During the jubilee of May 31, more than 30 “Cenacle Meetings” were held in Chile. These were instances in which we wanted to reflect on how Schoenstatt and faith were called to permeate reality in its most diverse settings. In that context, the idea arose to focus one of these meetings on the theme of sports and faith. I was in charge of that meeting, and it is in this context that I am writing now.
I have always thought that, from the perspective of evangelization, a great challenge consists in finding where the interest of contemporary man is and trying to capture his heart from there. And it seems that sport is today an instance where many invest a significant part of their lives. What is it about sport that captures the human soul so strongly? What makes it capable of awakening such a deep passion in men and women of all ages?
It seems that in our time, sport occupies a prominent place in the lives of many people. Whether as spectators or practicing a particular sport, in our time more and more space is given to the various existing sports. It is a matter of seeing the relevance that sport has in schools or the great presence it has in the media. Soccer, tennis, basketball or simply running. Everywhere we find people who are enthusiastic about them and devote much of their time to them.
In the run-up to the Olympic Games, and seeking to put into practice this very Schoenstatt exercise of trying to unite faith and life, I would like to share some reflections on sport and faith. Being such a broad topic, I will limit myself to developing only three dimensions in which sport adds to our life of faith: community, competition and nature. There would be many other aspects to develop! They will be for another time.
Sense of belonging and community
(Photo: Steven Abraham, unsplash.com)Participation in any sport, whether as a spectator, but especially when it is practiced, often gives a strong sense of belonging. People are passionate about a particular sport and feel connected to all those who share their interest. A true community is generated. And how human it is to want to belong! How unique is the need to feel part of a community that shares a common identity!
And what can we say about sports that are played in teams… How good it is for people when they learn to play together! Team sport teaches you to trust in others and also to count on the mistakes of those on your team; it shows you experientially that “together we are stronger” and that it is possible to find harmony in the whole when each of the parts puts in their own effort. This sense of belonging gives true development on a psychological and personal level, but it also constitutes a preamble that prepares a religious experience.
Following Father Kentenich’s pedagogy, we could say that, just as in order to learn to recognize God’s love in our lives we need to have previously experienced ourselves as loved and cherished on the natural level, I believe that the sense of community that sport gives us also prepares us for the possibility of experiencing ourselves as a community before the Lord, as the people of God. If we do not have the prior experience on the human level of belonging to something “greater” than my mere particular interests, it will be difficult to connect with the sense of community that faith gives us. Of course, there are groups and community bodies from the most diverse areas that give us a certain sense of common identity, but I think that, in our contemporary world, sport is a privileged space in terms of giving us this experience.
Competition that promotes excellence
(Photo: Braden Collum, unsplash.com)I think that sport brings into play a very interesting dimension of human coexistence, which is competition. Most sports are organized by generating leagues and tournaments in which people compete and seek a winner. This is the dynamic that underlies the development of most games.
Competition is a reality that generally has a bad press, especially in a Christian environment, where – thank God – we are more accustomed to talking about solidarity and collaboration. But even though competition has complex aspects, I believe that sport allows us to get the best out of it, thus helping in the development of authentic human values that elevate the spirit.
Competing is about who can do things better or achieve a better result under equal conditions. Many times, most of the time, it is simply about measuring yourself against yourself and overcoming your own limits and difficulties. In any case, competing encourages you to get the best out of yourself, seeking to make your dedication and effort always go a little further. Competing demands playing with honor and loyalty, also causing discipline and perseverance to emerge. Thus, when you measure yourself against others or against yourself, you receive an impulse to seek excellence, a motivation to strive to bring out the best version of yourself. How good it is for us to put our talents and abilities in dialogue with those of others! Competing in a healthy way enhances virtue. This dimension of sport reminds me of the words of Saint Paul in which he invites us to fight the good fight, finish the race and conclude victorious in fidelity.
Nature, sport and encounter with God
(Photo: Chanan Greenblatt, unsplash.com)In recent decades, people have been abandoning the countryside to live in the city. We live in the era of large cities, and it seems that nature has moved away from our daily lives. Could this not have something to do with the secularization that our “modern” countries are experiencing? Normally, it is said that the development and industrialization of towns comes hand in hand with a certain degree of secularization. I have the impression that, when we move away from nature, the human soul loses a bit of its capacity for contemplation and loses some sensitivity to the encounter with God.
What does this have to do with sport? I think quite a lot. It turns out that many sports are practiced outdoors and that in itself gives us a bit of sky, air and trees around. But there are some sports that have a special emphasis on the contemplation of the nature that surrounds them. I think of hiking, walks in nature, or the simple exercise of going out for a run in a beautiful place. We are made for the wind and the sun, for the sea and the mountains, and sometimes we spend whole days in which we only see walls, cement and more cement. These sports that I just mentioned give us ideal settings for contact with God. How many people find in the practice of these sports a moment of pause, of interiority, of connection with the spirit? I believe that many people have been approaching trekking or hiking because they are instances in which one lives something like a retreat, because of the possibility that they give of connecting with the beauty of God in creation and of connecting with one’s own interiority.
Each country has a particular wealth in terms of nature. Visiting these places as a tourist of course helps. Creation and its beauty are capable of capturing the soul in almost any way and at any time. But the practice of sports that immerse you in nature often gives an even deeper experience. They give us the opportunity to contemplate, to be silent, to enjoy beauty. Creation is a small window to the heart of God, and sport allows us to get closer to it.
