Chapter Six – What Is The Authentic Life?

“Every generation turns its back on God in its own way.” We have seen in Part One of Rediscover Catholicism how this has been occurring in today’s world where most people are, as Henry David Thoreau said, “leading lives of quiet desperation.” People are caught up in the hustle and bustle of life with barely enough time to breathe. They are not living the thriving lives that God wants for us but instead are merely surviving. How we get from surviving to thriving is learning to live the authentic life.

Matthew Kelly writes that “the greatest tragedy of modern Catholicism is the way we have become so distracted from the goal of the Christian life.” What is the goal of the Christian life? It is living holy lives. The authentic life orients us towards the Christian life. We are all called to live holy lives – it’s our essential purpose. God yearns for us to be coworkers with him in this work of holiness. Holiness is something God does in us and not something we achieve. What does it mean then to be holy?

Everyone has an idea of what it means to be holy, and very often that vision is completely wrong. Many people think only priest or religious people can be holy. They think that to be holy means living apart from the world, praying all day long, being deeply serious, never smiling, and despising everything about the world. This concept of holiness is a manmade distortion as holiness brings us to life. Holiness doesn’t dampen emotions; it elevates them. The surest signs of holiness are not how often a person goes to church, or how many hours they pray, or many spiritual books they read, or good works they perform. The surest sign is their insatiable desire to become all God created them to be.

Living a holy life means letting our decisions be guided by the Holy Spirit. It means allowing each moment to be all it can be. It’s experiencing each opportunity as the chance to grow and become a better-version–of-yourself. Holiness is allowing God to fill every corner of your being; allowing God to use the moments of our lives, little and big, to transform us into all he has created us to be. To live an authentic life is to become fully yourself, perfected by the grace of God through the conscious, disciplined, and persistent attainment of virtue.

The great depression of our age is not economic but spiritual. People have stopped asking “why are we here” because they have seen nothing to make them believe anyone has the answer. The Church desperately needs people who will stand up and remind us of our great spiritual heritage by showing us the pathway to Christian life through the example of living holy lives. God calls each of us to holiness by being our true self. This call to holiness is a response to our deep desire for happiness. We cry out to God saying, “show me the pathway to happiness for my heart is hungry,” and God replies, “Walk with me, be all I created you to be, become the best-version-of-yourself.”

Matthew closes the chapter by reminding us that the authentic life manifest itself differently in every person through our needs, talents, and desires. God in touch with your essential purpose - to live a holy life – and once you have found it, keep it always in your sight. This is the great spiritual secret of life.

Question

Do you know someone who you consider holy? What about their life defines holiness for you? What do you think it would take for you to be holy?

In peace,
Dan