A Message from Fr. Jay
Dear Friends,
As I type this message on Sunday evening, August 8th, the Olympics medal tally says the United States and China equally hold 19 gold medals, but the US stands on the top of the list with a total of 71 medals, leaving China behind with 45. It makes us happy and proud to see us on the top of the list in comparison with China. The Olympic sports are heartwarming displays of courage, team spirit and camaraderie of the team players. The truth is that each team from different countries, also try with the same values.
As viewers or admirers of sports, sometimes we fail to see the value of sports. For example, someone who wins a silver medal could sometimes be seen as losing the gold medal. We have heard the famous comment, “Second place is the first loser”. What we need today is not mere glorification of competition but real sportsmanship. In the last Olympics (2020), we had an example of real sportsmanship: Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy and Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar agreed to share the gold medal after exhibiting the highest skill of high jumping of 2.37 meters.
There is a connection between the readings today on real sportsmanship.
In the first reading, Queen Jezabel seeks to kill the prophet Elijah because she could not take on the prophet Elijah, who proved God (Yahweh) was a real God and exposed Baal as a false God. Therefore, the prophet Elijah is running for his life and what happens in the first reading, he is boosted up by the Lord Himself.
In the second reading, the real sportsmanship of a Christian is ignited by the Holy Spirit, which warrants to remove all bitterness, fury, anger, shouting and reviling, along with malice and asking us to be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving and live in love.
When we follow the ways of the Holy Spirit, we would certainly be able to find Jesus as the living bread that came down from heaven (as mentioned in the gospel). The Saints in Christianity are all the champions of Christian sportsmanship. Let us continue learning to strengthen our Christian sportsmanship!
God Bless,
Fr. Jay Raju
- Reading 1: 1 Kings 19:4-8
- Reading 11: Ephesians 4: 30- 5:2
- Gospel: John 6: 41-51
