Psychological Healing
in the Roman Catholic Mystic Tradition

Questions and Answers

What’s wrong with sports? Don’t they teach us fair play?

 
 genuine Christian life does nothing but represent God’s love to the world. And I mean that literally: as God presents his love to us, we in turn must re-present it to the world.

	Finally, all of you, be of one mind, sympathetic, loving toward one another, compassionate, humble. Do not return evil for evil, or insult for insult; but, on the contrary, a blessing. . . .
	— 1 Peter 3:8-9a

Now, you simply cannot present love to the world through strife and competition.

	Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous; [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury. . . .
	— 1 Corinthians 13:4-5

In today’s world, sports have become a ubiquitous cultural institution, and so, on the surface, it may seem that sports are all for “fun” and that they teach “fair play.” Nevertheless, their underlying values derive from the ancient Greek pagan adoration of strength, prowess, and human glory. When parents kill each other over arguments about children’s sports, you know something is seriously wrong; so just imagine the corruption—not to mention organized crime—underlying professional and amateur sports. Do you think you will find in sports any hint of holiness? Any hint of humility? Our cultural adoration of sports teaches us to put our trust in power, mastery, and competitive strategy—and to kill, whip, trounce, or trample anyone who gets in our way. And all of this “sportsman” frenzy stands completely opposed to Christian values:

	Let us never be boastful, or challenging, or jealous toward one another. Help carry one another’s burdens; in that way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
	—Galatians 5:26; 6:2

Saint Paul, moreover, who clearly understood the truth about Christian life, had no use for puffing up his ego by boasting about a favorite sports team:

	I will rather boast more gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me. Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
	— 2 Corinthians 12:9b-10

Now Saint Paul, in his merciful attempt to become “all things to all” (1 Corinthians 9:22) for the sake of preaching the gospel, often used the metaphor of “running the race” (1 Corinthians 9:24–27; Hebrews 12:1) to illustrate the virtues of discipline and perseverance in grace. But if you read his words carefully you will realize that, in contrast to the vain, perishable prize of human glory sought by athletes, he sought the eternal, unperishable crown of God’s glory.

	If morality requires respect for the life of the body, it does not make it an absolute value. It rejects a neo-pagan notion that tends to promote a cult of the body, to sacrifice everything for its sake, to idolize physical perfection and success at sports. By its selective preference of the strong over the weak, such a conception can lead to the perversion of human relationships.
	—Catechism of the Catholic Church (2289)

The truth is, if you learn to love others as God loves us, it will simply break your heart to compete with anyone for any reason. And until you do learn this love, and as long as you cling to the illusions of your own athletic prowess, you will be like the rich man who walked away from Christ. Whereas Christ demanded self-sacrifice, the rich man wanted to go for the gold.

	Jesus in most appropriate language treated . . . of trade and commerce with foreign nations, taking occasion at the same time to censure severely the various fashions and frivolities lately introduced from Athens. He condemned likewise the games and juggling now in use among them, and which were also spreading throughout Nazareth and other places. These games were likewise a product of their intercourse with Athens. Jesus stigmatized them as unpardonable since they that indulge in them look upon them as no sin; consequently, they do no penance for them, and therefore they cannot be pardoned.
	—The Life of Jesus Christ as told by the Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich

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