Matthew Kelley 2005

Matthew Kelly is an author who spoke at a conference in 2000. He emphasized the importance of becoming the best version of ourselves. He has a unique vision of life and is passionate about sharing it. His books, including The Rhythm of Life, The Book of Courage, The Shepherd, and A Call to Joy, explore this vision. Matthew combines storytelling with an understanding of today's culture to help us see the challenges and opportunities in our lives. He believes that who we become is more important than what we do or have. He encourages us to prioritize our physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual well-being to find happiness. However, many of us are too busy to focus on these areas and neglect them. Matthew suggests that we need to make time for exercise, healthy eating, sleep, nurturing relationships, reading, and spiritual reflection. He believes that God wants us to become the best version of ourselves and that this is the ultimate dream. and author. Matthew spoke at our conference in 2000. He urged us to become the best version of ourselves. With a keen sense of humor and heartwarming charm, Matthew energized the men there, so we invited him back. From a culture preoccupied with the pursuit of pleasure and possessions, Matthew has emerged with a unique vision of life and a tireless passion for sharing that vision. He spells out that vision in his New York Times bestselling book, The Rhythm of Life, and his other works that include The Book of Courage, The Shepherd, and A Call to Joy. Matthew has a powerful ability to combine storytelling with a deep understanding of today's culture. He captures our imaginations and helps us see in a new light the challenges and opportunities of our everyday lives. Matthew Kelly offers a message that is clear. Who you become is infinitely more important than what you do or what you have. This is a real opportunity to heed his word and make today a life-changing experience. Gentlemen, let's give a warm return welcome for Matthew Kelly. Thank you. Thank you. Good morning. How are you all? We'll see. Three questions to get us started this morning. Question number one, what do you want? What do you want? What do you want from life? What do you want for yourself? What do you want? You want to be happy. Yes or yes? Yes. Yeah, you want to be happy. You want to be happy. I want to be happy. Your spouses want to be happy. Your children want to be happy. Your boss wants to be happy. Your employees want to be happy. Everyone wants to be happy. It's the yearning of the human spirit. The human heart is on a quest for happiness. And our modern culture makes out that this happiness is outside of our reach, that we keep reaching for it but we can never quite grasp it. And that's a lie. That's a myth. You see, there are four aspects of the human person—physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual. Physically, if you exercise regularly, and you eat the right sorts of food, and you sleep regularly, how do you feel? Physically, if you exercise regularly, and you eat the right sorts of food, and you sleep regularly, you feel great. Yes or yes? Yes. You feel more fully alive when you exercise regularly, eat the right sorts of food, sleep regularly. You feel better about yourself. You feel better about life. You're healthier. You're happier. You have a richer, more abundant experience of life. Emotionally, when you give focus and priority to your relationships, what happens? What happens? You feel more fully alive. You're healthier. You're happier. Why? Because as you switch the focus off yourself onto another, your ability to love increases, and as your ability to love increases, your ability to be loved increases. When you bring focus and priority to your relationships, you feel more fully alive. You're healthier. You're happier. You feel better about yourself. You feel better about life, and you have a richer, more abundant experience of life. Intellectually, you take ten minutes a day to read a good book. Not two hours. Ten minutes a day to read a good book. What happens? Your vision of yourself expands. Your vision of the world expands. You become more focused, more alert, more vibrant, more vital. You feel more fully alive. You're healthier. You're happier, and you have a richer, more abundant experience of life when you fuel your mind, when you feed your mind with great thoughts. And finally, spiritually. Spiritually, when we take a few moments to step into the classroom of silence, to step into the classroom of silence, to get reconnected with ourselves and reconnected with our God, what happens? There's a sense of peace there, a sense of purpose, a sense of direction in our lives. And when we have that sense of peace, that sense of purpose, that sense of direction in our lives, we feel more fully alive. We're healthier. We're happier, and we have a richer, more abundant experience of life. Physically, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, we all know the things that make us happy. Yes or yes? Yes. We just don't do them. That's the great modern paradox of our modern culture. On one hand, we all know the things that make us happy. On the other hand, we