Speaking to the 1,000 men attending this year’s Catholic Men’s Conference at St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Wichita, Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker spoke out about what motivates him to focus on football, citing his faith and desire to glorify God through using the gifts God gave him, and how he focuses on putting God first in his life.
Commenting on that, Butker noted that what motivates him isn’t glory on Earth, but rather a desire to glorify God as best he’s able. He said, “What motivates me is that God has given me this talent to kick a football in this sport that we love. I’m trying to maximize that talent that he’s given me. I’m not doing it for the pride of the game. I’m not doing it to get more of these…these rings that kind of take up my whole face.”
Emphasizing his point, Butker said, “Whatever we do, whatever platform we have, it must point back to God because he is the one that gave us anything that we have. He’s given me the talent to perform. He’s given me my height – every ability I have to kick a ball.”
Then, turning to God’s grace and how we have to do our part to make the most of what God gives us, Butker said, “Everything is grace and we’ve had to cooperate with that grace to wake up early. We’ve had to cooperate with the grace to go work hard in the gym. We’ve had to cooperate with His grace to go out to practice. Everything that I have that is good and that is worthy of praise is from God and we should only be prideful in our Creator.”
And, returning to the issue of doing what he can to glorify God, Butker said, “There’s an argument to pointing to the sky when you miss because suffering could be a gift from God. But when I think about the talent I’ve been given, I need to do my best to use that talent – like in the parable – to multiply my talents. That’s what motivates me. Not the fame. Not the glory. But just doing my very best with what God’s given me. That talent is different for everyone.”
Making that point yet again, Butker said that everyone has different talents but should use those talents as best they are able to glorify God, saying, “Everyone’s got a different calling and we should maximize whatever that is for us and understand that that’s the talent that God has given us.”
Then, explaining why we must put God first, Butker told the crowd, “Prioritizing has been important. If we want to be ordered, God, Jesus Christ, the sacraments, the faith – that has to be number one. What flows from that is our vocation. My vocation is not to be a priest or religious, but to be married, to be in the world, to be fruitful and multiply and pass on the faith to my children.”
Featured image credit: By Airman 1st Class William Lunn – https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7984088/chiefs-military-appreciation, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=136494880