"We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We've learned how to make a living, but not a life; we've added years to life, not life to years."
Now that the World Cup fanaticism has run its course, I thought it apropos to share my feelings about the event as a whole.
By my rough estimates it seems as though about 90% of Americans couldn't care less about soccer as a sport. I am no soccer fan myself, and I believe the last game I watched all the way through was when I was about 8 and the women's team won the gold on penalty kicks.
The World Cup is like the Olympics; it's not about the sport, it's about America playing on an international stage against the best teams other countries can field. This patriotic fervor is even more pronounced in the World Cup because we are usually so bad compared to a lot of other countries' teams.
During this past World Cup, I heard a lot of negativity towards those who jumped on the patriotic bandwagon and rooted for the home team from those 10% or so who follow the sport every year. I think that's quite a petty attitude to have; we aren't rooting for the team. We're rooting for America.
After the team lost to Belgium, I heard some ad on the radio. It was some propaganda piece that basically said that though the team lost, they were coming back heroes. Is our nation so starved for the quintessence of heroism that the media has to blare on about these men for doing decently in an international sport? Is heroism winning a couple of sports games while everyone is watching?
Men and women that risk their lives to defend this country are heroes. Men and women that go above and beyond in the fields of medicine and community service to save lives day-in and day-out are heroes. Men and women that sacrifice their lives for their children, both in the daily grind of life and in a one-time sacrifice of that life are heroes.
Another aspect of the World Cup that fans the flame of fervor is its irregularity. Like the Winter Olympics, it takes place only every four years. Isn't it kind of odd that we care about something only because it doesn't happen very often? It is similar to when the cicadas come out every 13 or 17 years. None of us care about these insects. We just find it fascinating that a certain species comes out so infrequently, so the "event" gets a lot of news coverage and attention.
Having thought these things, I went to Mass this past Sunday. As I was kneeling in my pew, I watched every single person in that building of age go up to receive communion. I didn't know a single person there, but it's not hard to assume that a few may have not been properly disposed to do so.
For practicing Catholics, the Eucharist is God's real incarnate body. As such, if that is your system of belief, receiving that body is literally the most important thing that can ever happen in this world. We have the insane privilege of being able to partake in the most fantastic miracle each and every day.
It's not a crazy thing to propose that Catholics have lost sight of what is really happening in the Church at Mass. It's hard to defend the opposite opinion, considering the liturgical abuses, decrease in attendance, and general lack of reverence that runs rampant in a thousand ways in thousands of churches. Perhaps this ratio of importance to irregularity in our mindsets contributes to that.
When I had the awesome opportunity to school abroad in Rome for a semester, we had a priest with us named Fr. Walsh. While giving us a talk, he recounted how a Protestant friend of his remarked on people going to communion: So many people looked lackadaisical and bored going up to receive communion in the hand. He said that if people really understood what was happening why aren't they falling on their faces?!
That anecdote has always stuck with me. It goes to show that it's not that we've given up; we've forgotten. We've forgotten who the heroes are. We've forgotten the values that make people heroes. We can change the world just by remembering. I don't know about you but I want to add life to my years.
~Worley
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