Last night after winning 20 games in a row and sweeping the first two rounds of the NBA Playoffs, the San Antonio Spurs lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder. While losing is never something a team looks forward to. It can sometimes be a relief, as the pressure to be perfect fades away and the door opens to finding ways to improve on what they are already doing right. At this point you may be asking yourself what does any of this have to do with Catholicism or new media? Well, failure is a natural part of all our lives. We fail to live up to the expectations of our faith, we fail live as Christ wants us to live, and we fail to treat others as we would like to be treated. Does this mean we are just to throw in the towel and give up? Do we allow ourselves to fall deeper into despair? The Evil One would surely like nothing better then for us to do just that. Our lives as Christians are a lot like a team on a winning streak. The writer to the Hebrews speaks about “persevere in running the race that lies before us”, sometimes we are very successful in running this race. While other times we fall flat on our faces.
Like the Spurs we should not allow one set back to derail us in our own personal playoff game of life. The Church provides us with the tools necessary to restart our own personal winning streak all over again. Those tools include the Sacrament of Reconciliation, where we can “get right” with God as well as receive advice from our parish priest on how to better “run the race”. Every Sunday, if we are in a state of grace, we can receive the Eucharist which is the source and summit of our faith. The Eucharist provides us with the Grace to live our lives as Christ wants us to, as we take His Body and Blood with us into the world. Spending time in Adoration with our Lord is a lot like sitting with the coach as he plans out the next play after a time out, all we have to do is sit and listen.
We’ve been given the playbooks in the Bible and The Catechism of the Catholic Church as well as the best coach in history in our Lord Jesus Christ. All we have to do is execute.
Go Spurs Go!
Go Spurs Go! (and Go Faith Go!)
I really wanted free Valero coffee this morning.
Looks like you are going to have to wait another couple of days for the free Valero coffee Dan. The Thunder are tough at home.
Oh, and I forgot to mention earlier, as my brother said, “One loss every 50 games isn’t bad.”
We often forget in our own lives the good we do and the good that happens, and focus instead on the bad.
As you remind us, we must “persevere in running the race that lies before us” (Hebrews). And may we remember the good we do too!