As I'm writing this, there's a discussion on ESPN Radio on the topic "Are Athletes Appropriate Role Models?" We've been over this ground before, people. We're all role models! Get used to it! Maybe if we use the word "witnesses" rather than "role models," we can get a better understanding of this.
Imagine, if you will, a culture in which everyone acted as if their movements were under scrutiny by others. Not out of paranoia or a sense of "Big Brother," just the idea that the way you behaved might, for better or worse, have an effect on someone else. Now, not everyone will agree with me that this is a good thing, but if you accept the idea that we can offer up our sufferings in private, that our secret prayers can help others, that a small act of piety can have large and positive consequences - then perhaps the idea that our behavior does have consequence for others as well as ourselves might not be such a hard one to grasp.
We often read in the Bible of how we're not to wear our faith in a boastful manner, flaunting it for all to see. No, it's more subtle than that. We wear our faith by how it changes our lives, how it influences our actions, how it permeates our very being. When you separate your faith from your actions, you become the hardened ground that Our Lord warns us of, the ground where the seed fails to take root, where the Evil One plucks it up and takes it away. Remember that the next time you hear a politician talk about being "personally opposed, but..." or an athlete talk about how "I'm not a role model." You wear your faith by how that faith influences your life.
Did the Lord help you dress today?
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