If there were Prayer Olympics, what would your event be?

Sister Maxine  
This random non clip is brought to you by A Nun's Life Ministry.

Sister Julie  
So it is the season of the Olympics.

Sister Maxine  
The Olympics started on Friday.

Sister Julie  
They did.

Sister Maxine  
Which sports have you been watching?

Sister Julie  
Well, I am looking forward to the basket weaving competition, but it's not up yet. So, in the meantime, I've had to watch like world records being broken in swimming and whatnot. Of course, they are world class athletes who are just impeccably trained and committed and talented.

Sister Maxine  
Now, one of those athletes was in fact, taught by nuns and inspired by nuns: the swimmer, Katie Ledecky.

Sister Julie  
Yeah, she was awesome. What was so cool was that, you know, in some of the interviews ahead of time, and as she was progressing through the Olympics, people would ask her and she did a couple shout outs to sisters, and she herself was taught at Little flower School, which is a grade school in Bethesda, Maryland, and was taught by Immaculate Heart of Mary sisters from Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Sister Maxine  
And she thanked them for support. And I think she talked about how her faith was a source of strength and inspiration, as she went about her life.

Sister Julie  
And I think she talked about how she learned from the sisters, having balance in her life. You can see that in her as a swimmer.

Sister Maxine  
In the chat room, Joseph notes, "I love that she stopped by the nuns to talk before going off to the Olympics."

Sister Julie  
I know, I know. It was very sweet. I think it meant a lot to the nuns as well. And they said they weren't surprised in a way, because she just has always had that way about her, which is totally awesome.

Sister Maxine  
So now, if there were a Prayer Olympics, because all of these have a prayer component.

Sister Julie  
There's always prayer.

Sister Maxine  
And if there were televised Prayer Olympics, what would your sport be?

Sister Julie  
Oooh, that's a good question.

Sister Maxine  
Like we know, for some of them, like I was thinking about the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. We did a Motherhouse Road Trip with them a while back. And they have done Perpetual Adoration for over 130 years. So I would say for them, the Perpetual Adoration marathon--they got that.

Sister Julie  
Oh, yeah, totally. I wouldn't even compete in that one.

Sister Maxine  
You could do the labyrinth racewalking.

Sister Julie  
That would be cool!

Sister Maxine  
It's going in circles very fast.

Sister Julie  
Wow. That could definitely be cool. I would do that. What do you think for yourself? What would you try out, Sister?

Sister Maxine  
A favorite of mine has always been the centering prayer balance beam.

Sister Julie  
That does require a lot of kind of--

Sister Maxine  
Mm-hmmm. Now I did notice that Katie Ledecky--she was taught in Bethesda, Maryland. And I'm wondering perhaps if she trained in the pool of Bethesda.

Sister Julie  
Oh, Sister, that would be miraculous indeed.

Sister Maxine  
Shout out.

Sister Julie  
Oh, how long have you been holding that one back! In our chat room, Sister Julie OSF says that her Prayer Olympics event would be decorating their motherhouse chapel for Christmas. And she says, "One needs to pray during that." Well, indeed. And having celebrated often with the Franciscan community, we know how prayerful that is. And we've seen the ladder that you had to climb up on to establish those decorations to get them in place.

Sister Maxine  
It's the ladder that leads to the heavens.

Sister Julie  
It is, it is. Sister Julie's Ladder, not Jacob's Ladder.

Sister Maxine  
Britt notes in the chat room that Ignatius wrote about spiritual exercises, and she said 30 days of the [unclear] is definitely Olympic-worthy.

Sister Julie  
Absolutely. I think there's a Jesuit author who actually wrote about the spiritual exercises, out of the tradition of Ignatian spirituality, but with a view towards what that means athletically and physically. I can't remember the name of the book, but it's interesting that he made that connection as well in terms of athletics,

Sister Maxine  
As did St. Paul, who often used the image of athletic training to talk about how to live a life oriented to God.

Sister Julie  
Jane in the chat room looks like she's gonna try Prayer Olympics for running. She says she's gonna try the Mount Sinai sprint.

Sister Maxine  
That would be an uphill endeavor.

Sister Julie  
Yes, it would. Well, but you never know. I mean, I suppose they could put the starting lineup at the top.

Sister Maxine  
I like it the Mount Sinai sprint. Yeah.

Sister Julie  
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Transcript lightly edited for readability.