Be Awesomely Holy! Part I

I was a youth minister and I think there is an unwritten rule that any time a youth minister is promoting something to teens or talking something up to the parish, they have to use the term “awesome” about 14 times to describe it.

As a result, every time I hear the word awesome, I get a little overexcited. When I read the post, “How to be Awesome” by Chris Guillebeau, I knew that I could adapt it for holiness. I recommend reading Chris’ original blog entry before mine. Simply because I want it made clear that I am using his blog entry as a template with his permission. I’m hoping that all of us in this little online universe might be able to apply it to our pursuit of sanctification. This post has been split up into three parts that we might start working toward bringing Easter to life in our lives:

You have heard of the Saints. You have read about the Saints. You may have even been told by someone who really cares the awful truth:

Only saints are in Heaven.

That scares me because I see a lot of people around me who know a lot more than I do about the Catholic Faith. I know more people that know more than I do about the Christian Faith. There are books upon books about it and the truth is, no one is really writing anything original. We are all rehashing the same basic statement:

Go be a saint.

I once spoke to a Bishop and was asking him if I should get a Master’s degree in Theology. He laughed. “Not if it keeps you from BEING a master.” I’ve taken some graduate courses when they were offered to me for free, but I really took that to heart and simply started to read. And pray. And write. And live.

Ever since that conversation I have wanted to BE a master. Despite the fact that I continue to figure out how NOT to be a saint, I’m still trying.

Here are some things I am trying to remember:

The question is not who isn’t going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me - Ayn Rand

I suffer from this and I know that there are others that do as well. We think that being “obedient” means being non-assertive.

Wrong. Show me a saint that just sat there and let others bully them out of being awesomely holy.

There are many people that you are going to meet every single day who are going to be intimidated by you even uttering the phrase, “I want nothing more in life than to be a saint, and that means I have to do everything in my power to make you a saint as well.”

People don’t like that and they certainly are not going to sit back and let you just try to be a saint. They are not going to just say no, they are are going to actively try to bring you down to their level. It is much easier to bring someone down to your sin rather than try to bring yourself up to imitate their resolve. This is why any time you try to work harder than anyone, lose weight, pray more, or improve your life, you will lose friends.

People hate when others are more successful then they are and they will try to stop them.

Hard Work

No saint was awesomely holy without working at it.

That is because being a saint is hard. Loving other people is hard. Anything worth doing is so incredibly hard that most people won’t do it. That is why they are able to make statues of saints. Because they are hardcore.

Try it. Go in front of the Blessed Sacrament today and tell Jesus you want to be a saint. No matter what.

You will have to work harder then you have ever had to work at being a a saint. At loving people.

Why?

Because you just invited in the biggest personal spiritual trainer to do whatever He needs to do to fix your sorry self. And that requires a lot of hard work.

Part II tomorrow...