Fr. Thomas M. Pastorius
March 15, 2015
Spiritual Ponderings
Spiritual Warriors

Are you ready to become all you can be? Let us continue to look at what it means to be a soldier of Christ. For help with this reflection, I would like to turn the following article “10 Life Lessons from A Navy Seal. I will Always Remember #4” which was published in the Business Insider. The article will be in bold and my reflection will be in regular font.

During SEAL training the students are broken down into boat crews. Each crew is seven students—three on each side of a small rubber boat and one coxswain to help guide the dingy. Every day your boat crew forms up on the beach and is instructed to get through the surf zone and paddle several miles down the coast. In the winter, the surf off San Diego can get to be 8 to 10 feet high and it is exceedingly difficult to paddle through the plunging surf unless everyone digs in. Every paddle must be synchronized to the stroke count of the coxswain. Everyone must exert equal effort or the boat will turn against the wave and be unceremoniously tossed back on the beach. For the boat to make it to its destination, everyone must paddle. You can’t change the world alone—you will need some help— and to truly get from your starting point to your destination takes friends, colleagues, the good will of strangers and a strong coxswain to guide them. #2. If you want to change the world, find someone to help you paddle.

One of the earliest images of the Church is that of being the “boat of Peter” or another Noah’s Ark. “Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues. All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they? All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they? But earnestly desire the greater gifts.” (1 Corinthians 12:27-31). The pope’s main purpose is to be the coxswain that guides us and aids us in “paddling together”.

Spiritual Exercise: Learn more about the role of the papacy in the Church

Over a few weeks of difficult training my SEAL class which started with 150 men was down to just 35. There were now six boat crews of seven men each. I was in the boat with the tall guys, but the best boat crew we had was made up of the little guys—the munchkin crew we called them—no one was over about 5-foot five. The munchkin boat crew had one American Indian, one African American, one Polish American, one Greek American, one Italian American, and two tough kids from the mid-west. They out paddled, out-ran, and out swam all the other boat crews. The big men in the other boat crews would always make good natured fun of the tiny little flippers the munchkins put on their tiny little feet prior to every swim. But somehow these little guys, from every corner of the Nation and the world, always had the last laugh— swimming faster than everyone and reaching the shore long before the rest of us. SEAL training was a great equalizer. Nothing mattered but your will to succeed. Not your color, not your ethnic background, not your education and not your social status. #3. If you want to change the world, measure a person by the size of their heart, not the size of their flippers.

“And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” John 12:35. In the Eucharist Jesus is lifted up and all sorts of people come to Him and to His Church regardless of race, creed, size, etc. The saints of the Church come from all over the earth. This means that even you and I are called to be saints.

Spiritual Exercise: Take a look at the variety of people at any given Mass and marvel at God’s greatness.

Several times a week, the instructors would line up the class and do a uniform inspection. It was exceptionally thorough. Your hat had to be perfectly starched, your uniform immaculately pressed and your belt buckle shiny and void of any smudges. But it seemed that no matter how much effort you put into starching your hat, or pressing your uniform or polishing your belt buckle—- it just wasn’t good enough. The instructors would find “something” wrong. For failing the uniform inspection, the student had to run, fully clothed into the surfzone and then, wet from head to toe, roll around on the beach until every part of your body was covered with sand. The effect was known as a “sugar cookie.” You stayed in that uniform the rest of the day—cold, wet and sandy. There were many a student who just couldn’t accept the fact that all their effort was in vain. That no matter how hard they tried to get the uniform right—it was unappreciated. Those students didn’t make it through training. Those students didn’t understand the purpose of the drill. You were never going to succeed. You were never going to have a perfect uniform. Sometimes no matter how well you prepare or how well you perform you still end up as a sugar cookie. It’s just the way life is sometimes. #4. If you want to change the world get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward.

The fact that the Church recorded through her tradition that Christ fell three times carrying His cross to Calvary shows each Catholic the importance of continue to march forward to our destination even though life is not always fair. God’s purpose is often only manifested after many personal failures look at Moses,

Spiritual Exercise: Take a look at your failures and try to discover some of the good things God has brought out of those failures.