I wasn’t exposed to sports as a child. I played grade school and high school softball and football in PE class as most of us did, and I was one of those kids that was usually picked last. My parents weren’t interested in sports at all so I didn’t go to evening and weekend games, and I wasn’t encouraged to join leagues or play summer sports. In fact, no one that I knew paid any attention to professional sports. When I went to college I noticed a lot of other students were focused on sports, and that they kept track of school teams and professional teams, but I didn’t understand what it was all about.
After college, I wasn’t even aware of sports until I met my wife. She is the sports nut at our house, and when we first met she knew the names of all the players and could quote statistics, for both football and softball. I was very impressed to say the least. Eventually, as I began to meet and pay attention to other friends and sport fans, I became aware of a peculiar reality. Professional sports seemed to tie people together in a way that politics and governments were not able to do. Once I heard the statistic that more people watch soccer in one day than watch football all year long, I realized the power of sports and how impressive this reality was.
As a child and before I knew anything about sports, my small town church connected me with other likeminded people. But as I grew older I realized that this was fairly limited in population and location. Quite a few years later, although I was still Protestant, I came to believe that it was the Catholic Church that connected almost everyone in the entire world, and that it was even more impressive than the power of professional sports. The Catholic Church connects people into one group, with similar beliefs all around the world. The Catholic Church connects people with a long history, going back thousands of years. The Catholic Church connects people in continuous worship, in the form of the Mass.
Almost every hour of every day, almost every day of every year, almost every year for centuries, the people of the Catholic Church have been in continuous worship to God. The Mass of the Catholic Church has been, and continues to be celebrated every hour somewhere in the world, and it connects us directly to Jesus Christ.
After college, I wasn’t even aware of sports until I met my wife. She is the sports nut at our house, and when we first met she knew the names of all the players and could quote statistics, for both football and softball. I was very impressed to say the least. Eventually, as I began to meet and pay attention to other friends and sport fans, I became aware of a peculiar reality. Professional sports seemed to tie people together in a way that politics and governments were not able to do. Once I heard the statistic that more people watch soccer in one day than watch football all year long, I realized the power of sports and how impressive this reality was.
As a child and before I knew anything about sports, my small town church connected me with other likeminded people. But as I grew older I realized that this was fairly limited in population and location. Quite a few years later, although I was still Protestant, I came to believe that it was the Catholic Church that connected almost everyone in the entire world, and that it was even more impressive than the power of professional sports. The Catholic Church connects people into one group, with similar beliefs all around the world. The Catholic Church connects people with a long history, going back thousands of years. The Catholic Church connects people in continuous worship, in the form of the Mass.
Almost every hour of every day, almost every day of every year, almost every year for centuries, the people of the Catholic Church have been in continuous worship to God. The Mass of the Catholic Church has been, and continues to be celebrated every hour somewhere in the world, and it connects us directly to Jesus Christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment