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Grit & Glory
Kaiser Johnson
Our
Sunday
Visitor
Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division
Our Sunday Visitor, Inc.
Huntington, Indiana 46750
Scripture citations are taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible—Second Catholic Edition (Ignatius Edition), copyright © 1965, 1966, 2006 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2018 by Kaiser Johnson. Published 2018.
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All rights reserved. With the exception of short excerpts for critical reviews, no part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever without permission from the publisher. For more information, visit: www.osv.com/permissions.
Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division
Our Sunday Visitor, Inc.
200 Noll Plaza
Huntington, IN 46750
1-800-348-2440
ISBN: 978-1-68192-232-4 (Inventory No. T1933)
eISBN: 978-1-68192-233-1
LCCN: 2017964304
Cover design: Tyler Ottinger
Interior design: Lindsey Riesen
Photography: Mark Lewandowski
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Contents
Where Two or Three are Gathered
Part 2 The Components of Fitness
The “Training Trinity” (Exercise, Rest, and Nutrition)
Part 3 The Workouts
A Novena Challenge
Introduction
“Work therefore and pray, says our Lord, that you enter not into temptation.”
—Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ
Catholics believe that we’re truly a union of body and spirit, but in practice many unbelievers live that out better than we do.
I’m talking about those who have an integrated spiritual and physical life. In my own Los Angeles area that includes yoga-obsessed people, dedicated “CrossFitters” (those in the CrossFit program), disciples of martial arts, and “surfing gurus.” Their devotion to their physical activity or sport informs their faith practice, or at least their philosophy of life, and vice versa.
They practice what they preach… even if I can’t fully agree with their preaching.
Yoga moms demonstrate patience and endurance in their training, and aspire to it in their personal lives. CrossFitters seek out dedication and devotion to what they at least see as “heroic” feats, both in and out of the CrossFit “box” (translation: gym). Surfers learn (as Catholic philosopher and professor Dr. Peter Kreeft points out) detachment and trust in something bigger than themselves (the wave and the ocean).
But what about us?
We Catholics