Reflections on the Church and Sport

Sorry it's been over a week since I've added anything. I've been working on a big writing project which I hope to be able to post soon.

In the meantime, enjoy these quotations reflecting on the importance of sports in the life of a Christian disciple:

The Christian life is a contest and a struggle against the powers of evil. Therefore, as an athlete of Christ the baptismal candidate is anointed with oil, signifying that he is willing to engage in the contest, and that he is being given suppleness and strength for this purpose. In olden times the entire body of the candidate was anointed, in imitation of wrestlers and athletes who anointed their entire bodies with olive oil prior to entering the arena. (Commentary in the 1962 Roman Missal, Rite of Baptism)

The Church looks at sport with great sympathy, since it considers the human body as the masterpiece of creation. God the Creator gave new life to the body, thus making it the instrument of an immortal soul. Man became a living being; moreover, redemption by Christ turned the human body into a temple of the Holy Spirit, thus making man a member of the Christ destined to be resurrected from his own ashes to live in eternity thereafter. When sport is practiced in a healthy way, it exalts the dignity of the human body without risking idolatry. The Church sees sport as a mighty element of moral and social education. (Pope John Paul II, address to the International Olympic Committee, May 27, 1982)

Sport, properly directed, develops character, makes a man courageous, a generous loser, a gracious victor; it refines the senses, gives intellectual penetration, and steels the will to endurance. It is not merely a physical development then. Sport, rightly understood, is an occupation of the whole man, and while perfecting the body as an instrument of the mind, it also makes the mind itself a more refined instrument for the search and communication of truth and helps man to achieve that end to which all others must be subservient, the service and praise of his Creator. (Pope Pius XII, “Sport and the Spirit”)

Sport is one of the human activities which is also waiting to be enlightened by God through Christ, so that the values it expresses may be purified and elevated at both the individual and the collective levels. (Pope Benedict XVI, Message to the 20th Winter Olympics).

Souls are like athletes, that need opponents worthy of them, if they are to be tried and extended and pushed to the full use of their powers, and rewarded according to their capacity. (Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain)

The world of sport is an important areopagus of modern times, awaiting apostles who are ready to boldly announce the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (Vatican Office of Church and Sport, preface to The World of Sport Today: A Field of Christian Mission)