While the world is still applauding the athletic feats that just came to a close at the Olympic Games in Rio, it seems to be slightly more than coincidental that the Catholic Church has just celebrated the feasts of Saints Monica and Augustine. As Catholics admire and reflect on the spiritual accomplishments of these saints, it is necessary to call to mind Saint Ambrose as well, Christ’s personally selected instrument for the sanctity of this mother and son. The Bishop of Milan’s mission to purify hearts in Christ converted not only the great Augustine, but also made a significant impact on the morals and customs of the entire Roman Empire. This is perhaps most evident from his work as the spiritual advisor to the Emperor Theodosius I, who would have decisive influence on the original Olympic Games.  

The Olympics are banned as a pagan practice.

Ambrose was such a fearless shepherd of souls that, in 390 AD, he even went so far as to excommunicate Theodosius I for a massacre that he had inflicted on the people of Thessalonica. The Emperor complied with the holy Bishop of Milan, humbled himself, and performed a long penance in order to be readmitted to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. One year later, Theodosius would begin to outlaw pagan worship throughout the Roman Empire and make Catholicism its official state religion.

According to the official website of the Olympic Games 2016, “The first ancient Olympic Games can be traced back to 776 BC. They were dedicated to the Olympian gods and were staged on the ancient plains of Olympia. They continued for nearly twelve centuries, until Emperor Theodosius decreed in 393 A.D. that all such 'pagan cults' be banned." This ban was in fact decreed for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the foundation of a society based upon it. The dedication of the Olympic games to pagan gods and goddesses, especially Zeus and Hera, included worship and sacrifices offered by athletes, feasting accompanied by prostitution, and nude competition. The modern Olympics began in 1896, and although they lack an organic connection to the ancient games, gods, and goddesses, they still have attempted in some ways to connect to the ancient past. Consider the words of the Olympic Hymn composed in 1896 and still used today:

"Ancient Immortal Spirit, chaste Father of all that is Beauty, Grandeur and Truth Descending appear with Thy presence Illumine Thine Earth and the Heavens. Shine upon noble endeavors wrought at the Games on Track and in the Field … To Thine Temple, to Thy Worship, come all. Oh! Ancient Eternal Spirit!"

Saint Pope Pius X gives his support to the modern Olympics.

The pagan religious elements of the original Olympic Games led to their being halted by the Emperor Theodosius’ decrees.  In spite of a millennium and a half separating the original games and the new, subtle pagan influences still made their way into the ceremonies of the modern games in 1896. Nevertheless, in 1906, Pope Saint Pius X offered his approval to their modern founder, Pierre de Coubertin, who came to the Vatican seeking the papal support for the games.  Pius X saw in the international competition a great potential for education, virtue, and community the world over, regardless of race, religion, or political differences. The wisdom of Pius X in affirming sport at a time when far fewer people were engaging in athletics echoed the tradition of the Catholic Church going back to the first century of Christianity, even to Christ Himself.

Christ sanctifies the human body in His Passion and Resurrection.

In becoming man, Christ affirmed the goodness of the human body and its essential role in the highest vocation of the human person. It was through His body offered in sacrifice on the cross that He would save the world.  This act of love alone makes it possible to unite humanity – bringing all who would receive Him into communion with the Trinity. It is Jesus more than any other whom we are called to imitate by the words of Saint Paul: “Do you not know that, of those who run in a race, all of them, certainly, are runners, but only one achieves the prize. Similarly, you must run, so that you may achieve” (1 Corinthians 9:24).

Our Blessed Lord won victory as He demonstrated every virtue from the cross simultaneously. This means that God Himself showed us the ultimate value of the physical dimension of our human nature through the gift of His life in His Passion and Death. Surely then the virtues that Jesus teaches us through His own body are those most of all to be strived for by all athletes who seek to attain perfection in sports.

Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches that Christ exemplified every virtue on the cross. Our Blessed Lord preaches temperance when He turns away from the sponge offered by the soldiers. He perfects justice as He renders what is due to His Father - the total sacrifice of Himself. His fortitude is obvious as He perseveres until the end through the greatest of sufferings. Prudence becomes apparent as He manifests Himself to be the means to our last end, the wise way to follow in all things. He proves to us that our faith is well founded since He is true to His word, laying down His life of His own accord. He reveals Himself to be our hope since He is lifted up as the means of our salvation, one and the same sacrifice being offered on the cross at Calvary and every day in the hands of the priest at the Holy Mass. Lastly, His perfect obedience, humility, and love are revealed by lowering Himself through obedience to the point of “death, even death on a cross” (Phillipians 2:8).

The teachings of the Church affirm the value of athletic training and competition.

The Church teaching is abundantly clear: the body is good, an integral part of our human nature. As such, it necessarily factors into the pursuit of holiness. If God saw Himself in our humanity, knowing that He would one day assume a human nature and become flesh, then we should not underestimate the role that the body – created to be a temple of the Holy Spirit – is to play in our sanctification. The perfection of all of the virtues that Christ demonstrates for us on the cross is at once experienced and lived by Him and made known to us through His Body. Our imitation of Christ requires us to imitate His virtues by uniting ourselves to His living experience, which He is always offering for us, in heaven, in the tabernacle, in the Holy Mass, and by His living in us (cf. John 14:23).

Sport is an excellent opportunity for each of us to experience the sanctifying work of Christ in our body and soul. As we train, compete, struggle, and rejoice we are able to work together with our Lord as He strengthens us, teaches us, and inspires us with new virtues. Athletes must live temperately in order to maintain their talents. They must act justly – giving God their best as they train or compete – “not for the sake of a perishable crown, but for the imperishable” (1 Corinthians 9:25).

As Saint John Chrysostom said:

“What could be more glorious than this? Rather, what trophy could ever be equal to it? For if on occasion of a wrestler’s success, not a herald below but the king above should have risen up and himself proclaimed the Olympic Victor, would not this have seemed to him more glorious than the crown, and have turned the gaze of the whole theatre upon him? When then no mortal king, but God Himself, not in this theatre but in the theatre of the universe, in the assembly of the angels, the archangels, proclaims his name with uplifted voice shouting from heaven, tell me what place shall we assign to this holy man?”

Virtue is strengthened by the habits athletes must learn.

Prudence is demanded of the athlete as he decides how much to train, when, and where; and Faith, not in ourselves, but in Christ who strengthens us, in God who gives the victory, in the Lord “in whom we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Hope pushes us to endure and to suffer whatever is necessary to achieve true goals through competition—competition not so much against others, but rather against our own weaknesses. Love seems to accompany every athlete who enjoys his sport. But whatever love we may have for a game or for exercise, whether in the practice of it ourselves or in its viewing on television, this love is always intended to be taken as a foretaste, an incentive towards the greatest love of all.

To the athlete who keeps these things in mind, every step is an opportunity for growing in holiness, both in the moment the sport is being played, and afterward when its fruits are applied to life. However, just like the disciplined efforts and training of any athlete day-in and day out, all of these virtues and the efforts that we make to be holy are only as valuable as the rest that we take to make the maximize their physical and spiritual effects. As we remember the greatest pupil of Bishop Ambrose, Saint Augustine, let us bear in mind his reflection on the many decades which he spent struggling for holiness: “Our heart is restless until it repose in Thee” (St. Augustine).