Holy Week Thoughts
published April 16, 2006
Holy Week Thoughts
The Holy Week is always a great time for all of us to reflect on the passion and death of Jesus Christ and his resurrection. As we celebrate Easter Sunday today, we rejoice and join the entire Church in celebrating this big fiesta. For through His sacrifice, crucifixion, death and resurrection, our Lord Jesus Christ has fulfilled the Lord’s will that we all be saved.
As we all welcomed this timely break, it is our wish that our relationship with God got a much-needed recharge that will pave the way to strengthening our love for Him for the rest of our lives. But can those of us in sports actually do this? Do sports and “religion” mix? Can I dabble in sports and be close to God at the same time? This is a common “dilemma” asked by many athletes and sportsmen who fail to connect with Our Lord since they treat sports as their religion of all religions. To them, there is no room for “religion” in sports.
Don’t worry, I don’t intend to go into the connection between sports and how this is perfectly compatible with maintaining a relationship with God. Rev. Fr. Roy Cimagala already does an excellent job at that. But I’d like to cite a common denominator that all athletes and sportsmen will find in both a life of sports and the life of sacrifice that Jesus went through in his mission of salvation.
Jesus, our Savior (and Coach to athletes and sportsmen), showed us the way that a life of sacrifice is necessary to achieve our eternal victory in heaven. The road to heaven is not going to be a walk in the park, but a path filled with sacrifice and self-denial. But it’s all worth it as we all look at the longer term goal of eternal salvation or in simple words, a seat in heaven, and in sports lingo, a championship.
As a great mentor and coach, Jesus didn’t just preach this. He lived it! And the recollection of the passion and death of Christ on Palm Sunday and Good Friday couldn’t have illustrated this in a better way. He was betrayed by one of his disciples; scourged and whipped; crowned with thorns, made to carry a cross, spat upon, yelled at, nailed to and died on the cross. You don’t have to look up the dictionary to search for the definition of sacrifice and self-denial, do you? But he did all this for us; for our salvation and the salvation of all mankind. He did all this to achieve that big championship trophy in heaven not for himself, both for all of us.
Jesus Christ should be our model of how to live a life of sacrifice. For athletes and sportsmen, this shouldn’t be difficult to understand and reflect upon, since it’s already second nature to them to be living lives of sacrifice. The phrase “No pain, no gain” is the most abused reminder of coaches to their athletes, but it’s so true you can’t ignore it and just keep repeating it. But in the end, the fruits out of all the sacrifice will make the whole journey worthwhile and so sweet. Athletes should remember the example of self-denial that Jesus lived. By denying himself, he eventually achieved the ultimate goal / championship of salvation.
To an athlete, isn’t it normal for one to get up at the wee hours of the morning for his morning cardio run (while everyone else is still asleep)? And that’s only a start of a regular day. The other parts of the day are spent for strength conditioning at the weight room and skills training to cap the day. Within these different practice sessions are little victories that they work at, and these demand pushing themselves to the limit. They try to do 10K in 35-40 minutes and sprint 100 meters in 12 seconds. How many of us mortals can do this?
They also watch what they eat to make sure that they take in the nutrients and energy needed for their sport. Neither will they eat food that will slow them down. Don’t expect them to be indulging in your (and my) favorites like humba, balbacua, lansiao and kare-kare. Have you seen the way boxers, wrestlers and other martial arts athletes maintain their weights to stay within their respective weight classes? I feel “sorry” for them when they talk about not being able to eat a lot of types of food that most of us “non-athletes” can’t stay away from. Now that’s sacrifice!
These are just a few examples of how athletes practice a life of self-denial. But they’re doing this not just for show! There’s a purpose behind all these, a long-term vision of a gold medal, a team championship and pride for the country.
This is why I feel athletes have a head start on us mortals on this path to heaven, the real championship that all of us should be fighting for. To athletes, sacrifice is a norm, the usual thing. Can the same be said for us?
As we contemplate on the life and death of Jesus; and his resurrection on Easter Sunday, may we all remember that there’s a bigger championship to be won out there, and it’ll take a lifetime of sacrifice to win it.
***Time-out: Happy birthday to my second child, Enrique David R. Navarro III, a.k.a. “Thirdy” who turns five years old today! >>> You can reach us at bleachertalk@yahoo.com or http://bleachertalk.blogspot.com.