all want to be happy, but we don't do those things. Why? We're too busy. Too busy doing what? Too busy trying to be happy. And that's the insanity. That's the insanity of our lives. It's not out there somewhere. It's in our own lives. Physically, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, we know the things that make us happy. We just don't do those things. We don't choose those things. Why? Because we're too busy. Physically, we don't exercise regularly. Why? We're too busy. We don't eat the right sorts of food. Why? They take too long to prepare. It's too easy to go through the drive-thru. And let's face it, we're too busy. We don't sleep regularly. Why? Because our to-do lists just get longer and longer and longer every single day. You never get caught up. You just get more and more behind every day. You wake up most days, you feel like your life has a momentum of its own. You wake up most days, you feel like your life would go on with or without you. Caught up. Who are we kidding? Seriously. When was the last time you sat down and you said to yourself, I'm caught up now. So we don't sleep regularly. We don't sleep regularly because we're too busy. We've got these to-do lists to do. And then when it's time to go to bed, we think, oh, if I just get those 35 things done before I go to bed, I'll be ready for tomorrow. We rush around in the last 45 minutes before we go to bed, doing 35 things, telling ourselves, if I can just get these done, I'll be ready for tomorrow. You get to bed, you can't sleep. Why? Because you're all wound up. You wake up the next morning, you're still tired. Why? Because you didn't get enough rest. We don't sleep regularly. Why? Because we're too busy. Emotionally, every single one of us knows the happiest people on the planet are the people who have great relationships. The happiest people on the planet are the people who have great relationships, dynamic collaborations in their lives. And relationships thrive under one condition. Carefree timelessness. Carefree timelessness. You gift any relationship in your life with carefree timelessness, it'll blossom. It'll bloom. It'll thrive. Nothing is surer. Carefree timelessness. But we don't gift our relationships with carefree timelessness. We shove them into five minutes here and two minutes here and an instant message there and an email there and expect them to thrive, and they can't. Carefree timelessness. Who are the experts? Teenagers. Yep. They are the carefree timelessness experts. What do they do? What do teenagers do? They talk on the phone. Yes or yes? Yeah, they talk on the phone. How long do they talk on the phone for? Forever. So Johnny's on the phone. Johnny's your teenage son. Johnny's on the phone, and Johnny's been on the phone for four hours. Johnny gets off the phone. You say to Johnny, Johnny, who were you talking to? Johnny says, Susan. Susan is Johnny's girlfriend. You say to Johnny, Johnny, what did you guys talk about? What does Johnny say? Nothing. Carefree timelessness. Carefree timelessness. It's the reason young people fall in love so easily. Carefree timelessness. And it's the reason the rest of us fall out of love so easily. Lack of it. Carefree timelessness. But we don't gift our relationships with carefree timelessness. Why? They're too busy. Intellectually, we don't take those 10 minutes a day to read good books that expand our vision of ourselves and expand our vision of the world. Why? We're too busy. We all know we'd be happier if we read more books. How many people believe that they would be more miserable if they read more books? There's something magical about books. They expand the way we see the world. They expand the way we see ourselves. They expand the way we see our God. But we don't take those 10 minutes a day to feed our mind with great thoughts. Why? Because we're too busy. And spiritually, we don't take that time to step into the classroom of silence to get reconnected with ourselves and reconnected with our God. Why? We're too busy. Begs the question, doesn't it? What are we all so busy doing? Let me tell you. For the most part, we're too busy doing just about everything that means just about nothing to just about nobody just about anywhere and will mean even less to anyone 100 years from now. And isn't it any wonder that God might want to march into our life and say, what are you guys doing? Giving your life, giving you so many blessings, gifts, talents, opportunities, chances to love, chances to be loved. What are we doing? Question number one, what do you want? You want to be happy. Question number two, what does God want? Most people never ask the question. They are scared to death to ask the question because they think God always wants them to do the one thing they don't want to do. Why do they think that God always wants them to do the one thing they don't want to do? Because it's the one thing they don't want to do. It's a psycho-spiritual disease. It's a psycho-spiritual disease. It doesn't say something about God. It says something about us. What does God want? What does God want for you? What does God want from you? What's God's dream for you? God wants you to become the best version of yourself. That's His dream for you. And what a dream! Can there be a better dream? Can you have a better dream for your children? Can you have a better dream for your spouse than to want your spouse to become the best version of herself, than to want your children to become the best version of themselves? It's the dream. It's the ultimate dream. It doesn't get better than that. And that's God's dream for us. He doesn't want you to become some second-rate version of your friends. He doesn't want you to become some second-rate version of your parents or your colleagues at work or your siblings. And He wants us to stop being second-rate versions of ourselves. What does God want? He doesn't want us just to survive. He wants us to thrive. He wants us to thrive. God wants us to become the best version of ourselves. Jesus said in John's Gospel, chapter 10, verse 10, I have come so that you may have life and have it to the fullest. And that's what He's calling us to. He's calling us to that abundant life. He's calling us to thrive, not merely to survive. He's calling us to thrive. What does He want? He wants you to become the best version of yourself. And that's our essential purpose. The discovery of this one truth can change your life more than any other idea. Our essential purpose is to become the best version of ourselves. And the reason this one idea can change our lives more than any other is because in a world where nothing seems to make sense anymore, everything makes sense in relation to our essential purpose. Everything makes sense in relation to our essential purpose. And that's a pretty big claim, and we'll take a look at that. But before we do that, let's make sure we've got this. Let me ask you a question here. What is our essential purpose? Yeah, I wasn't too passionate, I've got to tell you that. Our essential purpose is to become the best version of ourselves. What is our essential purpose? Yeah, I think you've been sitting down too long, I think you'd better stand up. Come on, stand on up now. Don't put your hands in your pockets and don't fold your arms, it doesn't work that way. I want to hear passion, I want to hear purpose. What is our essential purpose? A human being has an extraordinary ability to improve itself, doesn't it? All right, have a seat. Our essential purpose is to become the best version of ourselves. I make a big deal out of it because it's a big deal. It's a big deal. Why? Because everything makes sense in relation to our essential purpose, to become the best version of ourselves. Let's take a look at that claim. What makes a good friend, people? What makes a good friend? Is it just because the person's fun to hang out with? Is it just because the guy has nice toys? No. Go home tonight, make a list of your friends and then go through the list and ask yourself, which of those people are helping you to become the best version of yourself? You find a friend like that, you best hang on to a friend like that, they're pretty hard to find. But then go back through the list and ask yourself, which of those people are you helping to become the best version of themselves? Because that's what makes you a great friend. Everything makes sense in relation to our essential purpose. What makes a good book? A good book is a book you put down, you say, that book challenged me to become the best version of myself. What makes a good movie? Not because it's got some megastar in it. A good movie is a movie you walk out of saying, that movie challenged me to become the best version of myself. What makes good music? Good music's music when you listen to it, it inspires you to want to be a better person. Everything makes sense in relation to our essential purpose. Why do we go to work? Is it just to make money? Is it just because we have to? Well it shouldn't be. Making money is the secondary value of work. The secondary value of work is making money. The primary value of work is that it helps us become the best version of ourselves. When we work hard, when we work well, when we pay attention to the details of our work, we develop character, we develop virtue, the building blocks of the best version of ourselves. Everything makes sense in relation to our essential purpose. What is our essential purpose? To become the best version of ourselves. What's God's dream for marriage? What's God's dream for marriage? It's not just two people coming together, living together, paying the bills together and fighting together, you know? God's dream for marriage is two people coming together, challenging and encouraging each other to become the best version of themselves and then raising children and educating them to become the best version of themselves. Everything makes sense in relation to our essential purpose. Everything should be embraced or rejected according to how it affects our essential purpose. So, next time you're thinking of going through the drive-thru, only question you've got to ask yourself is, is eating this food going to help me become the best version of myself? Truth is, we've lost the dream. We've lost the dream. God's dream for us to become the best version of ourselves. We've lost it as a culture and we've lost it as a church. And to give