Performing with a Net

One

The Flying Trapeze

In the 1952 Circus Movie, “The Greatest Show on Earth,” one of the trapeze acrobats, to impress his female colleague, says that he’s going to do a new crazy stunt that evening. He says he’s going to do a double-forward over the bar through a paper hoop and all from the lethal height of the top rigging. But the girl he’s telling remains unimpressed. Yes, it’s an incredibly difficult stunt. But she doesn’t see that it takes a lot of courage. She says, “That’s not so much with a net under you.”

Of course, it’s true. After all, why not try really bold, adventurous things when you’ve got a net under you? What’s the real risk?

If we trust in God and we know He’ll take care of us, if we know that when we fall off the tightrope of this lifem we’ll land in the net of eternity, then why not take on bold, adventurous things for the glory of God?

Two

The Boldness of the Saints

When you do trust in God, when you recognize that His love and perfect providence is the most reliable safety net there is, it does make you willing to try bold, adventurous things.

Look at the creative, amazing things the saints tried! St. Simon Stylites, who lived on a pillar. St. Francis of Assisi, who rushed over to the Muslim Sultan to try and convert him to Christ. St. Francis Xavier, who brought Christianity to Goa, Borneo, and Japan, and died trying to get into China.

Now notice that not all the saints’ projects succeed. Some do and some don’t. But they don’t worry about it. They just try to do wonderful things, and if it doesn’t work then they fall back on God’s providence.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is a great model of this attitude. Some of her initiatives went really well, some didn’t pan out at all. Didn’t bother her. She knew she was always performing with a net. With her projects, she said it very simply, “If it succeeds, I bless God; if [it] does not succeed…I bless God, because then it will be right that it should not succeed.”

That’s what it means to be magnanimous, to strive for great things. That’s why remembering the safety net of God’s good providence makes us work towards greater, nobler, and more heroic ends. 

Three

The Timidity of the World

Now imagine instead that somebody took you and put you up on a swing a hundred and fifty feet above ground and there was no net beneath you. Then the people safe down on the ground said, “Now do something cool!” I don’t know about you, but I would just sit on that swing and cling as tightly as I possibly could to the ropes. I wouldn’t be doing anything even remotely dangerous.

Now do you see why the secular world is so unimaginative, so fearful, so anxious? 

For some people, they are just desperate for security. They spend all their time worried about their health, or about their retirement, or about their insurance. Other people, they figure the only sure thing in life is pleasure, so they just go for that in the safest way they can. They look at porn, instead of taking the risks you need to pursue love. They do drugs, instead of taking on the quest to find truth and beauty. They post and watch videos, instead of facing the challenge of a real, face-to-face relationship. They sit up there all by themselves, on that lonely swing, and they try to distract themselves with entertainment without actually doing anything. No risks. No courage. Because there’s no safety net. 

Four

The Boldness Your Vocation Demands

So are you acting like God’s in control, like He’ll catch you if you fall? Are you living a bold, adventurous life for the Gospel?

Obviously, we’re not talking about taking stupid risks, becoming some sort of weird daredevil who does random unimportant stunts for no reason. We’re talking about doing great things with your life.

But, for instance, if you’re a young person, have you thought about the bold move of doing something different, like become a priest or religious? If you’re married and still able, have you thought about the adventure of having another kid, bringing another eternal soul into the world? And whoever you are, have you thought about having people over regularly to build deeper friendships with them? And when the opportunity is right, to invite them to pray the Rosary with you?

Yes, there’s a chance these initiatives won’t go well. But they’re good things to do, and you can trust that God will do what He wills with your efforts. 

So why not be creative with your life, the way the saints have been? Be bold, be adventurous. It’s not so much, with a net under you. 

Five

The Net of Heaven

Emily Dickenson, in one of her pithy little poems, “If My Bark Sink,” puts it beautifully. [By the way, in case you didn’t know, a “bark” is a boat]. 

Here’s her little thirteen-word poem:

“If my bark sink, ‘tis to another sea.

Mortality’s ground floor is immortality.”

Isn’t that great? You can picture a boat sinking into the sea, then plopping out the bottom of that sea, falling through the air for a moment, and landing gently in another, bigger, far more beautiful sea. 

This life is just a small, shallow little ocean. If we die, we simply land safely in the underlying ocean, the safety net of heaven.

So why not sail boldly? Why not do amazing stunts of the flying trapeze? If we fall, we won’t hurt ourselves. Whether we fall or not, we’ll at least have lived an exciting life trying to give glory to God. And that’s why we’re here.