Bridging the Gap: Run a Lap for Me

By Bishop David Zubik

	Bishop David Zubik

Recently, I joined my brother Bishops from all across our country for our annual Spring meeting. This year our gathering convened in Los Angeles. Card. Roger Mahoney invited us to Los Angeles so that we might have the opportunity not only to meet in sunny California but also that we could pray together in the magnificent and new Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. The Cardinal's hospitality was unmatched. So is the Cathedral.

Every time I begin my first journey of every given day, I do so by praying the Rosary. My trip to the City of the Angels was no exception. Once I settled in my assigned seat on the first leg of the flight to Los Angeles, I secured my favorite rosary beads which once belonged to my grandmother, Porchy, and then to my own Mom.

Following my meditative prayer, the young man sitting in the seat next to me noted my prayer. He then shared that, whenever he flies, which is often, he asks his mother; "Run a lap for me," his own colloquial but very respectful reference to the rosary.

Any runner knows how important a lap is! It demands perseverance, focuses on a goal, requires discipline and hopes for a win! No runner can match the challenge of the "lap" without conviction and the willpower to maintain such!

My flight partner's request of his mom got me to think about the "laps" of life which hopefully and ultimately lead to God's kingdom in heaven. That goal, like that of a runner, demands perseverance, focuses on the goal, requires discipline, and hopes for a win.

The perseverance needed to reach the Kingdom presumes, presupposes the desire that one believe that there is more to life than this life; more security than what this world can offer; and a value to life defined by the Gospels and designed by God.

The focus needed to reach the Kingdom demands that one keep one's pulse on the heart of God Himself - on His love, not only made manifest and visible in the stories of Salvation History especially in His Son Jesus, but also meant to be lived in the heart of each believer.

The discipline needed to reach the Kingdom expects that God and the other become more important than "me" and that I continue to surrender my own selfish demands in favor of Jesus' selfless example.

The win needed to reach the Kingdom is the belief that nothing - nothing else in life - matters as much as the desire to be with God forever.

Back to the image of the runner running the lap! What makes the perseverance, the goal, the discipline, the win a more likely reality for the runner is the realization that there is someone out there rooting, cheering, challenging them on.

As sisters and brothers in Christ, our "cheering" and "challenging" one another is an essential part that we play for each other in the promise of salvation won for us by Jesus Himself. When we give good example to another; when we call forth generosity from another; and especially when we genuinely pray for another - we root, cheer, challenge each other on to the goal of reaching the Kingdom of God.

That's what my airplane buddy realizes every time he asks his mom to "run a lap for me."

By the way, at the end of our flight together, as we bid farewell to each other, my fellow traveling partner bid adieu by asking: "And while I'm at it, the next time you get a chance, would you 'run a lap for me too'?"

What a privilege for me to do so for him - and for you too!