What is the number one rule of boxing? DON’T GET HIT! While it is easy to fixate on the haymakers, straights and hooks that make television ratings soar and fans go wild, we forget that the boxer who goes untouched in a given match by dodging and bobbing cannot lose. How frequently, in the ring of life, however, we become falsely convinced that we need to go on the offensive, yet time and again we come away feeling tired, empty and dry. Perhaps Jesus was the greatest boxer of all time because he never had to resort to such measures. Like another who called himself “the greatest,” Jesus focused first on his footwork – constantly attentive to his mission, he journeyed, with perfect timing, from Galilee to Samaria to Judea and finally to Jerusalem as his opponents kept missing him. Then, when he had reached Golgotha, seemingly trapped but still unwilling to unleash violence on others, a new version of the rule emerged: “Don’t get hit, but when you do, make it eucharistic.” Indeed, the world’s blows are destined, in Christ, to be transformed into moments of grace where weary, angry and fear-ridden souls are nourished by our deep confidence in the Father’s love: by our wounds, which are Christ’s wounds, others will be healed. Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
July 17, 2021
Published
Amen, Brothers! As usual, a fabulous post. However, I listened several times (as I often do) and it struck me that something was missing. Alas, after pondering the post, and going through my daily life, the “missing piece” hit me, the phrase, “keep your eye on the prize.” With Christ as our prize, we can fufill, the “Don’t get hit, but when you do, make it (an)eucharistic(encounter).”
Peace and prayers,
Margie
This is excellent, Margie, thanks for sharing this insight. Indeed, when our minds and hearts are focused on Christ, we become conformed to him, and it is our hands and bodies that start to give forth eucharist to those we encounter on a daily basis. The drama and beauty of being human.