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John Stephen Akhwari was chosen to represent Tanzania in the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.
Though his chances of winning the marathon were slim, they dropped to zero after he was nearly trampled to death by a group of other runners jockeying for position.
In a matter of seconds, Akhwari fell to the ground, smashed his shoulder, and dislocated his knee.
After receiving emergency medical treatment, he pushed the doctors away, got up and continued the race.
Almost an hour after a winner was crowned – and nearly every spectator left the stadium – Akhwari stumbled across the finish line.
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When asked why he didn’t quit, Akhwari said, “My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race. They sent me 5,000 miles to finish the race.”
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Like Akhwari, Saint Paul is running the race of life – and he’s been knocked down hard; he’s writing from prison!
But, as he says in our second reading, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
For Paul, “all things” meant enduring long nights in prison; being stoned by angry mobs; shipwrecked; abandoned; and left for dead.
But “all things” also meant preaching the Gospel throughout the Mediterranean; baptizing converts; establishing some of the earliest Christian communities; and co-authoring half of the New Testament.
Whatever God intended him to do, Paul knew he’d have the strength to do it all – day by day, step by step.
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What’s particularly inspiring about Paul is the fact that he was always at peace.
Whether his sermons angered or inspired; whether he converted crowds or was thrown out of town; whether he was poor or had plenty; alone or in the company of friends; shipwrecked or safe; imprisoned or a free man, Paul was at peace.
“In every circumstance and in all things,” he writes from his cell, “I have learned the secret.”
How could he be at peace in prison? What was his secret?
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Christ was enough. Even when Paul was stripped of everything else, no one could take away his faith.
Sharing his love for Jesus wherever he was – whether he was in prison or in public – gave Paul a deep sense of meaning and peace.
Prior to his conversion, he spent his life persecuting Christians. But after the Risen Lord appeared to him, Paul understood the meaning of life – and religion.
Christ came to save us. He conquered death for us. Paul knew eventually he’d finish the race – his earthly life would end – but he pressed on, knowing he’d live again.
This knowledge of the resurrection gave him an explosive amount of energy.
As he later writes, “What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? … No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us.”
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So, what might Paul say to us today?
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Jesus is enough.
After being knocked down by this pandemic, we will get back up. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
This is true for the millions who’ve been crippled by unemployment, underemployment, or the virus itself.
It’s true for those who feel isolated; for those striving for sobriety; for single parents struggling to raise their family; for spouses struggling in their marriage; for people from all walks of life discerning their future.
Like Saint Paul, we can run this race of life to the finish and keep the faith, because the Lord is with us. No one can take him away.
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So, how do I find my strength in Christ? Through prayer? Reading Scripture? Meditation? Attending Mass?
And like Saint Paul, how can I share this strength with others?
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“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
At times life knocks us down, as Paul reminds us from his prison cell.
But like Paul, and John Steven Akhwari, we can always get back up. God intends for us to finish the race.
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