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Homilies, , ,

Reflection for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

I can’t do it anymore.
I have all you need to continue.

“This is enough, O LORD!”

Back at the castle, Jezebel heard how Elijah’s God had made hers look foolish. She also heard that her prophets were dead and that Israel had gone back to God. So she sent a little note to Elijah: “May the gods kill me if I don’t make you just as dead as my prophets!” She meant it. She had killed before. Elijah suddenly felt very alone. You can just imagine the people backing away from him. The wicked queen had sworn she would get him. Elijah needed a friend. He looked around, but it seemed like the only one standing with him was his personal servant. At such a frightening time in Elijah’s life, he needed reassurance, a reason to go on.

Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed for death.

Many of us have watched the Olympics. We have seen competitors break 34 world records and 67 Olympic record including 28 broken by Americans and 3 by Poles.

Manteo Mitchell of the United States 4×400-meter relay team was running when he felt the pop in his leg. He said, “It felt like somebody literally just snapped my leg in half”
The sprinter had half a lap to go in the first leg of the preliminaries and a choice to make: keep running or stop and lose the race. To him, it was never much of a choice.

He finished the lap and limped to the side to watch his team finish the race and qualify easily for the final. A few hours later, doctors confirmed what he suspected: He had run the last 200 meters with a broken leg.

We aren’t often confronted with the threat of being murdered, or having to finish a race with a broken leg, but Jesus knew that we would be confronted by all sorts of challenges, including the ones Jesus faced today, lack of faith, doubt, and murmuring. He knew that we all face the challenge of mortality.

Knowing all this, He gave us what we need to continue, to go on, and to have a hope that is more powerful than any challenge, even death.

Jesus is our strength. He is what we need to continue, the Bread that came down from heaven that gives eternal life. With Him and in Him there is nothing to fear, there is all we need to continue. With His strength we can not only finish the race, but finish winning!

Art, Poland - Polish - Polonia, , , , ,

Olympic Art Contest for Students Abroad

Graphic courtesy of the Rolco Sports Network
The Republic of Poland sponsored an Olympic Art Contest celebrating the 2012 London Olympics that was open to students of Polish Saturday Schools that operate abroad. The outstanding entries were displayed at a recent reception at the Polish Cultural and Social Center in London. The display area was renamed the Polish Olympic Center and a multi-media showcase was presented and titled, “A History of 124 years of the Polish Sports Movement.” The Center hosted a different cultural and business events everyday throughout the 2012 London Olympic Games.

R.J. Rolak reporting.

Events, Poland - Polish - Polonia,

Polish-American is Living her Olympic Dream

By Raymond Rolak

Maria Michta. Photo courtesy of the USA Track & Field
Maria Mitchta is living her dream. With help, determination and the support of a whole community she is going to London for the 2012 Olympics. Her sport is 20,000 meter Race Walking and she won the U.S. Trials held in Eugene, Oregon.

Maria talks confidently about her support, especially from her high school sweetheart Joey Coffey. She gushes with pride about her Polish-American roots. Her family is paramount to her, especially her mom and dad, Sue and Rich Michta. She brags about her siblings, Ricky, Kristie and Katie and growing up on Long Island, New York. They are all going to London to cheer her on, to help support her excellence.

She is inspired by the stories from her grandfather, Chester, who came from a rural village in Poland.

At the 20-K Race Walk trials at the University of Oregon, her mother went hoarse with the constant yells of encouragement. The former Long Island University-Post cross country and track standout had a finish line time of 1 hour, 34 minutes, 53 seconds at the Olympic Trials.

All the support helps. The real satisfaction comes from her individual perseverance. It has been a long road. The New York State Public High School Athletic Association is one of the few states that have Race Walk in the state Track and Field championships. Mitchta was a three time state champion at Sachem High School in Long Island.

“I played soccer and really enjoyed that,” she said. “My mom and dad really gave us all great opportunities.”

Maria is a constant ambassador for her sport and she has become a world traveler. She has already competed in 11 different countries. She is the first Long Island University-Post student-athlete to ever qualify for an Olympic team.

Most impressive is her focus toward academics. She graduated as Valedictorian in 2008 from Long Island University-Post with a 4.0 GPA. The determined doctoral candidate is working in microbiology, analyzing the Hepatitis-C virus at Manhattan’s Mount Sinai College of Medicine.

Race walking differs from running in that it requires the competitor to maintain contact with the ground and straighten their front knee when the foot makes contact with the ground, keeping it straightened until the knee passes under the body. Judges evaluate the technique of race walkers and report fouls which may lead to disqualification. All decisions are done by the eye of the judge and no outside technology is used in making judging resolutions.

The U.S. Olympic Trials in Track and Field were at the historic Hayward Field at the University of Oregon in Eugene. The Olympic Trials had more than 1,000 qualifiers competing for Olympic berths in their respective events.

Maria said it best in her diary, “The logo of the trials was: Amazing Awaits! And that’s exactly how I came away from that race, amazing awaits, I had 4 years to turn an 8th place non-Olympic Standard performance into a first place victory complete with an Olympic Games Standard. Every day brings me one more step closer to achieving my dream. It’s what motivates me every day to get up on frigid cold or sweltering hot mornings and get out there training, often alone, all in the pursuit of making the 2012 Olympic Team. My motto has always been Dream, Believe, and Become. I’ve had the Dream since 1996, I truly began to believe in myself in 2010, and I am currently training to my fullest until I Become an Olympian!”

Michta has become an Olympian. Maria, along with her USA teammates, is now headed for the Olympic Village in London.

The Race Walk is dominated by Russia’s Olga Kaniskina. Kaniskina won gold in Beijing and since then she also won the 2011 world championship. Other top rivals figure to be Russian teammates Yelena Lashmanova and Anisya Kirdyapkina. China’s Liu Hong and Shenjie Qieyang, along with Italy’s Elisa Rigaudo will be medal contenders. Michta will be the lone American competitor.

NBC will televise 12 hours of live Track and Field events from London. The opening ceremonies will be Friday, July 27th and the women’s 20-K Race Walk finals at the 2012 London Olympics will be August 11.

John Dabrowski contributed

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