Friday of Week 23 in Ordinary Time (Year II)
1 Corinthians 9:16-19,22-27 | Psalm 83:3-6,12 | Luke 6:39-42
[I reflected on a related Gospel passage (Matthew 7:1-5) here, so I won’t tread that ground again.]
It’s past midnight as I type this, after a long grueling online discussion with my business partner. It’s oh so tempting to leave this entry to the morning, at which point I might get sidetracked with one thing or another, so that this entry never comes into being.
Then I read today’s first reading, and I see St. Paul write this:
All the runners at the stadium are trying to win, but only one of them gets the prize. You must run in the same way, meaning to win. (1 Corinthians 9:24)
And suddenly I get a burst of energy, and a familiar theme runs through my head:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSav51fVlKU
✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞
We’re often tempted to take shortcuts in our Christian lives, to renege on one faith commitment or another, to cut short a labour of love after stumbling halfway.
Missed praying Day 3 of a novena? No point continuing, since “the chain is broken”, right?
When we’re just a handful of voices left working on a musical production of parish thanksgiving, it’s hard not to throw in the towel, right?
In two years’ time, I’d have cycled back round to Year II daily readings once more. Time to stop blogging, since I’d just be reflecting on the same words all over again?
No. No. No.
The high-achievers in any field have known the same obstacles, the same weaknesses, the same failures. They just plow right through all these impediments through sheer force of will, and eventually “win the wreath”.
They do this, taking no half-measures, because their field means so much to them. We, therefore, need to ask ourselves: How much does God mean to us?
(As for this blog, I’m sure that in two years, the readings will be the same, but I won’t. With the grace of the Almighty and Ever-Living God, I’m quite sure I’ll have something new to say then, and two years after that, and so on.)
In the end, we should take inspiration from the apostolic firebrand St. Paul:
All the fighters at the games go into strict training; they do this just to win a wreath that will wither away, but we do it for a wreath that will never wither. That is how I run, intent on winning; that is how I fight, not beating the air. I treat my body hard and make it obey me, for, having been an announcer myself, I should not want to be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:25-27)
Amen.