Likewise, Natural Family Planning shows how saying ‘no’ to some things helps us give a deeper ‘yes’ to other things
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
The Olympic Games are underway! Besides enjoying them on a human level, I wonder if we might profit from them regarding discipleship.
In the Gospel readings this week, Jesus provides a series of parables for the kingdom. The kingdom of heaven is like the weeds and wheat in a field, treasure buried in a field, the pearl of great price, a net thrown into the sea that gathers fish of every kind.
I think we can understand the Olympic Games as providing elements for a good parable, too. How so?
Just as athletes discipline their bodies to prepare for Olympic contests, so followers of Christ must discipline their bodies and souls for the “contest” of being faithful to the Gospel.
Just as athletic competition is vigorous, since athletes compete against others who want to win, so the life of discipleship is vigorous: followers of Christ are trying to be faithful to the Gospel in a fallen world, where hostile spiritual forces try to defeat them.
Just as winning athletes celebrate Olympic glory, and all their sacrifices become worthwhile in light of the crown of victory, so followers of Christ who are faithful to the end will receive heavenly glory and all their sacrifices will be transformed in light of their victory.
Of course, we should be clear on something else: The Kingdom of Heaven is not like the Olympics in important senses, too. Everyone can’t win at the Olympic Games, while everyone can win in the contest of discipleship. “For God wills everyone to be saved and come to the knowledge of truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). But there’s still a lesson to be learned here: Like the Olympics, victory is not guaranteed. It’s not automatic. It does not come without the effort of our cooperation with God’s grace.
How do we make the parable practical? Interestingly, just as the Olympics are starting, we are also concluding Natural Family Planning (NFP) Awareness Week. I think NFP provides a great example and also a great paradigm for making the parable practical.
Natural Family Planning shows us what the body is for — that God has inscribed meaning into our bodies: We were made to be a life-giving gift. It teaches us that discipline is required to actualize the meaning of our bodies: Like athletes, we have to say “no” to some things in order to say “yes” to deeper and higher things. It teaches us that our bodies, even now, can begin to be temples of God’s glory: They are capable of being transformed into sacramentals, material signs and instruments of God’s love. And none of these lessons are limited to our sexuality. They’re just as true of the life of prayer, study and service!
The world today offers us competing visions of the glorification of the human body. Secular culture tells us that the glorification of the human body means saying “yes” to every desire. Catholic faith tells us that the glorification of the human body means saying “no” to some things in order to say “yes” to greater things.
This week, I think we can read the Olympic Games as a great parable. They show how “saying no to some things in order to say yes to greater things” is a more convincing vision of the path to glory.
