That great race called “spiritual life”

March 17, 2025, page 12

by Giampaolo Mattei for L'Osservatore Romano

“Spiritual life is a marathon,” with God's grace helping us overcome the inevitable crisis—the so-called ‘wall’—with a “second wind” that helps the athlete reach the finish line. It is precisely with the language of runners that Archbishop Carlo Maria Polvani proposed the concreteness of the experience of the “long run” as a metaphor for a full existence. The occasion was the Mass for marathon runners and athletes, promoted by Athletica Vaticana, on Saturday evening, March 15, in the crowded Basilica of Ara Coeli on the Capitoline Hill, on the eve of the Run Rome Marathon.

Taking his cue from the Gospel passage on the Transfiguration, in his homily the Archbishop Secretary of the Dicastery for Culture and Education presented the powerful spiritual experience of the apostles Peter, John, and James, so powerful that “they struggled to manage it” because it was “full of conflicting emotions.” Yes, he added, "powerful spiritual experiences are often like that. They come when one least expects them, and one does not know the cause. They are not easy to manage. They have special, unprecedented, inexplicable configurations. But they are real, they are true, they are not illusions, even if we often lack the language to explain them."

Referring to the Gospel passage for the second Sunday of Lent, Monsignor Polvani pointed out that sport also offers a unique experience, precisely because of its “universal language.”

“You athletes, and especially you long-distance runners, are familiar with three physiological phenomena because you have often experienced them, which are known by three English expressions: ‘hitting the wall’, ‘second wind’, and ‘runner's high’,” he said.

“Under particularly arduous and prolonged effort, a runner can indeed ‘hit the wall’. Usually, in a marathon, glycogen is depleted around the 30-kilometer mark and the runner goes into oxygen debt, their heart rate and breathing accelerate, and they feel extreme fatigue. To respond to this exhaustion, a long-distance runner can stop, but they would lose the race.”

Actually, the Archbishop continued, “there is another solution: the second wind. If you grit your teeth for a few minutes, your body will resort to fat acids to replace the energy of glycogen. And after a few minutes of intense effort, the athlete finds a ‘second wind’ that allows them to continue with renewed vigour’.

And “when they succeed,” athletes “experience a kind of state of well-being or even euphoria, they seem to no longer feel pain or fatigue: this is the so-called runner's high. Their own bodies — and there is debate about this — produce special substances that not only make them insensitive to pain and fatigue, but also give them a kind of ‘runner's high’.”

This is why, said Monsignor Polvani, “spiritual life is a race, or rather a marathon”. Just like for athletes, “training is very long, requiring many sacrifices and renunciations. At first, you run well, but sooner or later you hit a wall. Then, if you grit your teeth, God's grace comes to your aid, almost like a second wind. And when this comes, you feel a state of great peace and tranquillity and you manage to keep going and cross the finish line.”

In conclusion, the Archbishop expressed his gratitude and encouraged the marathon runners: “As St Paul predicted, you are a model for all of us who live a spiritual life. Renunciation, overcoming oneself, receiving grace, finding peace in the Lord. We admire you as you run and we learn from you. You will not lack strength and courage; you will give your best and you will be and remain a great example for all of us!”

During Mass - concelebrated by fifteen priests, some of whom were marathon runners (such as the two deacons) - athletes and coaches, both professional and amateur, took turns reading the readings and prayer intentions - in particular, that sport, in all its forms, may find paths to peace.

At the end, the Marathon Runner's Prayer was recited — led by Andrew Howe, Italian long jump record holder — and the Archbishop blessed the marathon runners who, in turn, wrote down on a card the ‘reasons of the heart’ for running the 42km195 (an initiative launched three days earlier at the Expo Village in EUR). Representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See were also present.

Source: L'Osservatore Romano