Homily of the Mass that presided over Leo XIV on the occasion of the solemnity of the Holy Trinity,

This is the homily of the Mass that presided over Leo XIV on the occasion of the solemnity of the Holy Trinity, which coincided with the jubilee of sport, an appointment planned in the Jubilee Year of Hope.

Read the homily here:

Dear brothers and sisters: We celebrate the solemnity of the Holy Trinity, while we live the days of the jubilee of sport. The Trinidad -porte binomial is not exactly common, however, the association is not absurd.

In fact, every good human activity carries with it a reflection of the beauty of God, and without a doubt sport is one of them. After all, God is not static, it is not closed in itself. It is communion, living relationship between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, which opens to humanity and the world. Theology calls this pericoresis reality, that is, “dance”: a dance of reciprocal love. It is from this divine dynamism where life springs. We have been created by a God who is pleased and rejoices to give existence to his creatures, which “plays”, as the first reading reminded us (cf. pr 8,30-31). Some Church Fathers even speak, boldly, of a Deus Ludens, of a God who has fun (cf. S. Salonio de Geneva, in Exhibition mystical in parabolas Salomonis et Ecclesiasten; S. Gregorio Naciannceno, Carmina, I, 2, 589).

That is why sport can help us find God Trinidad: because it requires a movement of the self towards the other, certainly exterior, but also and above all interior. Without this, it is reduced to a sterile competition of selfishness. Let’s think of an expression that, in Italian, is usually used to encourage athletes during competitions: spectators shout: “Dai!” (In Spanish “Give it!”). We may not think about it, but it is a precious imperative; It is the imperative of the verb “give.”

And this can make us reflect: it is not just about giving a physical benefit, perhaps extraordinary, but about yourself, to “play it.” It is about surrendering for others – by their own growth, by fans, for loved ones, by coaches, by collaborators, for the public, even by the adversaries – and, if you are truly athlete, this is worth independently of the result. San Juan Paul II – a sportsman, as we know – spoke of this: “Sport is joy of living, game, party, and as such it must be valued (…) by recovering its gratuity, its ability to strengthen ties of friendship, to favor the dialogue and openness of one another, (…) above the hard laws of production and consumption and of any other purely utilitarian and hedonistic consideration of life” for the jubilee of athletes, April 12, 1984).

From this point of view, we mention in particular three aspects that make sport, today, a valuable medium for human and Christian formation. First, in a society marked by loneliness, in which exaggerated individualism has displaced the center of gravity of the “we” to the “I”, ending up ignoring the other, sport-especially when practiced as a team-teaches the value of collaboration, of walking together, of that sharing that, as we have said, is in the very heart of the life of God (cf. Jn 16, 14-15).

In this way, it can become an important instrument of recomposition and encounter, among the peoples, in the communities, in school and labor environments, in families.

Secondly, in an increasingly digital society, in which technologies, although they approach distant people, often move away those close, sport values ​​the concretion of being together, the meaning of the body, space, effort, real time. Thus, in the face of the temptation to flee to virtual worlds, it helps maintain healthy contact with nature and concrete life, the only place where love is exercised (cf. 1 Jn 3,18).

Thirdly, in a competitive society, where it seems that only strong and winners deserve to live, sport also teaches to lose, testing man, in the art of defeat, with one of the deepest truths of their condition: fragility, limit, imperfection.

This is important, because it is from the experience of this fragility that we open to hope. The athlete who is never wrong, who never loses, does not exist. Champions are not infallible machines, but men and women who, even when they fall, find the value to get up. Let us remember once again, in this regard, the words of St. John Paul II, who said that Jesus is “the true athlete of God”, because he beat the world not with force, but with the fidelity of love (cf. Homily in Mass for the jubilee of the athletes, October 29, 2000).

It is no accident that, in the life of many saints of our time, sport has had a significant role, both as a personal practice that as evangelization. Let’s think about Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, patron of athletes, who will be proclaimed Santo on September 7. His life, simple and luminous, reminds us that, just as no one is born champion, nor is anyone born.

It is the daily training of love that brings us closer to the final victory (cf. RM 5,3-5) and makes us able to work on the construction of a new world. This was also stated by St. Paul VI, twenty years after the end of World War II, remembering the members of a Catholic Sports Association how much the sport had contributed to return peace and hope to a society devastated by the consequences of war (cf. speech to the members of the CSI, March 20, 1965). He said, “It is the formation of a new society to which your efforts are directed: (…) aware that sport, in the healthy formative elements that value, can be a very useful instrument for the spiritual elevation of the human person, first and indispensable condition of an orderly, serene and constructive society” (cf. Ibid).

Dear athletes, the Church entrusts you with a wonderful mission: being, in the activities they do, reflecting the love of God Trinity for your good and your brothers. Commit with enthusiasm in this mission: as athletes, as trainers, as a society, as groups, as families. Pope Francis used to underline that Mary, in the Gospel, is introduced to us active, in motion, even “running” (cf. Lc 1,39), arranged, as mothers know how to do mothers, move in motion before the sign of God, to help their children (cf. speech to the volunteers of the WYD, August 6, 2023).

We ask you to accompany our efforts and our impulses, and that the East always towards the best, to the greatest victory: that of eternity, the “infinite field” where the game will have no end and the joy will be full (cf. 1 CO 9,24-25; 2 Tim 4,7-8).