Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson has his team in the hunt for a second straight playoff appearance. (Todd Olszewski/Baltimore Orioles)

Be an MVP for Christ


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Special to the Catholic Review Filed Under: Amen, Commentary, Full-Court Catholic, Sports

“MVP” is an acronym of high honor and esteem in team sports. It stands for “most valuable player” and it’s an award bestowed on an athlete whose performance outshines all others, and whose individual excellence leads his or her team to a victorious season.

Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has twice been voted MVP of the National Football League in his six seasons as a pro.

Orioles’ shortstop Gunnar Henderson appears to be on a similar path of MVP prominence as he leads the Orioles to what looks to be another resurgent season – raising playoff optimism and hopes of a World Series in Baltimore.

Henderson and Jackson are both outspoken about their Christian faith. During the Ravens’ quarterback’s first MVP season, I asked him what keeps him humble amid the adulation he receives. Without hesitation, Jackson said, “The Lord. I give him all his praise, glory and honor. Without him, I couldn’t be doing anything.”

As I have spoken with Henderson in the Orioles clubhouse, he has shared with me repeatedly that Christ is the center of his life, and his faith means more to him than any of the awards that come from his baseball career.

The testimony of two of the brightest young stars in Baltimore sports today can be inspiration for how all of us can be an MVP in our lives of living the Catholic faith. For that, I alter the acronym to stand for “Meaning, Value and Purpose”: MVP in our relationship with God and one another.

It starts with seeing our lives, all that we are and experience, as a gift from God. With that as a foundation, we live in gratitude for all things. We see that the life we are given is not ours as a possession, but an opportunity entrusted to us in which we can fulfill the call to love God and our fellow brothers and sisters.

Pursuit of the MVP of meaning, value and purpose is a quest of surrendering ourselves to Jesus. We are asked to live selflessly so that, as St. Paul states, “Yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20).

In the manner that Jackson and Henderson have confidently shared a God-centered life focus, a growing number of athletes are using the high-profile stage of athletics to offer similar testimony.

After winning the Super Bowl in February, Kansas City Chiefs’ MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes proclaimed to a television audience of more than 120 million (the largest audience in history), “I give God the glory.”

Chiefs’ kicker Harrison Butker, a devout Catholic, who has kicked field goals in three Super Bowl victories says, “I don’t allow fame to get to my head and change the way I view myself, because I’m a child of God.”

On the big stage of college basketball’s “March Madness,” Connecticut coach Dan Hurley, a practicing Catholic, led his Huskies to a second straight national title and said, “Whether it’s good times or bad times, your faith in Jesus Christ is going to be the rock.”

After winning the women’s title, South Carolina coach Dawn Staley proclaimed, “I’m going to salute God as much as I can because I know it’s not just my doing.”

We, too, can humbly offer to God the words of Isaiah: “… (Y)ou have accomplished all we have done” (Is 26:12).

Athletes aren’t the only MVPs. With Christ as our guide, each of us is capable of lives of gratitude that reveal true meaning, value and purpose. Let’s pray that we discover meaning that is rich and giving, value that is incalculable and eternal, and purpose that is profound and unwavering. And always give God the glory!

Editor’s note: Mark Viviano announced July 1 that he was retiring from his sports director role at WJZ-TV. Read a Catholic Review profile of him here.

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