Notre Dame Versus Ohio State in the College Football National Championship

Exodus 90 starts on the same day as the Big Game. Do I really need to give it up?!
ohio state vs notre dame

I turned off my personal social media accounts about ten years ago. Many gifts came to me through this practice, but I quickly learned that everything comes and everything goes. (I read the newspaper to stay up to date as I need to. That one-day delay on the news has brought me a lot of peace over the years. I recommend it!)

But Monday is Day 1 of Exodus 90, and it falls on the College Football National Championship between Notre Dame and Ohio State.

“Do I really have to give up the big game during Exodus 90?!”

I intended to let this go as I normally do, but upon reflection, it seemed like a teaching moment about how we approach asceticism at Exodus 90, both for those men who will begin the journey on Monday and even more broadly.

From the outside, this situation is black and white: if you commit to Exodus 90, then you can’t watch the game. It’s one of the disciplines! But that’s actually not how we approach asceticism at all. We offer a simple structure of prayer, asceticism, and fraternity for men, and we leave it to the men, their families, and fraternities to apply to their lives as they see fit locally.

We relax a discipline every Sunday to remind us of how much God loves us and in anticipation of the joy of the Easter season, towards which we are journeying during our Exodus. We also relax a discipline on Solemnities that occur within Exodus 90. And we encourage you to make exceptions for special occasions like anniversaries, birthdays, or other special occasions at your discretion.

The Cross leads to life. We fast so that we may feast.

To answer the question of whether or not to watch the game, I have to start at the soul of our apostolate:

To support men in being uncommonly free.

When we grow in personal freedom, we become who we are. We look less like others, and we look more like who we were created to be uniquely by our Good Father.

No two sons are the same.

What unites free men is that they are men for others. Men who lay down their lives for those they are called to love, after the pattern of Jesus Christ on the Cross.

The answer to the question of whether or not to watch the big game is that it’s up to you. “But, how could that be when a literal discipline of Exodus 90 is not to watch TV?!” Because in a Catholic vision, asceticism is always a means to a much more important end, which is the love of God and neighbor. If you have not made an Exodus before, you will hear this 90 times over the next 90 days.

There are some men for whom not to watch the game would be to withdraw from family and the local community, which is a hindrance to love. Imagine with me (and this is not hard for me to imagine because I have family in South Bend) a situation where you have a Notre Dame family who watches all the games together or a father whose son or daughter goes to one of the universities, or other variations of this pattern. Watch the game; don’t sit on the sidelines.

But for most of us, this is an opportunity to start Exodus 90 strong: to make a sacrifice and to offer it to God to make fruitful in his time. Especially for those men for whom every game is a big game and who would consider sports an idol that keeps them from presence, this is an opportunity to begin to refocus on the more important things of life. Men, we were not made to be spectators; we must enter the arena of our time.

All of which is to say that one man’s opportunity for love is another man’s distraction; one man’s game is another man’s sideline.

So my question in response to the question is this:

What does love demand?

Then, do that!

I hope that’s helpful. Blessings upon your Exodus, and be assured of my daily thoughts, prayers, and sacrifices. It’s going to be a powerful journey, the best one yet! ✌️

Jesus Bless, 

Jamie

Jamie Baxter
Founder & CEO 
Exodus 90

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