“The secret of all progress and of every victory is, in fact, to ‘know how to begin again’, to learn from a failure, and to try once more.” — Georges Chevrot
Three of my kids are playing soccer for the first time this year, and it’s been great to watch. My 10-year-old is playing with girls who’ve been at it for years. My 9-year-old is up against boys who clearly know what they’re doing. My 7-year-old is still at the age where everybody just runs around in a pack — which is its own kind of beautiful.
What’s been especially fun to watch is how they respond to failure. Getting the ball stolen. Completely flubbing a kick. Realizing they’re not the best one out there. Every practice, every game, is a lesson in beginning again.
When I came across this quote, it clicked. Because that’s the spiritual life too.
Chevrot wrote it in the context of Simon Peter — and Peter is the perfect example. He gets a bad rap, because he dropped the ball so many times. But he was the one actually going up against the challenges. Failing, getting back up, trying again. It’s not surprising that he became the first pope. He’s the model precisely because he knew how to begin again.
We’ll face the same. We hit snooze and miss our prayer time. We fall to the same sin for the umpteenth time. We face some trial we’ve never encountered before and don’t handle it the way we wanted to.
Begin again. Learn from it. Try once more.
Let us pray. Lord, when we fall help us to get back up. Give us the heart of Peter: willing to fail, willing to try again, and never too proud to begin. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us.
