Paris (France). On 30 July 2024, at the ecumenical vigil at the church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, organized as part of the Holy Games – initiative of the French Episcopal Conference during the days of the Olympic Games – Sister Valentine Delafon, Daughter of Mary Help of Christians, Vicar of Our Lady of the Nations Province (FRB), brought her testimony together with Mark Gangloff, American swimmer, winner of two Olympic medals, and the American pastor Robert Comeaux.
A sports educator and expert trainer, originally from the Alps, Sister Valentine is the Animator of the Community of St. Joseph in Brussels-Ganshoren, Belgium. In 2022, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Foundation of the FMA Institute, she participated in the women’s race of the French religious cycling championship and won.
“I am not an athlete like Mark,” she says, “This is the one and only time in my life that I have done a road cycling race. There are not many consecrated women who ride bicycles, so it is not a great feat!” A tennis and cross-country skier, Sister Valentine comes from a family of athletes. “We lived in the mountains, so we regularly went for runs or hikes in the mountains after Mass or had to do physical work. In those days, we would have had to pay someone to stop carrying logs and poles; we didn’t need to go to the gym!”
As a Salesian of Don Bosco, she emphasized that this religious Family is dedicated to the education of young people and that, in this context, sports have their place. “When you do sports, you have to decide to do it: get up, change yourself, suffer a little, persevere, start again. You have to learn to commit yourself. Before meeting the young people from the most disadvantaged neighborhoods, I didn’t know that this taste could be learned. Above all, the ‘taste’ comes at the end of the effort, like when you climb a mountain. At the top, all the fatigue disappears.”
This makes sense in educative terms. “At Don Bosco we use games, sports, and music and we want young people to get involved, especially in activities. The taste for commitment can be discovered through games, through something that is fun. Young people don’t know they have all these resources within themselves. One is always invited by somebody to play sports, and the same goes for young people. We must invite them to measure themselves to discover what they are capable of.”
And in the end, what do sports and prayer have in common? “Sports have helped me with prayer. When it comes to going to pray, sometimes you have to make an effort. If no one has made you taste the effort of prayer, you won’t do it,” says Sister Valentine. “Sometimes you say to yourself, ‘Lord, I’m dozing now, but I want to wait for You and I’ll make it.’ You have to find your breath, breathe regularly, stay still, persevere, let yourself be found in order to reach the summit in the depths of your heart. But the more you exercise regularly, the less difficult the effort is. The more you go towards God, the less difficult it is to get up and go, and the more you have fun, the more beautiful life will be.”
And to conclude, “Practice the sport of prayer, so that your entire physical, moral, intellectual, and relational life will be in good health!”
Sister Valentine ended her testimony with a wish. “I wish you to regularly practice the 3 Bs. Well-being, relationship with yourself, care of your body, of your intelligence and emotions, happiness (bonheur), relationship with others, there is no greater love than giving your life, and Beatitudes, relationship with God.”
Source: Don Bosco Aujourd’hui