you an idea of how far our culture has turned its back on our essential purpose, let me ask you a question. When was the last time you got up from in front of the television set and you said to yourself, yeah, I am definitely a better person for having watched that show. Definitely. We've lost the dream. Our culture has rejected the dream. Our culture has turned its back on God's dream for us to become the best version of ourselves. And that's why so many people lead lives of quiet desperation. Oh, people, let's think about it. We prescribe more medications for depression in America today for people under the age of 30 than for any other illness. The prescription of medication for depression for people under the age of 30 has tripled every five years for the last 25 years in the United States. Think about it. The suicide rate amongst young adults and teens in America between the ages of 14 and 30 has increased 5,000% in the last five decades. Think about it. Sooner or later, we're going to be forced to recognize that if you disconnect people from their essential purpose, they become miserable. They become desperate. They begin to wonder whether life is worth living. And they lead lives of quiet desperation or worse. Sooner or later, we're going to be forced to recognize that if we rob people of their essential purpose, they become miserable. We've got to take it. We've got to put it back at the center of our lives. How do we do that? By putting it at the center of our decision-making process. In every decision you've got to make, the only question you've got to ask yourself is, which of these options is going to help me become the best version of myself? In making decisions for your children, the only question you've got to ask yourself is, not what does the child want, but which of these options is going to help your son, your daughter become the best version of himself or herself? And to ask your children, when they're thinking of doing something, to ask them. Let them come to the conclusion. Just ask them. Do you think that's going to help you become the best version of yourself? They'll know. We've got to start asking the right questions. We've got to start asking the right questions. Three questions. Number one, what do you want? You want to be happy. Number two, what does God want? He wants you to become the best version of yourself. Number three, raise your hand if you would like a little bit more energy in your life. I see some of you need it so bad you can't even get your hands up. That's all right, we're going to help you with that. One of the great myths of the 20th century, one of the great myths of the 20th century, one that many of you would be familiar with from the business world, was that time is our most valuable resource. They kept plugging away at this mantra, this credo, this theme that time is our most valuable resource. So we went out and we got Franklin Covey Planner so we could plan our time, and then a little bit later we went out and we got Palm Pilot so we could plan some more time. We listened to books about time management, we read books about time management, we listened to tapes about time management, we took courses about time management, because they kept telling us time is your most valuable resource. Time is important, time is money, guard your time, protect your time, defend your time, don't waste your time. Time is life, life is time. If you're wasting your time, you're wasting your life, don't waste your life. Time is important, time is your most valuable resource. Time is your most valuable resource. Time is your most valuable resource. Well as it turns out, people, they were wrong about that. Why? Because time, 24 hours a day, you get 24 hours, I get 24 hours, you get 24 hours, it doesn't matter how much money you have, you still just get 24 hours. Everybody gets 24 hours, it doesn't matter how well you kick a football, you still just get 24 hours. But some people, they're able to do an awful lot more with their 24 hours than others. Yes or yes? Why? Because energy is our most valuable resource, not time. Energy is our most valuable resource. Our experience of life expands the more energy we have. The more energy we have, the richer, the more abundant experience of life we have. What stops you from being more engaged in your work? Lack of energy. What stops you from being more engaged in your relationships? Lack of energy. What stops you from being more engaged with your God? Lack of energy. Because when the time comes, you're tired, you're exhausted, you're overwhelmed, you can't be bothered. We need energy, people. It's not like there's some energy guru out there controlling all the energy, just sending a little bit of energy down each day, and like we need to beg to the energy guru, please energy guru, please give me a little bit more energy. I need a little bit more energy guru. No, who's in control of the energy? We are. We're in control of the energy. Let me ask you a question. If you woke up tomorrow morning and all of a sudden you owned a million dollar racehorse, you'd be pretty happy about that. Yes or yes? Yeah, if you woke up tomorrow morning, all of a sudden you owned a million dollar