Saint Pope John Paul II: Patron of athletes?

In a few days (May 18), we will celebrate the birthday of a beloved pope and now saint, Pope John Paul II.  I was at the Vatican in 2012 when there was a special exhibit on his life. There were lots of photos and mementos of his long tenure as pope, his travels, and his vastly attended ceremonies. What struck me though were the exhibits on how athletic this pope was. One glass case had his kayak, another his bike, and one his skis. There were photos also of him skiing on weekends.

If you love sports like this dear saint, you can easily find encouragement and inspiration from the excerpts of his homilies to athletes in 1984 and 2000. One normally runs for help or seeks intercession from someone he/she can relate to, that’s why mothers flock to Our Lady. It is very natural for athletes then to ask the intercession of St. Pope John Paul II, the athlete pope, for their needs.

Fr. Don Lange, a pastor emeritus in the Diocese of Madison, wrote in the parish newsletter: “When Pope John II became pope, he installed a swimming pool at Castel Gandolfo, his summer residence. He responded to those who criticized its cost by saying that it was cheaper than paying for a new conclave. He also skied. Doctors think that he recovered from an assassin’s wounds quickly because of vibrant health nourished by sports. Through sports and exercise, he showed us ways to care for our bodies, which God created. If he is canonized, he could join St. Sebastian as patron saint of athletes.”

Faith and fitness

Rebecca Dussault in sportsleaderusa.blogspot.com wrote, ‘Through the many years of his episcopate and papacy, he made a lasting impression in the minds and hearts of athletes and sports enthusiasts everywhere as to what is the proper place and function of sports for humankind.  Himself a very devoted athlete, he is able to speak from the side of truth and integrate it so wondrously with the practice of being an athlete.  We find in his writings a great testament to the fusion of both faithfulness and fitness.

“The Pope himself loved athletics like they were his breath.  He was known to frequently summit mountains, alpine ski, bike, swim, play soccer or volleyball and he even found time to enter an international kayaking competition in 1955, just five years before being ordained a bishop!  He was known since the beginning of his papacy as the ‘athlete Pope.’

“His words are of great encouragement to those who desire to combine the discipline and motivation of athletics with the spiritual practices of prayer and meditation.  The whole purpose of athletics is in fact to aid the mind in the search and communication of Truth.

“He encouraged a sporting mindset and culture that will promote ‘doing sport’ which will help people rediscover the full truth about the human person.  He put forth the notion that sports played within a Christian outlook will become a generative principle of profound human relations and the building of a more serene and supportive world,” she concluded.

St. Pope John Paul II spoke to European Olympians who participated in the L.A. Games on Nov. 24, 1984:  “Beloved young athletes, your profession as athletes offers you, among other things, also the opportunity to improve your own personal spiritual state. Called as you are frequently to engage in your competitions in the midst of nature, amid the marvels of the mountains, seas, fields, and slopes, you are in the best position to perceive the value of simple and immediate things, the call to goodness, the dissatisfaction with one’s insufficiency, and to meditate on the authentic values that are the basis of human life…

“These are virtues that harmonize well with the Christian spirit because they demand a capacity for self-control, self-denial, sacrifice and humility, and therefore an attitude of gratefulness to God, who is the giver of every good and therefore also the giver of the necessary physical and intellectual talents.”

School of moral values

Sports are not merely the exercise of muscles, but the school of moral values and of training in courage, in perseverance, and in overcoming laziness and carelessness. There is no doubt that these values are of greatest interest for the formation of a personality which considers sports not an end in itself but as a means to total and harmonious physical, moral and social development.

From Vatican.va I read the homily of St. Pope John Paul II given on October 29, 2000 during the Jubilee of Sports People in Rome. Here are some beautiful excerpts from that homily which overflows with his deep appreciation for sports:

“With this celebration the world of sports is joining in a great chorus, as it were, to express through prayer, song, play, and movement a hymn of praise and thanksgiving to the Lord. It is a fitting occasion to give thanks to God for the gift of sport, in which the human person exercises his body, intellect and will, recognizing these abilities as so many gifts of his Creator.

“Playing sports has become very important today, since it can encourage young people to develop important values such as loyalty, perseverance, friendship, sharing and solidarity. Precisely for this reason, in recent years it has continued to grow even more as one of the characteristic phenomena of the modern era, almost a ‘sign of the times’ capable of interpreting humanity’s new needs and new expectations. Sports have spread to every corner of the world, transcending differences between cultures and nations.

“Because of the global dimensions this activity has assumed, those involved in sports throughout the world have a great responsibility. They are called to make sports an opportunity for meeting and dialogue, over and above every barrier of language, race or culture. Sports, in fact, can make an effective contribution to peaceful understanding between peoples and to establishing the new civilization of love.”

At the recent Olympic Games in Sydney, we admired the feats of the great athletes, who sacrificed themselves for years, day after day, to achieve those results. This is the logic of sport, especially Olympic sports; it is also the logic of life:  Without sacrifices, important results are not obtained, or even genuine satisfaction.

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Post me a note at mylene@goldsgym.com.ph or mylenedayrit@gmail.com