Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Clean Monday


It is interesting that during this first week of Great Lent, the world is watching a sporting spectacle that only happens every four years, the Winter Olympic Games. It is hard not to get caught up in the spirit of competition, the effort to achieve greatness and national pride. While we watch or read about the spectacular achievements and the stunning disappointments that these games bring, we can be reminded of the effort that is asked of us during this penitential season.

St. Paul in his Epistles often compares the Christian life and its struggle to the athletic struggle. The ancient Olympic games were a part of the culture that the Church developed in and that St. Paul and the Apostles lived in. In his first Epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul says that in a race, all runners compete but only one receives the prize. He then encourages the Christians of Corinth to run the race, not to receive a perishable wreath, but an imperishable one, that is, salvation and eternal life.

Perhaps one of St. Paul's most famous passages also refers to athletic competition. He says near the end of his second Epistle to Timothy, speaking about his impending martyrdom, that he has "...I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."

Olympic athletes are expected to train and sacrifice and give their best effort in competition. As we can see from St. Paul, we are expected to do the same in our spiritual lives. The Lenten season gives us the opportunity to make this effort. Great Lent is a 40 day race, a 40 day fight in which we are asked to keep the faith through prayer and fasting. It is an exciting opportunity that we are given. God give us the strength and courage to embrace this opportunity and make the most of this moment. Just as the athletes do, let us seize the moment.

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