Breaking in
Baseball Gloves and the Spiritual Life
Something about work relates to baseball and the spiritual life. This connection is similar yet different, and it might not be what we would expect.
Every baseball player knows the feeling of placing his hand in the glove, and it fits just right. The glove has been conformed to the hand of the ball player through many practices and games.
Every baseball player also knows the awkward feeling of putting on a new glove that does not fit. The glove is hard to use and does not do what the player wants it to. In a way, the glove and the baseball player are not in sync.
I remember when I once put on a new glove. I put a ball in the glove and put the glove under my bed. This helped mold the glove around the baseball so the pocket would increase flexibility.
I would also watch TV and twist my glove in and out to help it loosen. I also would play catch with someone who threw hard so the glove could “break in” more quickly. I learned from teammates about different techniques, like moistening the glove with hot water.
There is an unwritten rule that every ball player understands: one cannot give their glove to someone else and expect it to be ready for the game. If another player does all the work, the glove will never be conformed to the correct player’s hand. The player must work with his own glove.
Breaking in a glove takes work and requires time.
It may appear to be tedious, but there is meaning in the action. There is something special about the work put into preparing one’s glove to be ready for game time. The baseball player sees the connection between work and play.
Baseball players fall in love with this because they understand that the work has meaning, dignity, and purpose. Breaking in a glove is about conforming the glove to the hand to be ready to play baseball. The work involved is heightened because it serves something higher - playing baseball with teammates.
The same can be said in the spiritual life with prayer. Prayer takes work. There is time committed and effort put forth in listening to God through conversation. Reading scripture and spiritual books is also demanding.
Like breaking in a glove, new prayer techniques do not “fit like a glove” at first.
Conforming our hearts to the heart of Christ takes work. We must let the hand of Christ work in and through our lives. It may appear to be tedious at times, but the effort has meaning and purpose.
The Saints fell in love with conformity to Christ because they understood that the work has meaning, dignity, and purpose. Prayer is about conforming our hearts to the heart of Jesus Christ. The work involved is heightened because it serves something higher.
The unwritten rule of not having someone else break in a ball player’s glove does not perfectly correlate to the spiritual life of prayer. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says to His disciples, “I will make you…”
The key to the spiritual life of prayer is to let Jesus do the making, conforming, molding, and “the breaking in of the heart.” Yes, we must have our hand in the process, but it cannot solely be our willpower.
It must be our hand in cooperation with the pierced hand of Jesus Christ, who “breaks in our heart” so as to receive His love.
Fr. Luke Daghir
That analogy really helps; I relate completely. Broke in my first glove as a boy living at 416 Maple Street!