Running into Sainthood

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Pope John Paul II died on April 2, 2005.[1] During his funeral, six days later, the crowds gathered to say their last goodbyes to the beloved pope while chanting at unison: “Sancto Subito!” They were petitioning for his immediate sanctification. As you probably know, canonization is the process of some traditional churches by which a person is granted the highest title of Saint. The process requires a thorough review of the person's life and work and a democratic election by representatives of the church. I am not against formally recognizing our heroes in the faith; however, the Bible calls saints all believers and followers of Jesus Christ. You and I are saints by faith. We may never be canonized, but we are made holy by persevering in him, just as Revelation says (Revelation 14:12 NASB):

Here is the perseverance of the saints
who keep the commandments of God
and their faith in Jesus.

In light of this, I would like to share how training for the marathon brought me into deeper sanctity of the soul.

Running the Race
What does a marathon have to do with making people saints? Well, for one, the Christian faith is always compared to a long race. The Bible is full of references that tell us so. Hebrews 12:1b AMP, for example, says: “…let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us.” Saint Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 4:7-8a GNT: “I have done my best in the race, I have run the full distance, and I have kept the faith. And now there is waiting for me the victory prize of being put right with God.”

Second, running the race is a metaphor for living the Christian faith in fullness of goodness, virtue, and worthiness of imitation. Goodness, virtue, and exemplary life are the result of the deep conversion of the heart that comes from dedicating our lives to God. Finishing the race is close to a miracle; the crowning moment of sainthood.

Pick Up a Good Plan
Make a decision for the plan that you are going to follow. If you haven’t made a decision about which plan you are going to follow for the event, you will not be able to run the marathon. To run a marathon, it is crucial to pick up the right training plan so that you know how to train. It is even more crucial to follow a plan by someone who has actually done it before you. It is crucial that you follow the plan exactly.

In your faith life, you also need to make a decision for Jesus every day. If you have not made a decision for Jesus now, it will be too late on the day of reckoning. But if you do, you are made “Sancto Subito” by your faith in Him. In the same way that running constitutes you a runner, following Jesus constitutes you a saint. It is important to follow someone who has done it before you. As a Christian I believe that Jesus has done it before me and so I have picked up his plan. Since I have picked up his plan to follow, I need to stick to it, following the word that he has given me.

Do it at Your Own Pace
To run a marathon, you need to understand your body and run it at a pace that your body can withstand and for which you trained. If you try to run too hard and too fast, you risk injury and subsequent failure. No matter how much the music along the marathon route seems to urge you to run faster or the flow of adrenaline in your body entices you to accelerate, go at the pace that you trained.

In your faith life too, it is crucial to run at the pace that you have chosen. Do not worry that others are growing at a much faster rate, or that you have overtaken others. Just enjoy the walk, or should I say the run, with the Lord. He will run with you at your own pace.

Run with Endurance
No matter how much you have trained, the last few miles of a race are always a challenge. It is the training and achieving the goal (or crossing the line) that you have in mind that keeps you going. Focusing on the goal helps to keep you running in spite of weary legs and cramped muscles and to press on towards the finish line.

In your faith life too, you could be weary at times; questioning whether you will reach the end, whether you will be able to finish. Focus on the final goal; it is not a medal of iron or steel that awaits, but the crown of life that the LORD himself will give to you on that day. That crown will help you stay faithful to stay the course and keep on running.

I urge you to run your own race with endurance, knowing that one day, you will be welcomed into His Kingdom with words that echo those of Saint Paul above:

You have done your best in the race,
you have run the full distance,
and you have kept the faith.
Here is your victory prize. Welcome to the kingdom of saints.

If you are like me and are interested in living your life for the greater glory of God, use the experience of running not only as a means of physical exercise and health, but, also as a means of growing in holiness for the greater glory of God. Go run into sainthood.





Notes:
[1] Funeral of Pope John Paul II, Wikipedia, Last Accessed 11/15/2012.

Where is the line?

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Venice Beach was charged with electricity. People were everywhere; excited, nervous, filled with anticipation. It was six a.m. on this autumn morning. Stress levels, of the healthy type, rising with the sun. It was chilly, yes, but only the weather felt that way. People were warm, welcoming, and wired up. It was foggy, yes, but only the air looked that way. People were smiling, with a clear sense of purpose and direction. At least that was what I thought was true for the rest of them. As for me, the day turned out to be a different story.

