• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
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

July 12, 2024
By Mark Viviano
Special to the Catholic Review
Filed Under: Amen, Commentary, Full-Court Catholic, Sports

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

“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.

Read More Commentary

Expert discusses serious harms of smartphones for children and how to limit their use

Cupcakes with 2025 graduation toothpicks in them and a bowl of cookies

Our 31-hour Road Trip

St. Paul and discovering that sin is ‘missing the mark’

Six lit candles on a chocolate birthday cake

Making a birthday wish come true

Pilgrims of Hope: Walking the Way of St. Francis in the Year of Jubilee

The fisherman and the pharisee

Copyright © 2024 Catholic Review Media

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Mark Viviano

View all posts from this author

| Recent Commentary |

Expert discusses serious harms of smartphones for children and how to limit their use

Cupcakes with 2025 graduation toothpicks in them and a bowl of cookies

Our 31-hour Road Trip

St. Paul and discovering that sin is ‘missing the mark’

Six lit candles on a chocolate birthday cake

Making a birthday wish come true

Pilgrims of Hope: Walking the Way of St. Francis in the Year of Jubilee

| Recent Local News |

Archbishop Lori announces clergy appointments, including pastor and associate pastors

DUAL ENROLLMENT

Double the learning: Dual enrollment provides college credit to high school students

St. Mary’s purchases former Annapolis Area Christian School

Radio Interview: Exploring the Nicene Creed – Part Two

St. Clement Mary Hofbauer adapts to times, cultures as it celebrates 100th anniversary

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Expert discusses serious harms of smartphones for children and how to limit their use
  • Movie Review: Superman
  • Judge blocks Trump birthright citizenship order as part of class action lawsuit
  • Ukraine religious leaders issue ‘desperate cry’ to world to end Russia’s war
  • Pope Leo wears Chicago-made vestments to July 9 ‘care of creation’ Mass
  • Movie Review: Sorry, Baby
  • ICE deports Iowa parishioner to Guatemala homeland as supporters pray for his release
  • Come away and rest awhile
  • French woman hopes sharing mystical encounter with Minnesota Benedictine helps sainthood cause

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en