Perfect Push-Ups

Learning how to orient ourselves to Jesus and the end

12/01/2024

Lk 21:25-28, 34-36 Jesus said to his disciples: “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will die of fright  in anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand. “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Have you heard of DonnaJean Wilde? Well, you should have because she’s a 59-year old grandmother who recently broke the Guinness Book world record for most push-ups in one hour. You better sit down to hear this. She performed 1,575 uninterrupted push-ups in one hour. I was listening to an NPR interview last week with DonnaJean Wilde.

The interviewer asked her if it was hard to keep the proper push-up form for an entire hour. DonnaJean replied: “Well, the Guinness Book says a proper push-up requires you to bend your elbow at a 90 degree angle. So, I just visualized myself doing that perfect push-up every time and I did.” That is, first her mind thought it, and then her body did it, after a lot of hard-work.

This Guinness grandmother was describing what Stephen Covey called his “second habit of highly effective people”, namely, to begin with the end in mind. He explained: “Habit 2 is based on the principle that all things are created twice. There is a mental or first creation, and a physical or second creation. That is to say, DonnaJean Wilde had finished those 1,575 push-ups in her mind long before she did them physically on her living-room floor.

In the gospel today, Jesus invites his listeners to visualize where humanity is finally going, namely, toward the end of the world. Our Lord paints a rather dire picture, saying: “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the starts, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves.” But then he adds: “Some people will die of fright,” while “others will stand before the Son of Man.”

In other words, just like DonnaJean Wilde not only visualized 1,575 perfect push-ups but she exercised relentlessly to perform them, so too, Jesus urges his followers not only to visualize the end of the world, but to prepare for it by prayer, avoiding anxiety, and constant vigilance. That is, we cannot stop with the first mental creation, but must continue on to the second physical creation: cooperating with grace to grow in holiness.

Let me give you one urgent reason why these two creations (the mental and physical) are so important. On December 8, 2023 (just a year ago), Trend Magazine published an article called “America’s Age of Anxiety.” It stated starkly: “A 2019 Pew Research Center survey found that 70% of teenagers said anxiety and depression were major problems for people their age.” Do you know any teens who are struggling with anxiety and depression? I bet you do, and so do I.

Clearly anxiety and depression are complex psychological and emotional crises, but I am convinced one significant factor is a feeling of disorientation and feeling lost, without a clear sense of who we are or where we are headed. Like Lewis Carroll joked, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there,” even a road that puts you in the ditch of depression.

But I am also convinced that modern anxiety goes hand-in-hand with modern atheism. How so? Well, when people forget about God, we also forget about who we are, namely, children of God. The German philosopher Frederick Nietzsche proudly asserted: “God is dead!” But if God our Father is dead, then that makes us existential orphans.

And orphans often suffer from deep anxiety. Why? Well, because, unlike DonnaJean Wilde, they cannot create that first, mental picture of who they are as children of God. Nor can they take the first step to become more like Christ, the first-born Child of God. Because that is the goal and purpose of life.

My friends, we are in the midst of a capital campaign called “Yesterday, Today, and Forever,” which is how Heb 13:8 describes Jesus Christ, “the same yesterday, today, and forever.” It does not mean the campaign will last forever. And the cornerstone of the campaign is a new back altar which we will place in the center of the sanctuary. Why is that so significant? Well, because then Jesus will be directly to the “east” or to the “orient” of the church. Big deal, so what?

Well, “orient” (east) is where we get the word “orientation,” like when we go on a college orientation. That is, just like a college tour guide explains life on campus, so Jesus gives us an “orientation” and explains life in this universe: who we are, how we should behave, and when we will graduate (the end of time).

Without that orientation we would be lost, anxious, and depressed, which is how many people feel today. But when Jesus is in the East, the Orient, we know exactly where we are going and precisely how to get there. Jesus gave Thomas these directions when he said in Jn 14:6, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”

Folks, we start the First Sunday of Advent – the January 1st of the new church calendar year – with a startling picture of the end of the world. Why? Well, because Jesus helps us create that first, mental picture of the goal of history and humanity.

And then we come to church every Sunday, facing East toward Jesus, and do our Catholic calisthenics: all the standing, kneeling, sitting, etc. That spiritual exercise is the second physical creation. Consequently, like DonnaJean Wilde, we have pictured the end and we have prepared for the end, so that in the end we can “stand before the Son of Man.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!