The Set Up
I had trained several months prior to this event. It was the first time I was participating in an Olympic-distance triathlon.[1] I was filled with doubts: Would I drown? Would I survive? Would I be eaten by a shark? Would I spend more time transitioning than racing? Would I cycle past exhaustion? Would I have legs to run to the finish line? Did I train enough? Probably like the rest of us out there, I was overwhelmed by the voices inside my head, and I am not schizophrenic. These were real voices and I was soon to find out some answers.

We formed at the starting line and we jumped into that chilling ocean water at the first sound of the air horn. Triathletes rushed to the water with frenzy. Everyone was trying to get ahead. All of the sudden, I felt myself the easy target of elbowing, kicking, pushing, pulling, and crushing. Lots of people were fighting to occupy the very same spot in the water I was in. When I finally managed to get to the first buoy I paused to see where I was supposed to go and realized: “Where is the line? There is no line at the bottom of the ocean. There is no line on its surface either.” I did all my swimming training in the pool and nothing had prepared me for this. At that point I felt lost. In fact, I was lost.


The Set Down
The big waves lifted me high and sank me low. The undercurrents pulled me in many unintended directions. The fog and my goggles blurred my vision and hid the markers. The many swimmers that passed me by distracted me from my objective. I followed some of them who actually took me in the opposite direction. Algae filled me with terror at the first touch in the turbid sea. There were lifeguards on surf boards. I thought to myself, “They are here to help, if I follow them, I’ll get through this.” So I did, zigzagging my way through the waters, adding more distance than necessary, of course. After one long hour in the ocean, I was tired, in pain, and far from finished.

The Set In
I repeated to myself “I am not a quitter… I am not a quitter.” This was the phrase that got me through. I took courage. I forced myself, almost breathless, exhausted, hungry, to one last surge of power. When I turned the last buoy, I paused again to have a visual of the beach. I joined hundreds of swimmers fighting the rip-currents to exit the waters. The visual effect was like sardines on dry land, except that we were the ones outside our elements. When I finally reached the beach I could barely walk, dizzy and disoriented. I realized: “My training was not enough.” I did not learn proper technique for the ocean. I did not practice active recovery. And above all else, I did not know how to follow an imaginary straight line.

In our race of faith, we will face many distractions: 

  • People trying to take advantage of us 
  • Others with good or bad intentions misguiding us 
  • Self-called saviors that could deviate us from our path 
  • Blurriness, or lack of vision 
  • Poor technique or unpreparedness 
  • Big waves of trouble and difficulties 
  • Exhaustion, fear, or pain 

In the midst of these, how do we find guidance in the high waters? How can we sharpen our vision? If we focus on these, and many other possible distractions, we risk our wellbeing. Our spiritual, relational, mental, and even our physical health is in jeopardy. We are closer to the dangers of quitting. I am sure King David was not a triathlete, but I can certainly relate to his feelings when he wrote (Psalm 69:1-2 NIV):

Save me, O God,
for the waters have come up to my neck.
I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold.
I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me.

Like David, we need to fix our eyes on God and call upon Him. He is the One mighty to save; the One gracious to guide; the One who will see us through until we come on top. As for guidance for your ocean swim, I learned the hard way that you need to lift up your eyes to a landmark and follow it; but remember that God is beyond the hills (Psalm 121:1-2a CEB):

I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
My help comes from the LORD.

Next time you are in a situation for which you cannot find any guidance or you feel helpless, call upon God. I assure you: you will be surprised.




NOTES:
[1] Olympic Triathlon consists of a 1.5 Km (0.93 Miles) swim, a 40 Km (24.85 Miles) bicycle ride, and a 10 Km (6.21 Miles) run. These are the official distances used in the Olympics, thus its name.

If Salt Vanish Away

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A few days ago I came across a television program about salt. The show explores some of the 14,000 known uses for this mineral, ancient and modern.[1] This subject got a hold of me. It opens the door to many interpretive opportunities to continue our exploration of Jesus’ metaphor when he said:

“Ye be salt of the earth; 
 that if the salt [shall] vanish away, wherein shall it be salted? 
 To nothing it is worth over, 
 but that it be cast out, and be defouled of men.”[2]

You and I are the Salt of the Earth. We explored this concept in our previous article. This time around, I would like to explore the meaning of salt vanishing away. 

