What can the Olympics teach us about our Faith?

The world tuned in on Friday, July 23 to see the Olympic flame finally lit in Tokyo. The Olympics, delayed by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, got underway with the typical pomp and circumstance that surrounds the games. The world watched as the flame made its way through mountains, waterways, highways, and Olympic stadium to light the torch that is recognized in every nation. It’s a symbol of mankind, athleticism, unity, dignity, and a time when one looks past the external appearance and unites under the banner of sports. As Christians, the flame also uniquely reminds and challenges us.

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.” (Matthew 14-16)

When one looks upon the Olympic flame it reflects something. The individual sees the flame and immediately sees the Olympics. It’s recognizable, universal and uncontested. It’s a light to the world that shows there is hope, love, challenges, triumphs, failures as well as victories. It also stands as a challenge to not only be better, but to be the best.

Jesus Christ calls us to the same. He calls us to be a light unto the world. He calls us to shine in the midst of darkness. He challenges us to be hope in a world that seemingly has no hope. He demands us to reflect Him to the world. Just as the Olympic flame immediately reflects the Olympic games to an individual, Jesus asks us to be a brighter light to others. He tells us we are to shine into the darkness and reflect Him to a lost and sinful world.

Just as Olympic athletes train for years to be the best and get a chance at competing on the world’s stage, Christians are called to train daily to be the light Christ expects us to be to the world. An Olympian is dedicated, disciplined, and determined. We can use these same characteristics to build an Olympic sized light within our lives to reflect Christ to the world.

Dedicated: An Olympic athlete must be dedicated to his/her sport. A single athlete cannot be a Master of all trades and all sports. If an athlete seeks to be an Olympian in gymnastics, rowing, basketball, and water polo then chances are that athlete will not be an Olympian of any of them. If we are to be the light of Christ to the world we must be dedicated to Christ. We cannot seek to be a master of this world, engage in moral relativism, and yet seek to be the light of Christ. Just like an athlete will never become an Olympian by trying to be a master of too many things, we will never be the bright light we are called to be when we try to be a light of all things.

Disciplined: An athlete must be disciplined in a variety of areas of life if he/she ever has a chance of becoming an Olympian. One is disciplined in a daily routine of practice, workout, practice and more practice. The discipline includes what they eat and how they care for their bodies. The discipline they practice in private on a daily basis eventually produces results on the global stage.  Likewise, Christians must practice their faith daily in private before becoming a light to others. Similar to an athlete, a Christian must also be disciplined in a variety of areas in their faith to become a bright light of Christ to the dark world. A faith encompassed only of Sunday Mass attendance and once or twice Penance annually without prayer, spiritual and scripture reading, and good works will never become the bright flame the world needs. Additionally, seeking to only do good works and helping others without a foundation of the Sacraments weekly as well as daily private prayer and reading will fail to ever light the fire.

Determined: At some point in an athlete’s life there comes a defining moment. The moment when he/she must choose. They must choose to sacrifice something in order to pursue their goal of becoming an Olympian. In Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles’ book Courage to Soar she speaks about that defining moment. The moment she had to choose between a normal teenage social life with friends and public school or gymnastics with home schooling. She faced the fork in the road and everything in her wanted to have a social life, go to the prom, hang out with friends in high school. However, she had a goal. That goal required sacrifice. She chose and that choice forced her to sacrifice all those things normal teenagers enjoyed for a chance to be better and to become the best. If we are to be the blazing torch of light for a darkened and evil world then we too must make sacrifices. We will reach that defining moment where we must choose if we want to be a light or want to take the easy and “normal” way.

The defining moment of where you will allow your faith to lead you is different for everyone. It could be refusing a job or career that would require you to engage in immoral activities against Church teaching and the Lord. It could be choosing to only attend Sunday Mass when you have the time and ability to go to daily Mass. It could be having to choose to attend Mass over spending Sunday morning on the river in the boat. It could also be the decision to spend time in prayer and reading Scripture/spiritual books rather than watching the junk on television during prime time. It could also be something as large as refusing the temptation to engage in an extramarital affair or immoral sexual conduct and stay faithful to your spouse. It could also be the choice to stay faithful even in the midst of temptations to walk away from Christ and the Church because of the failure of others. We each have a defining moment, sometimes more than one, which determine where our life and path will end. With each fork in the road comes a sacrifice. We either sacrifice the things of the world for Christ or sacrifice Christ for the things of the world.

The Olympic flame symbolizes the culmination of years of dedication, discipline, and determination of each individual athlete as well as the teams. Our light of Christ that we shine to others around us also should reflect years of dedication, discipline, and determination to our Lord and our faith. Just as the flame points everyone to the athletes, our light should point others toward Christ.