The Bitter Border Battle
Dear Friends in Christ,
Salutations! How are you today? Hope that you are well. While I didn’t have a chance to see it on last Sunday, there has been a lot of talk about the big game between the Vikings and the Packers. The two teams went back and forth in regulation and then had to settle for a tie after fifteen minutes of extra time. It was only the third time in their long history that they have ever ended their game with the same exact score.
Most of my family members are proud supporters of the Purple and Gold but there is also a healthy respect for the team from Title Town. As it turns out, I have a twin sister who is two minutes older than me (and much prettier) who got married to a man from Wisconsin. They now live with their five children in DePere, just a short jaunt from Green Bay and Lambeau Field. You can probably imagine who most of their family cheers for during the football season…
I bring up these details not to fan the flames of rivalry between these two powerhouses of the NFL but rather as a way to point out an important life lesson—
unless it’s a formal dinner party nobody likes a tie! Jokes aside, a tie represents a situation wherein there is neither a winner nor a loser. After all of the exhausting efforts made by both sides there is not a definitive victor. Perhaps it’s my competitive nature creeping into the equation but there is also scriptural basis for seeking out a “W” instead of a “T.”
In St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians—
a book of the Bible that has been read from at nearly every Daily Mass during the month of September—
we heard the great Apostle encourage Christians to, “Run so as to win.
Every athlete exercises discipline in every way. They do it to win a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one” (9:24-25). Our journey of faith is akin to an athletic competition in which we are not merely spectators—
fans of one team or another—
but rather active participants. While we are all on the same proverbial team, members of the Body of Christ in His Church, we are personally invited to seek His Kingdom and our “imperishable” crown with bold determination.
At the end of our earthly competition we will either be on the winning or the losing side of eternity. Whether we are fans of the Vikings or the Packers or another team altogether, with the Grace and Mercy of Christ we will all glory in the Lord’s victory and move beyond the ties that sometimes take place this side of Heaven.
