When I was a kid, my dad was obsessed with one particular VHS tape—it was like some secret treasure from the past. He held it out with a grin and said, “Now I’ll show you what basketball is supposed to look like.”
It was the 1979 NCAA championship game—Larry Bird vs. Magic Johnson.
To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much. I mean, how much better could this be from today’s NBA? I even rolled my eyes as my dad loaded the tape into the player. But as soon as the game started, something amazing happened…
I got it. I got why my dad called this “real basketball.”
The passing and movement between players was so fluid—it was almost artistic. I was used to basketball where one star led the charge and all the others got out of the way.
But this game from the 70s didn’t play as individuals but as a single unit. They moved as one.
And believe it or not… the Christian life is meant to be lived like this too.
Yes, each of us is unique, with our own strengths and gifts. And God does raise up great saints! But JPII reminds us that it’s only when individuals live their faith together as a group that we are able to transform society and renew the Church.
Think about it: It wasn’t just Francis who was called to rebuild the Church, but his Franciscans. It wasn’t Benedict alone who saved Western civilization, but the Benedictines. Ignatius, with all his gifts, wasn’t the counter-reformation, but the Jesuits.
And here’s the thing: We, the laity, are called to do the same.
You and I are meant to live our faith in community with others. When we support one another, grow together, and keep each other accountable, that’s when we live the kind of faith that doesn’t just change us—it changes everything.