Prayers for the Paris Olympic Athletes

  

                                                                   Prayer Service at St. Denis 

French Catholics pray for athletes in the Basilica Cathedral of Saint-Denis, on Thursday, 25th July, 2024, in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris. PICTURE: Fiona André.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,

 let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, 

and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us... 

                            Hebrews 12:1 NRSVue

Should we be praying for the Olympic Games in Paris, and what might those prayers include? It's hard to imagine that we might ask the Almighty to favour one team or athlete over another. And with so many nations represented, which God would be invoked? I'm inclined toward their only being one God, but I am a Christian. Is it okay for Christians to offer up prayers?

On Thursday, as the Olympics got underway, a significant congregation gathered in a historic church to pray for athletes, although only one of the many thousands showed up, a runner from the Pacific island of Guam. I hadn't realized that the first the Olympics of the modern era, held in Athens in 1896, were the fruit of a friendship between the French pedagogue Pierre de Coubertin and the Dominican priest Henri Didon. In fact, it  was Didon who created the motto of the International Olympic Committee: Citius, Altius, Fortius (“Faster, Higher, Stronger”). 

                                                                    Basilica of St. Denis, Paris 

Here is a piece from Religion News Service about the service held a few days ago:

(RNS) — On Thursday (July 25), hundreds of French Catholics gathered in the Basilica Cathedral of Saint-Denis, the northern Paris suburb hosting the Olympic Village, to pray and bless athletes before the competition’s Friday opening. 

Joseph Green, a 22-year-old track-and-field runner from Guam, broke into tears as the crowd massed around him in a prayer chain.  “It got to my heart,” Green said. “Standing in this beautiful church, hearing all the beautiful voices, and seeing all the people who showed up really got to me.” 

The Rev. Eugène Doussal, administrator of the Saint-Denis diocese, presented Green with a medal that features Mary the Virgin and is said to bestow miracles. The same medal first adorned Usain Bolt and appeared around his neck during the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where the Jamaican sprinter won his third gold medal. Green, who like Bolt, specializes in the 100-meter dash, said the ceremony felt special for him because prayer is his main ritual before a race. 

The vigil was the first of a series of upcoming events organized by Holy Games, an initiative planned for the past two years by Paris’ archdiocese and the Bishops’ Conference of France as a way to spiritually support athletes, coaches and visitors. Holy Games, said Isabelle de Chatellus, the project’s director, is an occasion for French Catholics to center faith and spirituality while the whole world turns its eyes to Paris. She argues that the initiative aims to show that sports can be a path to sanctity, not only for athletes but for everyone. 

It would truly be a miracle is the athlete from Guam won a medal, but we can pray for the safety of all those involved.