Running Outside and the Catholic Church
I like to run. Usually I end up running 3-4 times a week, if not more. I don’t just go out and perform the physical act of running though. Running, while (obviously) the central reason why I get out to "run," is not the entire picture. Let me explain.
I almost always run outside when the weather cooperates. I try to run on the trails at the local State Park, at the local floodwall, or over the hills behind the rural High School 2 miles from my home. As I run, I take in the changes of the seasons, the scenery, the animals that wander by, and the flowers that blossom. I observe the purple flowers of spring, and the painted rows of white stinging nettles as summer comes to a close. I smell the blooming Dogwoods in the spring, the green grasses in the summer, and the rotting apples in the fall. Even winter in its sparseness has a distinct smell. I even try to get a tan when its sunny. I usually carefully pick out a CD to listen to on the way over, as I roll the windows down and enjoy a slower-than-usual drive to the running destination. I often pray when I run, or think about theological issues, like how after the Incarnation all the world was redeemed and sanctified. I have picked up snow many times and commented on how it is "redeemed snow." Other times I just think of past relationships, good and bad. When I run with my brother, we usually talk about these same things. So as you can see, when I go out to "run" it is something far more than just moving my legs above 3 miles-per-hour. It is a whole experience and something rich and meaningful that would be missed if "running" simply meant just the physical act itself.
My point? Well, the Christian faith is like this. There are sparse options and there are full options, just like there is "just running" and there is "my running." We can just have "me and Jesus," as many Protestant churches embrace. We can have white walls, and God confined between Genesis and Revelation. We can have a faith divorced from sacrament and symbol, divorced from the people and places of history. We can have it sparse I guess. I cannot judge the salvation of those who keep it sparse, seeing as the Church is a mystery. However, this little personal illustration explains why I am drawn to the Catholic Faith (and I include the Orthodox, and much of classical Anglicanism in this too, although I am heading Romeward). I want the fullness of Christianity. I want candles, sacraments, stained-glass, icons, statues, incense, holy-water, liturgy, history, mystery, and more. I don’t want them because I want to somehow replace Christ, rather I want them because I want to know and experience Christ in all His fullness. Granted, these externals possibly could distract me from Christ (as the scenery could potentially distract me from running), but they have never yet done that. Rather they have enhanced my relationship with Christ, because they are not only fully in accord with Christ, but have been given by the Holy Spirit through the Church to help us experience Christ more deeply and profoundly. Because of the deep meaning, I crave the liturgy. I crave the Eucharist, just like (in a different way) I crave getting out and "running." I suppose I could get by without the fullness of the Faith, or by running inside (which I do during the deep winter), but who wants to "just get by" when you can have the full package??
