Training with Jesus at the Dojo

Inspired by a recent homily, Lilia Grundy challenges her family take their spiritual training to the Dojo, to become more like Jesus.

Prepping for the Spiritual Challenge

“What’s the difference between working out and training?” I asked my girls as I was tucking them into bed. Inspired by the homily given by Father Mike Schmitz, I repeated the question he posed on a recent podcast episode.

As I waited for their answers, I smiled watching my girls’ faces as their minds went to work. Both replied that working out was a one-time session and that it was exercise. But they commented that training, on the other hand, was much more goal-oriented, with a purpose in mind.

I was pleased with their feedback and then informed them that we were going to try something new for the rest of the year.

“Okay, I announced. We are going to watch the movie Karate Kid this week and we are going to go into training mode with our personal master, Jesus.”

They both seemed a bit surprised, but willing to take on the challenge.

I continued, “Our tournament goal is to become more like our Master.”

I loved the notion of Father Mike’s challenge, that when we are “fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher.” (Luke 6:40)

As a pretty active family, I figured that we could take on this challenge together and strive to be more like our heavenly Father.

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Training for the Tournament

As my daughters seemed a bit intimidated by the mission I set forth for us, I probed further: “From what you know of Jesus, what do you think He’s like?”

I received descriptors such as kind, peaceful, and strong. I added forgiving and patient to the mix to encourage us to think about tangible ways we could integrate these virtues into each day.

Shortly after, one of my daughters presented me with a neatly laminated sheet of her “Spiritual Plan.” It warmed my heart to see her prepare a list of ways to take on her training. She’s also an organized personality and I love how she customized the plan for herself.

My other daughter continued to ask questions (she likes to clarify the goal). And I explained that we would hold each other accountable, so come tournament day, hopefully we will have grown more kind and patient.

Dojo Day Aspirations

I learned that “Dojo” means the "place of the Way" in Japanese. What a perfect place to train. For Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” (John 14:6).

If we could train with Jesus right in front of us, wouldn’t that change everything?

I encouraged my girls on the way to school the next day, to imagine waking up to Jesus knocking on our bedroom doors, happily cheering us on to start our day. They appeared a bit skeptical, but I recalled something I recently read about imaginative prayer and that the Catechism motivates us to pursue this thinking:

Meditation engages thought, imagination, emotion, and desire. This mobilization of faculties is necessary in order to deepen our convictions of faith, prompt the conversion of our heart, and strengthen our will to follow Christ. (CCC 2708).

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I’m hoping these heavenly inspired tools will help us to sharpen our minds and our bodies, so that come tournament day we will be more like our Teacher.

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