Putting in the Work 

Shannon Sharpe is considered to have been one of the best tight ends to ever play professional football. He won two Super Bowls with the Denver Broncos and one with the Baltimore Ravens and retired from the NFL in 2003 as league leader in receptions, touchdowns, and receiving yards at his position. These days, he hosts a podcast. During a recent episode, his guest remarked on Sharpe’s career and asked him what it required of him to be a great football player. Sharpe responded, “singular focus and drive.” But then he said this: “It’s boring. It’s very monotonous to be great.” Elaborating on what he meant, he explained: “I ate the same thing for breakfast every day for 27 years. I also ate pretty much the same thing for all my other meals. I got up at the same time. I did the exact same thing… for 27 years.” While everyone in professional sports is supremely gifted, Sharpe says an athlete’s willingness to embrace the monotony of doing the same things over and over again, for longer than anyone else, is what separates the good player from the great player. Emphasizing his point, he said: “I ate oatmeal for breakfast every day for 27 years.” 

Sharpe’s single-minded pursuit of excellence in the sport of football was truly amazing. For the sake of achieving his goals, he was willing to accept hardship and do things that he might not have felt like doing. To maximize his chances of winning championships, Sharpe was willing to make enormous sacrifices. He embraced anything that helped him reach his goals and rejected anything he believed got in the way of them. In the end, it paid off. Since 2011 he has been a member of the NFL Hall of Fame. 

But the pursuit of greatness in sports, while good in itself, is actually harmful if it distracts us from pursuing things that are objectively greater and more important. If participation in sports (and things like it) harms one’s ability to give proper attention and care to one’s family, it becomes a bad thing. If it leads us to neglect our relationship with the Lord and the practice of religion that we owe to Him, it becomes a bad thing. That’s because the welfare of our families is a greater good than a championship. That’s because our eternal salvation, which we work out through our lives in the Church, depends on our relationship with Christ – and there is no greater good than this. Indeed, it is an infinitely greater good than making any team or winning any championship. 

Like sports, practicing our religion requires putting in the work. It requires making sacrifices for the sake of our relationship with Christ, who is both our goal and the means by which we reach our goal. As Catholics, we make it a point to never miss Sunday Mass. We say our prayers every day, meditating on scripture, and saying the rosary. We confess our sins regularly and seek freedom from the habitual sins that bring us down. We make the spiritual and corporal works of mercy central to our way of life while striving to grow in virtue with the help of grace. It’s not always fun. It sometimes feels monotonous. It often demands sacrifice. But we do it because we love it. We love it, because we love Him. And the experience changes us. It prepares us for glory.