By Joseph Bukuras (written in the Fall of 2017)
The season has just begun and all eyes are on the prize for every college team around the country. Division 1, Division 2 and Division 3 teams will all be fighting it out for a shot at a national championship appearance. The question that goes through every athletes head is simple, “What do I have to do to get there?”.
The usual and correct response is train. Train, train, train. Lift, run, practice, film, eat, sleep, wake up, and repeat. We work so hard to achieve our goal. For most of us, we have been working on our craft since our early childhood. We know the sport. We can feel the momentum of the game and we are physically adept to our individual sports.
Although the excitement and hard work all builds up to the opponents arrival, game day is only the second biggest day of the week.
What if we treated Sunday as if it were game day?
What if in order to prepare for receiving Him, we trained like we did for our sports? Wouldn’t we grow in our relationship with Christ just like we grow as athletes?
No matter what sport you play, every coach is going to tell you that if you just show up on game day and not during the week, then the team is going to lose. We show up for practice 5 days a week in order that we are able to show up on game day. If we don’t practice the game, watch film, go over technique, and stay physically fit, then we will lose.
This is the same for our spiritual lives. In order to be successful in our spiritual lives, we must stay spiritually fit. In order for us show up on Sunday and love Christ to the best of our ability, then we must be practicing loving Christ all week. If we truly want love God to the best of our abilities when we show up for Mass, then we must practice loving God each day prior.
Motto’s of extremely successful collegiate athletics programs read “Win The Day”, “Play Like a Champion Today”, “Always Earned Never Given”, “Better Tomorrows Come From Hard Work Today” and so on.
Each moment we are given is a chance to grow closer to God. So, go out and live the Gospel. Go be a witness of Christ. Your team is your brothers and sisters around you. Do everything you can to get you and your team to the championship game on Sunday.