Spiritual Triathlon

If you want to compete in a triathlon, you don't start out by attempting to do the Iron Man.  First you train, then you do a baby triathlon, and perhaps in time you will reach the point of being able to do the Iron Man.  It is the same way with the spiritual life:  people are always suddenly deciding to do some hardcore spiritual exercise before becoming spiritually fit, and then they fail and think, I can't do this!  Not everyone can - or should - do a spiritual Iron Man, but anyone can do a baby spiritual triathlon after some training.  Here is a guide to get you started.

Prayer:  There is probably no better prayer than the daily Rosary, but if you are starting from zero, spending half an hour every day meditating on the life of Our Lord might sound overwhelming.  If so, here is a short chaplet you can do every night:  the Salisbury Chaplet.  I came up with this when trying to figure out what to do with an odd chaplet, and Kathbert suggested a short, charming prayer from the Sarum Primer.  (Why is "Sarum" Latin for Salisbury?  Who knows?  No wonder the language is dead!)  Just kidding, I love Latin, but Salisbury Chaplet sounds catchier than Sarum Chaplet.  It is actually an ancient Celtic prayer that is very simple.  So here is how you do it:

Start with an Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be
God be in my head and in my understanding (Hail Mary, Glory Be)
God be in my eyes and in my looking (Hail Mary, Glory Be)
God be in my ears and in my listening (Hail Mary, Glory Be)
God be in my mouth and in my speaking (Hail Mary, Glory Be)
God be in my heart and in my thinking (Hail Mary, Glory Be)
God be at my end and my departing (Hail Mary, Glory Be)

The Salisbury Chaplet is very powerful; it will not make you rich or cure cancer, but if you invite God into your life every night, He will accept your invitation.  If you are Protestant like Kathbert, you can just pray the prayer without the Hail Marys and Glory Bes.  You can even leave off the line about God being in your ears, which Kathbert and I added to the original.  Just a word of warning:  God WILL accept your invitation, so don't pray it unless you mean it.  Kathbert and I have been doing this prayer every night and we are amazed at how powerful it is.  (She just does the prayer, of course, not the chaplet.)

Fasting:  You should probably not dive into fasting by living on bread and water every Wednesday and Friday.  In fact, fasting does not have to involve food at all.  You can give up anything you enjoy, like TV or computer games or sudoku.  If you have not tried fasting, give it a try for a short amount of time, like a week.  It is amazing how good it makes you feel.  Remember, fasting is NOT a diet plan or a way to wean yourself off of bad habits like gossiping.  I understand, trash talking other people is fun, but it is a behavior we should be working to eradicate entirely so it is not fasting to give up gossiping.

Almsgiving:  If you are new to almsgiving, you might not want to start by selling all your possessions and giving your money to the poor, because unless you are joining a religious order, you will just end up one of the poor yourself.  However, most of us probably have more than we need, and it is a very good idea to give up some luxury in your life and give the money to charity.  Do you buy coffee at the coffee shop every day?  Make it at home instead and sponsor a child in a Third World Country.  Do you go out to eat too often?  Bring your lunch to work and give the money you save to a reputable charity.

Of course God is probably calling you to greater sacrifices, but better to start small and work your way up than to jump right in and then get discouraged.  If you are doing a triathlon and crash in the middle, they call that "hitting the wall."  Instead of hitting a spiritual wall, start training at a reasonable level.  If you pray the Salisbury Chaplet at night, give up TV or computer games for a week, and resolve to donate a small amount to charity instead of spending it on luxuries, soon you will find yourself ready to progress further in the spiritual life.

And remember, everyone who completes a spiritual triathlon is a winner.

Famous Hat