It is amazing what we would do for the sake of sports. Someone training to be a pro athlete gives up much. Many of them eat special diets, get up early to workout even in the off season. They do so much to be the best at a sport or game. Sometimes I wonder why, for a trophy, for fame, for a fleeting moment that lasts a short time. These don’t last. So many athletes who have played pro sports when they get older are struggling to get around. My own Dad played football in college, and it looked like his back had been in four or five car accidents (these were football injures). Athletes suffer much for so little gain. Yes, you are reading that correctly. Some would argue with me that the Stanley Cup, winning the Super Bowl, winning the World Series, winning the World Cup or the NBA Finals is the greatest thing ever. They are NOT!!! The greatest thing that could happen to any one of us that we would die and go to Heaven. Saints are the true heroes because they have fought the good fight and are forever in Heaven. They are the ones that have won the race. And the race to Heaven is what truly matters. “Do you not know that the runners in the stadium all run in the race, but only one wins the prize? Run so as to win. Every athlete exercises discipline in every way. They do it to win a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one. Thus I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight as if I were shadowboxing. No, I drive my body and train it, for fear that, after having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9: 24-27). St. Paul, a great Saint, who suffered much for the faith says this because he knows that he is working hard for the Kingdom, but that at any moment he could fail to do what should be done. Remember this: The greatest thing we can do for ourselves and those around us to live a life of virtue and following in the footsteps of Christ. This is what truly matters!
Fr. Thomas P. Galarneault