christ here in church to
transform us into his body and blood, alive and at work in our
lives, our marriages, our families, our homes, and everywhere we
bring the gospel “to the ends of the world.”
We
can make Holy Communion an entirely private matter, where we invite
Jesus Christ to enter into our bodies. But, if it stops there,
without effecting the kind of spiritual change that will empower us
to become spiritual champions, then we have failed to become what we
eat and drink when we partake of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
We have not participated fully and completely in the Eucharist.
When Jesus instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist at the Last
Supper, he spoke to his disciples about how his body would be “given
up” and his blood would be “poured out” in anticipation of his death
on the Cross on Good Friday, as St. Paul reminded us in today’s
epistle.
That fateful day, his body was broken and his blood poured out.
But, today, breaking his body and pouring out his blood requires
making and keeping the three commitments required of a spiritual
champion: loving God and neighbor as we love ourselves; seeking to
be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect; and, fulfilling our
personal vocations. While “Do this in memory” does point to
the bread and wine that are transformed into the body and blood of
Jesus Christ, those words also point to each and every one of us as
well as the transformation that is the consequence of our
participating in a Holy Communion where God transcends space and
time to enter into our bodies and make a home in us so that we
become the body and blood of Jesus Christ alive and at work,
bringing the gospel
“to the ends of
the earth.”
At
Minuteman Parking, every employee must be personally committed to
provide superior hospitality and to deliver spirited service to
every guest. That is their corporate mission. For this purpose,
all employees must follow at all times the “10 Commitments of
Excellence” and make four personal commitments: to excellence; to
others; to self; and, to one’s integrity. The mission is to come in
first place, not second place.
As
Catholics, every one of us must be personally committed to witness
to the gospel to “the ends of the earth.” That is our mission. For
this purpose, we have the Ten Commandments—our principles for
leading a holy life—and must make three commitments: to love God and
neighbor as we love ourselves; to be perfect as our heavenly Father
is perfect; and, to fulfill our personal vocations. A
first-place finish is our goal.
No
one becomes a champion nor has anyone become a saint for finishing
second; the only people who earn this honor are those who finish
first. In our world today, there is no room for second place among
Catholics. We must be passionate about the body and blood of Jesus
Christ because there can be no success without it. If we come in
second, we have failed in our mission.
Wheaties—“The Breakfast of Champions”—inspired Chris Fox to form a
company of champions whose excellence in fulfilling their corporate
commitments provides a model for others to emulate. As Catholics,
we have a “Breakfast of Champions,” the body and blood of Jesus
Christ, the awesome consequences of which bring us into holy
communion with God so that we “become what we eat―spiritual
champions―not
on a cereal box but as we join the communion of saints in heaven.
Now for a brief
commercial break:
Did you
know? Some Wheaties trivia...
1926 - the first ever singing
radio commercial: using the jingle
“Have
you tried Wheaties?”
(to the tune of Jazz Baby)
1934 - first athlete depicted
on a Wheaties box:
baseball player Lou Gehrig
1934 - first woman depicted
on a Wheaties box:
aviator Elinor Smith
1935 - first woman athlete
depicted on a Wheaties box:
golfer and athlete Babe Zaharias
1936 - first African American
Athlete on a Wheaties box:
Jesse Owens
1939 - first televised
commercial sports broadcast sponsorship:
the 1939 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
1958 - first athlete depicted
on the front of a Wheaties box:
pole vaulter Bob Richards
1969 - first golfer depicted
on the front of a Wheaties box:
Lee Trevino
1984 - first woman athlete
depicted on the front of a Wheaties box:
gymnast Mary Lou Retton
1986 - first football player
depicted on the front of a Wheaties box:
Walter Payton
1987 - first team depicted on
a Wheaties box:
1987 World Series Champion Minnesota Twins
1991 - first ice hockey team
depicted on a Wheaties box:
1991 Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins
1992 - first non-orange
Wheaties box, colored red and black
in honor of the Chicago Bulls
1997 - first automobile race
driver depicted on the front
of a Wheaties box: Dale Earnhardt
2002 - first university
wrestler featured on Wheaties boxes:
Cael Sanderson
2005 - first women
professional sports team to appear
on Wheaties box: Sacramento Monarchs
2006 - first college football
rivalry to appear on Wheaties Box:
State Farm Lone Star Showdown, the rivalry
between
the Texas Longhorns and the Texas A&M Aggies
Michael Jordan holds the
record for most depictions on a Wheaties box, a total of 18 times,
followed by Tiger Woods at 14 times.
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