If you live in the Bay Area, or many other parts of our country, you may have noticed that there is a football game this Sunday. Whether it is on the local news programs, our local papers and all other forms of media you may have gotten the impression that the rest of the world has stopped for in anticipation of this football game. The weather forecasts all deal with a certain time frame surrounding the game, the headlines stories all deal with what may or may not happen in or around the field of play and lest we forget even the food, drink and entertainment are all zeroed in on the game.
Yes, I know that this is a slight exaggeration of the events. Small bits of news slip into the light but the drumbeat of the games stories continue to be pounded into our minds as many of us become fixated on those few hours of play. It seems in life that big events can take over from our normal routines so easily and leave us a bit disoriented in the end.
This can and does happen in our faith life too. As a priest I can often become fixated on the super bowls of our year: Christmas, Ash Wednesday, Easter, just to name a few. At other times we get so focused on big life events, such as weddings, baptisms, first communions and confirmation, those super bowls of our sacramental life where, if we are not careful, we lose track of the constant call of our Heavenly Father to conversion. It is where we fall into the temptation and let the normal moments of life begin to be covered over and ignored as we look ever more constantly towards the big games, the photograph moments and the grand gestures of life and faith.
Don’t get me wrong, the super bowls of life, just as in sports, are important and should be life changing. None of the players who will compete in the game this Sunday will ever forget, whether they win or lose, the experience of playing for the ultimate prize of their game. But each one will also talk about the long road they traveled to get to where they are as both an individual player and as a team. The sacrifices endured in the long hours of study, practice and conditioning that allows them to preform at such a high level at the biggest moments of their game. And perhaps this is the lesson we can learn in our faith lives. Jesus said something about this when he reminded his disciples, which includes you and me, that we must be attentive to these moments in our faith, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Mt 26:41) Being attentive in the daily work of prayer, service and sacrifice helps us to prepare for the super bowls of life where we appreciate and rejoice in the presence of God and others and respond in those moments of conversion with gracious love. It is being attentive to the stories that continue to go on around us and not allow our eyes to become closed to the joys and sorrows of relationship with God and His holy people. It is truly living as the Body of Christ where our super bowl is receiving and sharing in the divine life that God has given to us.
God Bless
Fr. Mark