SAINT PETER CLAVER, PRIEST (MEMORIAL)

Run so as to win.

At the sound of the whistle, the runners are off like a shot. As they race down the road, one runner takes a commanding lead. He has terrific focus and is obviously well trained. The crowd hasn’t seen anything like it.

But wait, what is he doing? He has stopped at the side of the road and is haggling with a police officer who is writing him a parking ticket. It’s absurd! What runner would interrupt a big race to argue about parking rules? That’s not the time to get distracted!

St. Paul draws on a similar racing analogy to teach the Corinthians about focusing on what is really important. They had been arguing over whether they could eat foods that had been sacrificed to idols. And here he uses the image of a runner to help reframe the question for them. He tells them to “Run so as to win” (1 Corinthians 9:24). In other words, stay focused on your goal. Maintain a single-minded dedication to winning the race of discipleship as brothers and sisters in the Lord, and don’t get caught up in lesser issues.

By spending so much energy arguing over dietary issues, the Corinthians showed that they were missing the big picture of what the gospel was about. In the “race” of following the Lord, they were acting like that runner interrupting himself to argue about a parking ticket. In contrast, Paul says he is willing to “become all things to all, to save at least some” (1 Corinthians 9:19). He was willing to put aside his own preferences or rights because his overriding goal was to help the Corinthians remain united so that they could be a witness to the gospel.

What Paul is talking about is keeping side issues on the side and remaining focused on the main goal: proclaiming the gospel through the call to love one another. That’s something we can work on too. It may not take too deep an examination of conscience to come up with one or two ways that we are getting sidetracked from that goal. But at the same time, it probably won’t take a lot of pondering to figure out how to get back on track.

So keep running the race!

“Lord, help me to keep my eyes fixed on loving you and loving the people in my life.”

1 Corinthians 9:16-19,22-27
Psalm 84:3-6, 12
Luke 6:39-42