As we draw closer to the Summer Olympics in Rio, we will soon be enamored by the amazing physical feats of athletes from around the world. During the competition each of the olympians will have a specific goal in mind. For some it might be to win the gold medal, while others will simply want to give their all and beat their personal best in front of the world.
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These personal goals are what drive athletes to spend countless hours in training, practicing extreme discipline in what they do with their time and what food they eat. Their aim is to do whatever is necessary to reach their goal.
While finishing the race and getting a gold medal is a feat to be accomplished, what about completing the ultimate race and crossing the finish line into Heaven? Do we train with the same vigor to reach our ultimate goal of Eternal Life?
Saint Paul was the first to make the analogy between the Olympics and the spiritual life. He wrote to the Corinthians:
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Well, I do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the air; but I pommel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
The biggest difference between training for a gold medal and training for Heaven is that one goal is tangible and attainable on this earth, while the other is only awarded at death. It is hard to train for something that you are not certain of getting and that you have to continue training for the rest of your life. It requires great spiritual discipline, something that we all need to work on.
What should we do then? How can we train for Heaven?
The key lies in having spiritual goals in the life of prayer. If we don’t have any goals, how can we know if we are progressing in the spiritual life? Goals help orient our lives and point it in a specific direction. Spiritual goals do the same and help point our souls in the right direction. Without goals, it is very easy to wander aimlessly in life, sometimes going backwards in our journey to Heaven.
Over the next several weeks, I will do my best in helping you develop clear spiritual goals in prayer that act as signposts along the way. Heaven is the ultimate goal, but we need smaller goals to get us there. An athlete may want to get a gold-medal at the Olympics, but he/she must first get a gold medal in smaller, local competitions. One can not simply attend a qualifying race without ever succeeding at other less important races.
So too in the spiritual life.
We must work first at the smaller spiritual goals, so that we can progress on the way to Heaven.
Then, we can say with Saint Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).