World Cup´s Teachings

The World Cup has started on June 14^th and its finals is on Sunday. A sporting event that goes beyond the play field, because what it has been seen in Russia, as in general happens, it was a celebration in which people from such different regions and ethnic groups gathered to cheer and thrill for their selections.

This year, the event offered us a dreamy and welcome newness: the use of the so-called video referee - the VAR, according to the acronym of its name in English.

Doubtful steps during the matches could be clarified with the help of this technological innovation, which contributed to the result that each match was not contaminated by errors of arbitration. And - more than that - it worked as a preventive measure against the cunning of people who want to win at any price, which, unfortunately, we also see in football practice.

Among the 32 nations that have been represented in Russia, only two will decide on Sunday who will be the great champion, who will obviously deserve the applause of all of us, although all should be equally congratulated, since the fact of having been in Russia, after a difficult stage of qualification that involved the five continents, deserves our congratulations. After all, the great champion Italy and the champion of South America, Chile, did not have this privilege.

Art and sport give life a special colour and, almost always, leave us important teachings.

In the case of the Russian Cup, there is an obvious teaching: If trickery and cunning, when it comes to football, were worth one day, this will not happen again; at least that's what we all expect.

The emergence of the VAR gives rise to another reflection, which goes beyond purely sporting matters, because it is good to remember that whenever we do something that goes against the law or ethics, an arbiter invisible to our eyes is likewise registering and evaluating our behaviour.

Those who follow the lessons of Jesus certainly do not ignore this, as the evangelist Luke recorded in his gospel:

But there is nothing hidden that is not to be discovered; nor hidden, that shall not be known. For whatsoever ye have said in the darkness shall be heard in the light; and what you have spoken in the ear in the study on the roofs shall be proclaimed. (Luke 12: 2, 3)

No one, therefore, doubts that in due time the things we have done or fail to do will come to light, a certainty that we should meditate in all seriousness if we wish that our future happiness is not disturbed by the misunderstandings committed in the present.