Scottish Catholic Observer

A theme running through this week’s edition of The Scottish Catholic Observer owes a debt to the Olympic Games. As we watch the Olympic athletes in London strive to be the best in the world, sometimes succeeding and sometimes failing but taking part nonetheless, it is a timely reminder that we are all in the race known as life but that, as Pope Benedict XVI said on Sunday, the prize we seek is external life not earthly glory.

How often do we tell our children that it is not the winning that matters, but the taking part? That they may fall but they should pick themselves up and carry on? Why then do we forget to remind our young people and ourselves of the same childhood lesson?

Last August 2011 the Holy Father told the world’s young Catholics that their task was to bring Christ back to contemporary society and in his August prayer intentions this month he added a hope that the next generation ‘may be willing to proclaim and bear witness to the Gospel to the end of the earth.’

The evangelisation Josuha Camp at London 2012, currently underway, is a vibrant example of Catechesis about how to be a true Christian presence at the Olympic Games coupled with outreach into society. Bishop Thomas MacMahon of Brentwood told the young people at the camp, where 21 countries are represented, to see ‘life as a race, a marathon, with only one thing necessary for us Christians, and that is not the winning so much as the keeping our eye on Jesus.’

Both Cath Doherty and Fr Eddie McGhee confess this week in the SCO that what lies ahead for our nation’s Christians—and for Christians throughout the world—will require ‘Olympic efforts’ in the face of sweeping secularism. As we prepare for the Year of Faith, and to embrace the call to New Evangelisation, we must remember that sometimes we may fall, or even fail in our calling. We have not chosen the easy path, there may be hurdles in our way, mountains to climb, daunting challenges to face, and many extra miles to go. Like the Olympians, however, we have been in training for this all of our lives. We must forgive ourselves for our failings and always aim for our ‘personal best.’

On the subject of forgiveness, a great deal has been said and written about the Church in recent weeks that has not been particularly Christian, from name-calling against those named in the newest Episcopal appointments to perceived in-fighting in the community over matters such as the historical archives.

We are all human and to err is human, but to forgive is divine. As we near the end of summer and look to what lies ahead, there is no time like the present to draw a line under any differences and to see instead how we can all work together for the greater good in the Year of Faith and the years ahead.