“Wax on, wax off. Wax on, wax off.” My high school cross-country coach used to say this when he made us do any sort of repetitive, seemingly pointless exercise. “Wax on, wax off. Wax on, wax off.” At the time, I had no idea at the time that he was referencing one of the greatest sports movies of all time: the karate kid. In the movie, the kid, Daniel, learns karate from Mr. Miyagi, the old and rather eccentric landlord of his family’s apartment complex. Mr. Miyagi promises to teach Daniel karate, and Daniel promises to do everything Mr. Miyagi tells him, without question. And, so, Mr. Miyagi tells Daniel to clean his cars, first washing them, and then waxing them. “Wax on, wax off. Wax on, wax off,” he instructs Daniel. In the course of four days, Mr. Miyagi has Daniel wax his car, sand his patio floors, paint his fence, and paint his house.
And at the end of the four days, Daniel is about sick and tired of all the hard work he’s had to do for Mr. Miyagi. He’s slaved away for Mr. Miyagi, and hasn’t learned a single thing about karate. Or so he thinks. But in one of the more brilliant scenes in the movie, Mr. Miyagi shows Daniel how all the hard work he’s done has helped him learn the basic defensive moves of karate. Because he’s done “Wax on, wax off” and all the other moves so many times, he has incredible muscle memory. He is now able to defend himself with ease. What seemed like a repetitive, pointless exercise, proved to be a highly effective means of training. Because Daniel freely accepted Mr. Miyagi’s discipline, as hard, repetitive, and pointless as it seemed, he learned karate. His training made him stronger. His discipline made him a disciple.
“My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord or lose heart when reproved by him; for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines…At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it.” Like Mr. Miyagi did for Daniel, so also Jesus does for us. Jesus disciplines us, to make us stronger. “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.” The Lord disciplines us, so that we can enter through the narrow gate that leads to eternal life. Without the Lord’s discipline, we would not be strong enough to do so. At the end of our lives, when we come before Our Heavenly Father in judgment, He will only know where we are from, He will only recognize us, if He recognizes His Son in us. And, so, Jesus disciplines us, to make us His disciples, to make us like Him. He disciplines us, so that His Heavenly Father will one day see in us what He already sees in His Son.
But how does Jesus discipline us? How does He make us strong enough so that we can enter through the narrow gate? What’s Jesus’ equivalent of Mr. Miyagi’s “Wax on, wax off”? While there are certainly many ways in which Jesus disciplines us, I can think of no better way than the Mass. Now, I know it may sound strange to think of the Mass as discipline, but hear me out. At the end of the day, everything we have, everything we are, has been given to us by Our Heavenly Father as a gift. And He has given it to us as a gift so that we can give it back to Him, in return, as a gift. This law of the gift is interrupted by sin. All sin is a kind of grasping. Just think of the sin of our first parents: grasping at the fruit. All sin is a refusal to treat what Our Father has given us as a gift: a refusal to accept it as a gift and to return it back to Him as a gift.
Jesus lived out the law of the gift perfectly in His own life. Jesus accepted our humanity as a gift, and He gave that gift back to the Father: He did so throughout His entire life, but He did so in a particular way on the cross. On the cross we see a posture of total acceptance, of total self-gift to the Father. Father, your will be done. Father, into your hands I commend my spirit. At Mass, Jesus helps us relearn the law of the gift. He trains us in accepting the gifts that Our Heavenly Father has given and in returning those same gifts back to Him. At Mass, Jesus disciplines us with His equivalent of Mr. Miyagi’s “Wax on, wax off.” It’s: “Accept the gift, return the gift.”
Every moment of the Mass there’s an opportunity to practice Jesus’ “Accept the gift, return the gift.” At every moment of the Mass we are invited to accept all that we have and all that we are as a gift and return it, with Jesus, back to the Father. At every moment of the Mass we are invited to unite ourselves with Jesus’ posture of total acceptance, of total self-gift on the cross. To practice this at every moment of the Mass is precisely what it means to participate in the Mass. Whether we are singing, speaking, or are silent, to “Accept the gift, return the gift.” Whether we are sitting, standing, or kneeling, to “Accept the gift, return the gift.” In all of our thoughts, words, and actions, to “Accept the gift, return the gift.”
A particularly beautiful moment in the Mass in which to practice Jesus’ “Accept the gift, return the gift” is the offertory, when the gifts of bread and wine are brought forward and placed on the altar. It’s a beautiful practice at this time to place all that we have and all that we are on the altar, among the bread and wine. At the offertory, the priest says “Pray, Brethren, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God the Almighty Father.” My sacrifice and yours. Your sacrifice is all and everything you place on the altar, all the gifts that you accept and then return to Our Heavenly Father.
“Accept the gift, return the gift.” Jesus trains us in this law of the gift at every moment in the Mass, and in an especially beautiful way at the offertory. He trains us in order to develop in us a kind of spiritual muscle memory so that we can live out this law of the gift in our daily lives. Jesus has us practice “Accept the gift, return the gift” repeatedly, at every Mass, to strengthen us: Not so that we can win a karate championship, but so that we can be strong enough to enter through the narrow gate that leads to eternal life. He has us practice “Accept the gift, return the gift” so that, through this discipline, we can become his disciples: so that we can be like Him, our Master; so that, at the end of our lives, Our Heavenly Father will recognize us and welcome us into His kingdom.