Holy Week Thoughts
The Holy Week is always a great time for all of us to reflect on the passion and death of Jesus Christ and his resurrection. As we celebrate Easter Sunday today, we rejoice and join the entire Church in celebrating this big fiesta. For through His sacrifice, crucifixion, death and resurrection, our Lord Jesus Christ has fulfilled the Lord’s will that we all be saved.
As we all welcomed this timely break, it is our wish that our relationship with God got a much-needed recharge that will pave the way to strengthening our love for Him for the rest of our lives. But can those of us in sports actually do this? Do sports and “religion” mix? Can I dabble in sports and be close to God at the same time? This is a common “dilemma” asked by many athletes and sportsmen who fail to connect with Our Lord since they treat sports as their religion of all religions. To them, there is no room for “religion” in sports.
Don’t worry, I don’t intend to go into the connection between sports and how this is perfectly compatible with maintaining a relationship with God. Rev. Fr. Roy Cimagala already does an excellent job at that. But I’d like to cite a common denominator that all athletes and sportsmen will find in both a life of sports and the life of sacrifice that Jesus went through in his mission of salvation.
Jesus, our Savior (and Coach to athletes and sportsmen), showed us the way that a life of sacrifice is necessary to achieve our eternal victory in heaven. The road to heaven is not going to be a walk in the park, but a path filled with sacrifice and self-denial. But it’s all worth it as we all look at the longer term goal of eternal salvation or in simple words, a seat in heaven, and in sports lingo, a championship.
As a great mentor and coach, Jesus didn’t just preach this. He lived it! And the recollection of the passion and death of Christ on Palm Sunday and Good Friday couldn’t have illustrated this in a better way. He was betrayed by one of his disciples; scourged and whipped; crowned with thorns, made to carry a cross, spat upon, yelled at, nailed to and died on the cross. You don’t have to look up the dictionary to search for the definition of sacrifice and self-denial, do you? But he did all this for us; for our salvation and the salvation of all mankind. He did all this to achieve that big championship trophy in heaven not for himself, both for all of us.
Jesus Christ should be our model of how to live a life of sacrifice. For athletes and sportsmen, this shouldn’t be difficult to understand and reflect upon, since it’s already second nature to them to be living lives of sacrifice. The phrase “No pain, no gain” is the most abused reminder of coaches to their athletes, but it’s so true you can’t ignore it and just keep repeating it. But in the end, the fruits out of all the sacrifice will make the whole journey worthwhile and so sweet. Athletes should remember the example of self-denial that Jesus lived. By denying himself, he eventually achieved the ultimate goal / championship of salvation.
To an athlete, isn’t it normal for one to get up at the wee hours of the morning for his morning cardio run (while everyone else is still asleep)? And that’s only a start of a regular day. The other parts of the day are spent for strength conditioning at the weight room and skills training to cap the day. Within these different practice sessions are little victories that they work at, and these demand pushing themselves to the limit. They try to do 10K in 35-40 minutes and sprint 100 meters in 12 seconds. How many of us mortals can do this?
They also watch what they eat to make sure that they take in the nutrients and energy needed for their sport. Neither will they eat food that will slow them down. Don’t expect them to be indulging in your (and my) favorites like humba, balbacua, lansiao and kare-kare. Have you seen the way boxers, wrestlers and other martial arts athletes maintain their weights to stay within their respective weight classes? I feel “sorry” for them when they talk about not being able to eat a lot of types of food that most of us “non-athletes” can’t stay away from. Now that’s sacrifice!
These are just a few examples of how athletes practice a life of self-denial. But they’re doing this not just for show! There’s a purpose behind all these, a long-term vision of a gold medal, a team championship and pride for the country.
This is why I feel athletes have a head start on us mortals on this path to heaven, the real championship that all of us should be fighting for. To athletes, sacrifice is a norm, the usual thing. Can the same be said for us?
As we contemplate on the life and death of Jesus; and his resurrection on Easter Sunday, may we all remember that there’s a bigger championship to be won out there, and it’ll take a lifetime of sacrifice to win it.
***Time-out: Happy birthday to my second child, Enrique David R. Navarro III, a.k.a. “Thirdy” who turns five years old today! >>> You can reach us at bleachertalk@yahoo.com or http://bleachertalk.blogspot.com.
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