Boxing & Virtue
How Does Boxing Show Virtue?
When you get hit in a boxing match
You cannot lose Control.
You must keep focused
on The Strategy to win.
You must control Your Passions.
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& remember to say 3 Hail Marys for the priest
“When people ask me
what my favourite sport is,
I usually kind of groan — because people
look at me like I'm crazy when
I actually tell them — they think
“…..wait, really seriously?
You, Father, I can't believe it…!”
I came from a football family,
but even when I was younger,
I couldn't sit still long enough
to appreciate it and let's not
even talk about golf or tennis
or anything like that —
I just couldn't stand any of it.
From the outside, boxing, kickboxing
and other kind of related martial-arts
like MMA, and other sports, just
looked like a violent brawl,
with unhinged barbarians,
who just beat each other up, until
someone gives up or dies —
In fact, when I started training
with boxers and kickboxers,
several years ago, that's
what I thought, as well —
Actually, what I was not prepared for
was the fact that some of the most selfless,
kind and generous people
that I have ever met in my life
I've come across not in church,
but in the boxing gym —
You have heard that it was said,
“an eye for an eye and
a tooth for a tooth”, but
I say to you offer no resistance to
one who is evil; when someone
strikes you on your right cheek
turn the other one as well —
It seems entirely counterintuitive
to see boxing as a good introduction
to the spiritual life of non-violence;
but of course you know, paradoxes abound
all over the place in our Christian faith,
and I think that there is at least
something to merit an analogy, here —
Boxing is not just a brawler fest,
where men get in a ring and wail
on each other until it's over;
it really is A Science, An Art,
that involves a tremendous amount
of strategy and athleticism; but
even more than that, it involves
the mortification of The Ego;
not its indulgence —
There's a movie coming out soon with Mark Wahlberg and David Russell about a priest from Montana named Father Stewart long who was a college boxer who converted to Catholicism and died a couple of years ago of a degenerative muscular disease and father long was not exactly most people's idea of a saint you know sometimes we have reduced this whole idea of holiness to this very kind of unoffensive anodyne plaster statue that's all very sweet and saccharine in a church somewhere of course if you know anything about the lives of the saints that is really not what the Saints are like at all thought along was direct gruff and could size you up and call you out on your issues in a heartbeat but he knew from his boxing pass and his priestly ministry that the self-control that discipline and virtue engender in the soul together with God's grace was the only way to avoid those sins which destroy us the director of this movie said it well that's the beautiful thing about boxing you can take a punch the biggest thing about taking a punch is your ego reacts and there's no better spiritual lesson than trying not to pay attention to your egos reaction a boxer who gets hit has two possibilities let anger take over and just lash out any which way which had caused him to lose the fight or mortify the egos reaction and concentrate on the skill the artistry the courage to strike at the right place and the right time and advance towards the win you know when we're hurt but we're wrong even when just someone annoys us the ego takes over and we react sometimes in incredibly destructive ways we sin we lose sanctifying grace and we can even forfeit heaven if we're not careful but our Lord shows us that the skill we need is the skill to outwit our opponent by making him a friend the artistry we need is that of discipline and self-control the courage is not to hit but to not hit if anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic hand over your cloak as well should anyone press you into service for one mile go for two miles give to the one who asks of you and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow I think we have to admit to ourselves sometimes we are afraid to do these things you know this reading comes around every few years and we're like oh yeah that one right yeah you know that'd be nice I wish I could do that but really because we're afraid that if we do this we're just gonna become a doormat we're afraid that we'll lose ourselves and our dignity if we constantly prefer the will of another over our own now I want you to understand me correctly do not get me wrong I am NOT saying that we should ever tolerate abusive behavior or allow people to treat others wrongly we have a duty in charity to protect others but we do need to rein in the ego with its pride with its jealousy with its incredible tendency to miss the point and we do this by choosing to love when we find it hardest to do so love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you my friends the most powerful weapon we have in the arsenal of this spiritual battle called life is love in order to use it well to win the fight we must train the ego by dying to sell we must exercise agility of the spirit by sacrificial charity and we must land the strongest punch of all not to the face of our enemies in this world but the ancient enemy the devil by letting love conquer Hey
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