Do you love
watching the Olympics as much as I do? It sure makes it easy to love when you
see your country at the top of the medal count, with over 100 medals. What’s
not to love about that?? Go, U.S.A.!
Recently,
Dr. Karen Hollenbeck gave me another reason to love the Olympics. She mentioned
at the Trinity student assembly on Monday that several of the top American
athletes are Catholics. For instance, did you know that swimmer Katie Ledecky
is Catholic? She is 19 years old and has won 4 gold medals and 1 silver medal
at this Olympics. Back home, however, she lives her Catholic faith serving
meals to the homeless, volunteering in the Wounded Warrior Project and
repeatedly says that her “faith defines who she is.” Everyone has heard of
Simone Biles, the spectacular gymnast with 4 golds and 1 bronze medal. But did
you know Simone attends Sunday Mass with her parents and carries a white rosary
in her bag that her mom Nellie gave her?
Now, not many have heard of Sydney McLaughlin, but the world soon will.
She’s 17 years old and the youngest member of the U.S. track and field team.
She attends Union Catholic High School. In Rio, she roomed together with 18
year-old Vashti Cunningham, and she remarked jokingly, “They stuck the two
young ones together. It’s like the blind leading the blind. We don’t know what
we’re doing. We’ll be walking around and say to each other: ‘Where are we
going?’ ‘I don’t know.’ We have no ideas what we’re doing.” Typical
teenagers!
But there’s
an even bigger and deeper reason I love the Olympics. I’m sure you’ve seen the
Olympic flag, with the 5 rings of different colors. But do you know where that
flag comes from and what those rings symbolize? The flag was originally
designed by the Frenchman, Pierre de Coubertin, who discovered the five rings
engraved on an altar stone in Greece at the temple of Delphi: you see, those five
rings were forged from faith in God. On the Olympic flag, the five rings
represent the five continents: blue for Europe, black for Africa, yellow for
Asia, green for Australia, and red for America. America is red because it means
we’re all Republicans. (That’s a joke.) The background is all white. Pierre de
Coubertin explained that he chose six colors because each flag of the countries
that were part of the Olympic movement contained at least one of those colors.
In other words, the Olympic flag represents the unity of the world’s diverse
people –the interlocked rings – and this unity is rooted in faith in God. You
see, the reason I love the Olympics is not just because my chest bursts with
national pride as I see us rack up lots of medals, but I also feel pride in our
common humanity that connects us to each other and ultimately connects us to
God. For two weeks every four years we set aside all that divides us and
celebrate all that unites us, and give all the glory to God.
In the
gospel today, Jesus teaches his disciples that this deeper common humanity will
be a hallmark of his Church. Someone asks Jesus, “Will only a few be saved?”
Now, understand that underlying that question was the prevailing viewpoint in
those days that only the faithful Jews would be saved. The rest of humanity –
the goiim, the hoi poloi, the non-Chosen People, all the “outsiders” – would be
lost. But Jesus offers another vision – strikingly similar to that of Pierre de
Coubertin – saying, “And people will come from the east and from the west and
from the north and the south and will recline at the table in the kingdom of
God.” In other words, God desires for all people to be saved (as we read in 1
Timothy 2:4), and sit at the table with interlocked arms like the interlocking
rings of the Olympic flag. This was Jesus vision for his Church, where national
boundaries would be replaced with international brotherhood, kind of like
what’s been going on the past two weeks in Rio.
My friends,
let me ask you: does your nationalism sometimes eclipse your Catholicism? What
do I mean? Well, can you cheer as loudly for Lithuania and Latvia as you do for
the United States, because after all, there are Catholic athletes on those
teams, too. Did you know that Usain Bolt is Catholic: did you applaud when he
won his fifth gold medal? He’s a Catholic brother you should cheer for. A
little closer to home: do you get as excited when the Christ the King Eagles
and the St. Boniface Saints win basketball games and defeat the I.C. Buffaloes?
Around the parish, do you cringe when you hear someone speaking Spanish, or
Swahili, or French or Farsi? Or do you roll your eyes when you see someone in
their native dress from their home country? If you do that, you’re missing
something essentially Catholic; your nationalism is crippling your
Catholicism.
I was so
happy to hear how our congregation responded to the two mission appeals while I
was in India. Both visiting priests were warmly welcomed and very pleased with
your outpouring of support for the poor around the world. When we sense this
spirit of our common humanity we live the Olympic ideal as much as Simone Biles
and Katie Ladecky. But what’s more, we reach the even higher ideals of our
Catholic faith that teach us the Church embraces everyone, from east to west,
from north to south. Indeed, the word “Catholic” comes from the Greek word,
“katholikos” which means “universal” or “everywhere present” or “everyone
included.” G. K. Chesterton once said sarcastically: “The Catholic Church: here
comes everybody!”
In June,
1965 Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the commencement address at Oberlin
College. He was a Baptism minister who said something very Catholic. He said:
“Through our scientific and technological genius we’ve made of this world a
neighborhood. And now through our moral and ethical commitment we must make of
it a brotherhood.” He went on: “We must all learn to live together as brothers
– or we will perish together as fools.” Thanks to the Olympics, for two weeks
we try to live together as brothers and sisters instead of perishing together
as fools. But thanks to the Catholic Church, we try to do this every day.
Praised be
Jesus Christ!
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