At 7:45 on Labor Day morning, I opened the Chapel doors and was greeted by a handful of runners who were preparing to run in the Faxon Law New Haven Road Race. There on the steps, we prayed together, and asked for the Lord’s blessing on the labor we were about to exert over the course of a 5K, 20K or Half Marathon. And then we parted ways to carry out whatever last-minute rituals we runners do before we step on the line.

One of the runners who joined us that morning was Mitch Garner, a Yale graduate of the Class of 1971 (Berkeley). He was a student athlete during his time at Yale—a coxswain in heavyweight crew. Today, Mitch is a member of the Board of Directors of USA Track and Field, and he describes himself as “a lifelong runner, a person of faith and a devout Catholic.” In the course of a subsequent email correspondence, Mitch shared a poem that came to him in March 2004 at 3:00 AM as he ran the streets of Columbus, OH (he had traveled there for business). Here is an excerpt from "Strides of Silence":

Now’s my time to hear my Maker,

To feel God’s pulse before the day

Spoils the peace that has no taker,

Save one runner on placid way.

 

We’ve talked before, both God and I,

In this world of meditation

About my purpose, what and why,

In this plan of God’s formation.

 

How do I know this path is right?

How can I in this darkness see?

Will my Lord call me in the night

And lead me where I need to be?

 

For you alone can set me free,

Lord, you alone can light my way.

You alone hear my plaintive plea

And lift me to the dawn of day…

           

Through the melting meadow I run

To my dawn-flowered finish line,

Striding my lightness to the sun

And finding there my peace divine.

We are just days into the 2022-2023 academic year, and most of us are already deep in our school year races and tending to whatever labor our Creator has entrusted to us. With all that lies before us on the road ahead, as we discern our purpose in life and seek to find our way to freedom and to peace divine, let’s find time to “hear” [our] Maker.” And with Mitch’s blessing, run towards our “dawn-flowered finish line.”