Brothers and sisters:
If I preach the Gospel, this is no reason for me to boast,
for an obligation has been imposed on me,
and woe to me if I do not preach it!
If I do so willingly, I have a recompense,
but if unwillingly, then I have been entrusted with a stewardship.
What then is my recompense?
That, when I preach, I offer the Gospel free of charge
so as not to make full use of my right in the Gospel.
Although I am free in regard to all,
I have made myself a slave to all
so as to win over as many as possible.
I have become all things to all, to save at least some.
All this I do for the sake of the Gospel,
so that I too may have a share in it.
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 Cor 9:16-19,22-27
St. Paul and Jesus both teach us today that we must train ourselves. Christians must train with the end in mind and learn from what has been established in the past by Jesus written in the Scriptures. We must live with a purpose and not run aimlessly in our present lives. Everything we have is a gift from God including the time we have been given. So, our faith is the only faith that has a past, present, and future. We must look back to be trained, live with purpose, and keep our eyes fixed on the goal, heaven. God has given us the tools we need for victory, we have all the talent we need: mind, memory, will. Jesus has given us the play book or road map in His teachings and actions, “Love one another as I have loved you.” , “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends”, and grace through the sacraments. The Holy Spirit animates our souls at the present until Jesus returns to help us keep our eyes fixed on heaven. As we watched the Olympics last summer and start to watch professional athletes and college athletes play football and volleyball, may we be reminded how hard they trained. Many of them have given their entire life to train for these sports. They have given up many things and made many sacrifices. Why? For the gold, for the championship. Even though some of them didn’t get the gold or the championship they dust themselves off, get back up, and start fighting again. As Christians, we too, are called to train our whole lives giving things up, falling down and getting back up to fight again, keeping our eyes fixed on the reward, heaven.
Today’s challenge: Train your body in something. Start with a workout that is simple and build each week on it. This will help you to train your soul. Our physical and spiritual bodies are one while we are alive. Training one will help train the other.
Be a servant, become a saint!
#Christian YOLO
Heart, Fight, Trust
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