Sports metaphors are numerous in the letters of the Apostle Paul. As Lent begins, a time of exercise in spiritual combat, the Pauline writings can support the training of Christians with a view to welcoming the Resurrection with a renewed heart.
The prayer is formal, and it is with it that Lent begins each year, at the Ash Wednesday Mass : “Grant us, Lord, to know how to begin holyly, through fasting, training in spiritual combat: that our deprivations make us stronger to fight against the spirit of evil. “. During these forty days which are open to the faithful, it is indeed a question of training. Because, if the Easter celebration reminds us each year that Christ has conquered death, it also updates the need to remain vigilant in the face of evil.
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Among the biblical authors, Saint Paul is undoubtedly the best trainer to prepare for such a fight. Did he not say to his disciple Timothy, in one of his last writings: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. » ( 2 Tim 4:7 ) According to him, the victory which should be enjoyed at the end of existence is therefore the persistence of faith, at the cost of an exercise compared here to a race. Is it not the same for Lent, at the end of which everyone is led to renew their act of faith in Jesus who died and rose again?
Spare no effort
This sporting metaphor is found even more assertively in the letter that Saint Paul addresses to the Corinthians: “You know well that, in the stadium, all the runners participate in the race, but only one receives the prize. So you run so that you can win. All athletes in training impose severe discipline on themselves; they do it to receive a laurel wreath that will fade, and we, for a wreath that does not fade. Me, if I run, it is not without setting the goal; If I fight, it’s not by hitting the void. But I treat my body harshly, I make it my slave, to prevent myself from being disqualified after proclaiming the Gospel to others. “( 1 Cor 9:24-27 ). Here, the apostle of the Gentiles is very clear, as a coach can be before the competition: to achieve the goal, Easter and the renewal of the being with a view to eternal life, no effort must be spared, in particularly by taming the body through fasting.
The idea is continued in another missive to his dear Timothy where Paul restores the meaning of all combat. At the beginning of forty days of asceticism, it is good to remind ourselves that all spiritual exercise is ordered to life, that which God gives us without reservation but which we must prepare to welcome: “Indeed, physical exercise has only partial utility, but religion concerns everything, because it is the promise of life, of present life and of future life. Here is a word worthy of faith, and which deserves to be accepted without reservation: if we take pains and if we fight, it is because we have placed our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men and, at the highest point, believers. » ( 1 Tim 4, 8-10)
