Page 4 - Salesian Bulletin 2014 [01] January-March

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Courage to Dare
deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Fr John Horan reflects on...
somewhat differently. He simply said ‘that the glory of God is best expressed in the man or woman who is fully alive.’
ow we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.
(Annie Dillard)
American President Theodore Roosevelt delivered a speech at the Sorbonne, Paris on 23 April 1910. Part of that speech has become famous and has become known as: ‘The man in the arena’. It is both inspirational and motivational:
The author of the letter to the Church in Laodicea (Rev 3:15-16) also expressed the same theme, in a
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
FULLY ALIVE
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the
Those lines invite us to reflect on whether we are actually ‘in the arena’ of life, or just sitting on the side-lines. A particularly striking line is “...if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly.” There is a strong hint of challenge and excitement in those words. It is the image of a human being fully alive. Centuries ago St Irenaeus said much the same thing
The same idea is summed up in the oft used metaphor, “A ship in a
4 SDB
typically Jewish
says: “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” Jesus is reminding us that in following him we are called not to an anaesthetized armchair life, but rather to a life lived to the full in pursuit of justice, truth, goodness and beauty. A life lived full of practical love.
way , when
Jesus
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