Aug

17

Co-Workers of the Truth 8/17

Posted By reynor | Filed Under Co-Workers of the Truth, Pope Benedict XVI 

Benedict XVIWhen we read the newspaper or watch television we discover very quickly that only one theme is dominant: soccer and the soccer championship.  Soccer has become a global event that, irrespective of boundaries, links humanity around the world in one and the same state of tension: in its hopes, its fears, its emotions, its joys.  This tells us that some primeval human instinct is at play here and raises the question as to the source of the spell this game exerts. 

The pessimist will say that it was the same in ancient Rome: panem et circences: bread and circus.  Even if we accept this explanation, we must still ask: Why is this game so fascinating that it ranks on an equal with bread?  To find an answer we might look once more to ancient Rome: the cry for bread and games was in reality the expresssion of a longing for the paradisal life - an escape from the wearisome enslavement of daily life.  It has, moreover, another characteristic that is especially pertinent in the case of children: it is a training for life. 

It seems to me that the fascination of soccer consists essentialy in the fact that it links these two aspects in a very convincing manner.  It teaches us first to be disciplines and fair in competition.  As they watch, people are caught up in the game and so share in the togetherness and competition it engenders.  All this can, of course, be destroyed by money and the spirit of commercialism.  Perhaps as we ponder it, this game can really teach us anew what life is: human freedom lives by rules, by self-discipline.  The game is life in miniature; when we consider it in depth, the phenomenon of a world enthralled by soccer can give us more than just entertainment.

From: Deutsche Tagespost, June 7, 1978

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