Super Bowl Champion Begins Lent With Praying and Fasting

CV NEWS FEED // A week after Kansas City Chiefs Kicker Harrison Butker hit the game-winning field goal in Super Bowl LVII, he began Lent in a very different environment: silence, prayer, and reflection at St. Michael’s Abbey in California.

“Some devils are only cast out by prayer and fasting. We need to embrace this penance to bring order into all the chaos amongst us,” said the two-time Super Bowl champion in a video posted to the abbey’s Youtube page.  

The 27-year-old kicker, who played his college ball at Georgia Tech, has quickly become not only one of the NFL’s best kickers, but also one of its best-known and outspoken Catholics. 

“While I face pressure in some of the most intense situations on the football field, my faith allows me to put all of these moments in perspective,” said Butker, who partnered with the popular Hallow prayer app last year. 

“As athletes, we think that sports are the most important thing in our life. But, we have to take a step back and ask what our reason is for being on this earth. Ultimately, it’s a question of who we worship. It can’t be sports. It has to be our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The Chiefs kicker has spent various periods at the monastery in reflection in the past. The Norbertine Monastery in Orange County consists of over 50 priests and nearly 40 seminarians, all dedicating themselves to a common life of liturgical prayer and care for souls.

“In order to get to be a champion like this man right here, we’ve gotta work hard, mortifying ourselves, coming closer to Our Lord, then becoming a champion on Easter,” says one of the priests in the video. 

In addition to beginning Lent at the monastery, Butker also sat down with EWTN’s Colm Flynn to discuss playing in the Super Bowl, his growing Catholic family, and the role his faith plays in the pressure-packed situations – like his game-winning kick. 

“Praying is something I always do on the sideline to remember that, yes, football is so important, but it’s not the most important thing.”