Batons and Diplomas
This is the month that junior high and high school track seasons draw to a close. I enjoy watching the display of athletic prowess in a wide variety of events. In particular, I marvel at the fluidity and synchronicity of the relay teams.
A relay team runs not only a race but successfully coordinates the handing off and receiving of the baton. Each of the four team members must do their part to run well and to pass and/or receive that baton. What a good reminder of our gift of faith. Not only must we request and receive it from God, but we are called to pass it on to others using our words and actions.
Each of the four members of the relay team is in their specific position for a reason. Ideally there is an explosive starter, efficient straight-away and curve runners, and the anchor serves as a high-pressure finisher. I can’t help comparing this to the four pillars of our Catholic faith. There is interconnection. The Creed provides the foundation, the sacraments offer grace, the moral life implements the faith, and prayer sustains us on the journey.
Anyone anticipating graduation is aware, at least on some level, that receiving the diploma carries the responsibility of both using and passing on the gifts of knowledge they have been privileged to receive. How appropriate that an old-fashioned term for diploma is sheepskin, a nod to when academic credentials were handwritten on animal skin. Sounds gruesome today, but I think of it as a reminder that as members of Christ’s flock, we are sheep indeed. The gift of faith is a diploma of protection our Shepherd freely offers us if we but ask.
Just this week, I came across a prayer of St. John Henry Newman, speaking of the unique role we each have in this world. We can be certain that God has handed out specific individual talents to act as a link in a chain and a bond of connection between God and others:
“God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission…I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons….”
The members of a relay team are commissioned to run fast and successfully hand off the baton. Graduates, in accepting a diploma, are commissioned to better their lives and use their knowledge to help others in some way. On the Feast of the Ascension, we hear the Great Commission to each of us, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations…” (Matthew 28:19-20).
May you pass on your own baton of faith, your certificate of discipleship.
