Want an intense workout? Try Mass

In today’s modern culture we are obsessed with appearances of the body. The fashion, cosmetic, fitness, and health industry are all billion dollar industries in their own right. Now, these industries all address a crucial aspect of what it means to be a person – to care for and protect your physical body. However, to understand the value of physical care is to know one-half of the equation of what it means to be a human person. Simply put a human being has two dimensions attached to him. What makes a human person is the combination of body + soul. Now, because both body + soul make up a human person, there should be similarities in how both dimensions operate. In this article, I will draw out how both elements have similarities by way understanding how they are perfected – in a workout.

First, what is the body and soul? The body is the material dimension while the soul is the immaterial dimension. What is the soul? The soul is composed of a person’s thoughts. The soul is the full system of what is driving your internal thoughts. No one can know what someone is thinking so thoughts cannot be located by a material process. However, we equate what really makes a person by that person’s internal thought process more than their physical appearance. For example, if Mike were to ask to describe who Tom is, Mike might give a physical description of Tom. Mike could say that Tom is six feet tall with dark hair and a muscular build. This description of Tom is a physical description that one can know through a material process and observation. However, Mike could also describe Tom by saying he is analytical, he likes to travel, likes country music, is a Bears fan and dislikes cats. This description of Tom cannot be known by physical observation but only by understanding Tom’s thoughts. In fact, popular personality tests use questions to get at people’s thoughts in order to make a proper identification of what this person is like. In other words, a true person test can only be made by extracting the person’s thoughts through a series of questions and not by a physical examination. Therefore, the totality that makes up a human person is the combination of a body plus soul. Also, a greater emphasis is placed on a person’s thoughts in order to accurately identify the real person.

Okay, now that we know how important the soul is in defining a person, let’s take the next step to show how significant the soul is. The body of a person last on average 79 years (official life expectancy is 78.4). However, the soul lasts forever - with no ending. I’m no math wizard, but the number infinity (never ending) is overwhelmingly greater than 79. Now, we’ve come to the dramatic conclusion that the soul far outweighs the body. But, ironically we’ve got it all reversed. We’re obsessed with the body. We spend all this time, effort, and energy on the body and give a kind of nod of indifference to the soul. This is one clue as to why the human race is insane. Or, as Christianity puts it - we are all flawed. We are flawed because we care much more about the lesser version of ourselves (the body) and care less about the most important version of ourselves (the soul).

Now, all the countless hours people spend to take care of the body from haircuts, to shaving, to eating healthy, to working out, to cosmetic care, to medical checkups indicate that taking care of the body is a never-ending process. All this work also suggests that the body never fully reaches that perfected state; that it is flawed in many respects and needs constant attention to keep in well working shape. As far as being physically fit – estimates indicate that only 1% of people in the world have an athletic Olympian shape body.

Given that the physical body is flawed, we can now ask what about the soul. Are people’s thoughts messed up? Oh gee, we don’t have to go far to figure this out. All you have to do is imagine that other people can read your mind. Would you be comfortable with this? Not only can people know your thoughts, but they also know the motivation behind your thoughts. In other words, your deep hidden internal agenda becomes known by all. If you are honest, you would not like this scenario. Why? Because it would show how messed up and how selfish your thoughts really are. So, our soul is in bad shape. In fact, the soul is in even worse shape than our body.

Now, it’s a given that to craft a well-running and picturesque body, you need to put the body through intense physical strain. All of the fad workouts from P90-X, Cardio-blast, boot camp workouts, and cross-fit suggest this. Ask any personal trainer and you’ll hear the same message: to get a tone and in-shape body you need to make your body uncomfortable in many ways in your workout.

Because the body and the soul both come from God, they have similarities in which they operate. To fully understand how to approach the soul, you basically need to use the same method to manage your body. So what the gym and the doctor is for the body, the Church is for the soul. The Church – most specifically the Sacraments are best way to get the soul (your thoughts) back into shape. Some people might be in good physical shape, but unless you’re a walking saint, I guarantee that your soul looks more like Chris Christie’s body. So, we can compare a modern person’s soul to looking like that of an obese person’s body. They both need major work. Thus, the mass is like the gym for an out of shape and obese soul.

I recently consulted a personal trainer named Tim. He indicated, “Any reputable personal trainer will tell you that a good workout plan for an overweight person is designed to be painful for their body.” When a heavy person first starts working out, their body won’t react well to the exercise. That is because their body has been so compromised that it is in revolt to the workout. Well, this is the whole point. A good personal trainer has to shock the body out of its lethargic state so it can develop into a healthy body. This whole process at first, is going to be painful, annoying, and require a great deal of commitment. But, the more a person keeps persevering through the workout program, the better they will feel and easier the workout will become.