The word, “vanish” derives from the Greek verb μωραίνω (mórainó), which literally means to make tasteless, useless, contaminated, and even dumb – yes, from the Greek root, μωρός (mōrós), we derive the word moron. 

What does it mean, then, that salt vanishes? What conditions may render salt null? How can we lose our qualities? How can the essence of who we are in our race of faith disappear? Table salt, by the way, does not lose its properties easily and does not degrade naturally. However, our bodies need other salts to properly perform its metabolic functions, which could vanish by dilution, decomposition, and devaluation.

If Salt Becomes Dull
Most of the English translations for this passage focus almost exclusively in one specific use of salt: seasoning. The most common phrases are: “if the salt has lost its savor,” or “loses its saltiness,” or “has become tasteless.” 

You and I must give life its flavor. We must bless our land and the men and women with whom we share our lives with. We must offer them reasons to live, to dream, and to serve. We must dose peace, joy, love, goodness and, just as we Latinos say, Sabor! We cannot allow ourselves to lose these qualities. If we lose flavor, we leave ourselves dulled, useless, and we will then be excluded from our circles of influence and left to public shame.

If Salt Becomes Diluted
When we sweat, the concentration of salt in our bodies diminishes. If we add to this our natural impulse to drink large amounts of water in fear of dehydration, the result could produce dangerous consequences. Dehydration is not the enemy of the endurance athlete; quite the contrary, it is a condition known as hyponatremia, or water intoxication. Water excess dilutes salt to such low levels that it may reach the point of causing cramps, nervous malfunction, coma, and even death.[3]

You and I must not get diluted. We dilute ourselves when we keep silent in the face of injustice, participate in peevish conversations, or ignore others' pain or their needs. We dissipate ourselves when we twist information for our own benefit, slander our neighbor, or gossip against other Christian believers. We must reflect a higher moral standard. We must run our race of faith to the point of making ourselves noticed and even appear strange to others, just as Saint Peter said: (1 Peter 4:4 KJV):

“They think it strange
 that you do not run with them
 in the same flood of dissipation.” 

If Salt Becomes Decomposed
Salts are chemical compounds. Table salt is sodium chloride. As indicated by its name, it is the combination of chlorine and sodium. Decomposition would imply the separation of these elements, which is possible through an electrical current. Chlorine separates into a greenish yellow gas, highly venomous and stifling, while sodium groups into a light metal, highly reactive and explosive when in contact with water. 

You and I must not get decomposed. We decompose when we foment fascism, stimulate discord, provoke friction, and bicker in bitterness. We contaminate ourselves with our explosive attitudes, making ourselves venomous in our dissensions  and suffocating others with our extreme religiosity. We must live in the God-given grace and give grace to allow others to live. Our life style must match our message and our message must match our life style. 

If Salt Becomes Devalued
Salt had so much value in ancient times that it was often used as currency. It is said that soldiers and athletes were paid in salt portions for their work; hence they got paid their sal-ary.[4] Jesus parable suggests, in modern terms, how stupid it would be to receive your salary in, let us say, currency paper, and cut the face value or serial number, clear its ink or alter it chemically, or burn it away. 

You and I must not get devalued. We devalue ourselves when we lose our role as spiritual leaders in our homes; we retire from the conversation when our society discusses moral issues, or ignore the unethical procedures of the organization we work for. Every time we behave in this manner, we make ourselves useless. Jesus implied that this behavior is as stupid as burning money. The value you and I contribute to the world is sal-vation. Without salvation, this world is dysfunctional, nervous, borderline comatose or even worse, close to being spiritually dead.





NOTES
[1] How Stuff Works: Food and Beverage: Salt; Season 1; Discovery Channel; January 29, 2009. 
[2] Quoted from Matthew 5:13 WYC. This reference also appears in Mark 9:50 and Luke 14:34-35. 
[3] Burfoot, Amby, Drink to your Health, Runner’s World; Last accessed, October 26, 2012. 
[4] Salary, Wikipedia; Last accessed, October 25, 2012.





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