I headed to my parish’s pre-dawn Ash Wednesday liturgy. I needed the silence to center the start of my day and this penitential season that will break forth into Easter.

But the surprise came when I brought my mother to the noon service, and I heard the familiar hymn that always takes me back: “Deep within I will plant my law not on stones but in your heart. Follow me, I will bring you back…”
I sang (and I don’t often do this) this very hymn to a dear friend who has since run her race into eternity.

And today, deep within, I hear anew: Run to Me, and I will transform you. Yes, I will give up some things, but the unbridled joy at what I pick up elicits the ever familiar invitation: Come, run with me. Something beautiful is at the doorstep.

And so I run. And you?

It is not often that the timing of a race permits me to attend Mass beforehand, but the stair climb these past two years is a welcomed exception. For me, every race has a purpose greater than myself, so it is vitally important to me to unite my efforts to the prayers of those in my life. A dear friend said I had my “breakfast of champions” before I hit the race course.

So to Mass I went, and one of our priests blessed me after Mass, an additional reminder that the stair climb was an opportunity to honor the One who gives me each breath. Bread of transforming life, prayers of so many to propel me up and forward- the familiar fatigue held no sway on the 804 steps.

So tell me, what gets you through? It has been a while since I’ve said this: I am propelled by Love-that is what and more importantly Who gets me through.

And the champions? Why they are the souls who form that great cloud of witnesses to cheer me. And you, my friend, are called to be the same for others in your life, part of that same body of witnesses, the salt and light that transforms the world.