Well, it is the same way with the Mass. When a typical person with a self-centered thought system enters the Mass, it will be as brutal as the obese person’s first entrance into a personal trainer’s gym. We see that the reaction of the body to the gym is the same reaction of the tarnished soul to the Mass. The Mass may be challenging and annoying. Just like the overweight person at the gym, you might feel tempted to tap out and leave early. Your thoughts will want to revolt with boredom and be unamused, In other words, just like a person’s body will want to rebel at the gym so to will your thoughts want to rebel at the Mass. This is because just like in the gym, your thoughts need to be shocked out of their self-centered comfort zone. However, as you learn more about the Mass, and keep going, you will notice the same effects as the obese person does in the gym. As you keep doing it, it won’t be as difficult, and your soul will start to feel better. The same holds true with all spiritual workouts – praying the rosary, fasting, confession, etc. These exercises are meant to take a weak soul and make it strong. They are meant to take your self-absorbed desires and flush them out into self-giving desires. So, the self-absorbed desires you have are like the junk food desires of an obese person. If you are going to a church merely because they have nice warm and fuzzy music that entertains your desires, this is as problematic as an obese person going to a personal trainer because they help them with their junk food cravings. Plus, if you are seeking a good personal trainer, you would naturally want to by-pass all the would be pretenders and go to the best trainer you can get. Well, in the mass (and no where else) you are getting the best trainer imaginable – God himself literally present in the Eucharist.

Your thoughts are messed up. Of course your flawed thoughts are bored at mass just like of course an overweight body craves pizza and donuts above water and a sweaty workout. Both body and soul desires are flawed so we should expect this. But, you don’t dismiss the solution (the workout/the mass) by your flawed desires (I don’t feel good). Everyone wants junk food and a gentle message on their body just like everyone wants an entertaining church. But everyone needs a trainer that makes you feel uncomfortable just like everyone needs a church that gets you out of your self-fulfilling comfort zone. Being uncomfortable in your physical workout out is a good thing – the same is true of the mass. So, if you’re bored and uncomfortable at mass – good! You’re supposed to be at first. This means it’s starting to work. Any personal trainer will tell you that a sign of a good workout is that it won't feel good at first and will even strain your body. The spiritual workouts are not supposed to feel good at first just like cross-fit is not going to feel good at first to the out-of-shape person.

If you doubt this, I suggest reading Jesus’ instructions to his disciples in Matthew chapters 5-7 (also Matthew 10:16-39) about what it will be like to be one of his followers. It sounded to them about as brutal and intense as Jillian Michael’s workout plan sounds to a biggest loser contestant on their first day.

This logic is especially the case with the Sacrament of Confession. I can say by experience if you haven’t gone say in 15 years, the first time will be as grueling as someone’s first workout in 15 years. As with both, you’ll first want to hold back from going all out and just start with the basics. The second time will be challenging as well, but right around the fourth-fifth time, you’ll be able to put more into it, and it won’t feel so strenuous. After awhile, it’ll be just as easy as the veteran athlete doing his daily workout – and each time you’ll feel much better.

Not everyone is prepared for the spiritual workout in the mass (or confession, rosary, adoration, novenas, fasting, etc.) just like not everyone is ready to jump into cross-fit. This stuff is not for the weak and timid soul. You may need to get yourself prepared for this process. First, you first have to realize that this is going to be a long, grinding process that isn't designed to feel good at first. But, just like any good workout program if you stick with it over time you’ll reap well-earned rewards with a better-looking soul. Mother Theresa is going to be canonized as a saint this year. So, her soul looks like what an Olympian athlete's body looks like - almost perfect. But, her spiritual workout was at the elite level and certainly couldn’t be followed by a timid soul jumping in unprepared.

It is also important to realize that the longer a person puts off taking care of their body with a workout program at the gym, the harder it will be. In other words, it makes more sense to go through care of the body earlier rather than later. It is the exact same way with your soul. Let's be honest. Our thoughts are messed up. Psychology shows us that our thoughts are strategically geared to look like we're amazing when, in fact, our thoughts are self-centered. The longer you put off this more important workout of your soul in the mass, the harder it will be to change your flawed thought process. One of the main reasons we are obsessed with the care of our body is because we want to display it well for all to see. Also, a healthy body that is well-run and looks superior also makes us feel better. Well, the same holds true with the soul only on a much larger level. At some point your deep internal thoughts will be on full display and your internal acting job will be seen. Might as well go through the workout of your thoughts now, so they are pure when they come out. Might as well go through the spiritual work out now so you feel better about those thoughts of yours churning in your mind right now.

While taking care of the soul might be more challenging than taking care of the body, it certainly is not less important. The good news is it doesn’t require as much time as the body does. Any good personal trainer would recommend you workout 4-5 days a week for about 50 minutes a day. That adds up to about 17 days/month for a total of 15 hours and 20 mins/month. If you do the most basic workout of the soul you will hit 4 masses, and 1 confession/month. This workout is 5 days/month for a total of about 4 hours and 20 minutes/month. Not only is the soul more important, the workout time is actually easier.

At the end of the day, your body will be done and gone with in about 50-60 years from now. So, all those physical workouts while good in themselves won’t mean anything in the big picture analysis. However, your soul will last forever. This workout will have immense long term implications. Why not start investing time into this realm? You live with your soul MUCH longer than you live with your body.

The body and the soul come from the same source. So it makes sense that they both have a similar approach in moving towards their perfected state. We know that the method of short term pain leads to long term gain works for an athletic body. Just apply the same idea to soul on a much larger level. While we obsess about the body let’s at least take another look at that dimension within us that will be around well after our body is gone – the soul. This way when you finally view your soul it’ll be looking nice and clean.