racehorse, you'd probably be pretty happy about that. Let me ask you another question. How many of you would let your million dollar racehorse eat at McDonald's? I'm just curious. You wouldn't do it. You wouldn't disrespect your million dollar racehorse by feeding it McDonald's. Why? Because you know it wouldn't be good for your million dollar racehorse to eat McDonald's, don't you? And if you owned a million dollar racehorse, there's probably a fairly good chance you want your million dollar racehorse to win a race. So how many of you, leading up to the big race, are going to make McDonald's part of your million dollar racehorse's training regimen? Just call up to McDonald's and say, listen, we'll have 35 Big Macs, 16 super-sized fries, and 12 of those Cokes as big as my head, please. You wouldn't do it. You wouldn't disrespect your million dollar racehorse by feeding it McDonald's. Why? You know it wouldn't be good for it, you know it wouldn't get any energy from it, and you know it wouldn't help it win the race. You wouldn't disrespect your million dollar racehorse in that way. But you and I, temple of the Holy Spirit, straight through the drive-thru. Yeah, we're a mess. We are a mess. We've got work to do. We are messed up. Energy, we're in control of the energy. Alright, those of you who are not already asleep, let me get you to close your eyes for a moment here. Close your eyes for a moment. I'm going to read you a list of words. I want you to pick out the word that most describes how you most often feel in the midst of your daily activity. Depressed, exhausted, burned out, defeated, overwhelmed, angry, anxious, fearful, defensive, resentful, mellow, serene, confident, joyful, enthusiastic, and invigorated. Alright, open your eyes. Everybody got a word? Yes or yes? The four levels of energy. The first level of energy, depressed, exhausted, burned out, defeated, overwhelmed. We all experience those from time to time. Yes or yes? How often do we want to experience those? Never. The second level of energy, angry, fearful, anxious, defensive, resentful. How often do we want to experience those? Never. The third level of energy, mellow and serene. We all experience those from time to time. Yes or yes? Fleeting moments, aren't they? And the fourth level of energy, confident, joyful, enthusiastic, and invigorated. How often do we want to experience those? All the time. All the time. How many people don't like hanging out with people who are confident, joyful, enthusiastic, and invigorated? How many of you guys think that the church needs more people who are confident, joyful, enthusiastic, and invigorated? So my question is, what are you waiting for? Because now is our time, people. And if not you and me, then who? If not you and me, then who? Now is our time. Three questions. What do you want? Do you want to be happy? What does God want? He wants you to become the best version of yourself. Why? Because He knows it's the only way you'll ever be happy. What do we all want a little bit more of? Energy. Where's the connection? Well, when you look at the things that truly make you happy, I mean bring you lasting happiness in a changing world, physically, exercise regularly, eat the right sorts of food, sleep regularly, emotionally, give focus and priority to your relationships, intellectually, read great books that expand your vision of yourself and expand your vision of the world, and spiritually, silence, solitude, scriptures, sacraments. These are the things that bring us happiness. They're also the things that cause us to become the best version of ourselves. Yes or yes? And they're also the things that flood our lives with energy. Yes or yes? And that's the connection. It isn't that happiness is outside of our reach. It's that we have simply stopped choosing it. We must begin to choose it again with the courage that God gives us and the grace that God gives us through the silence, the solitude, the scriptures, the sacraments, to go out and celebrate the best version of ourselves and certainly to defend the best version of ourselves. And that will no doubt be called for in many moments in our lives. But what I want to talk to you here before we finish today about mostly is Catholicism, because I believe we find ourselves at a turning point in Catholic history. It's been a few very difficult years for the church here in America. Yes or yes? And there's a great many tragedies caught up in all of that, but some that we have overlooked. The scandals are a tragedy. The cover-up is a tragedy. The sufferings of the victims and their family are a tragedy. The fact that most priests can't go anywhere without this big dark cloud of suspicion over them anymore is a tragedy. But there are greater tragedies, I think, in all of this for us to recognize, and the first is that as Catholics we have forgotten our story. We've forgotten our story. And worse than that, we're allowing the anti-Catholic American media to tell our story, or some distortion of it, and they've got the American people convinced that Catholicism is about a handful of priests who don't know what it means to be a priest. And it isn't. There are 1.2 billion Catholics on the planet. Billion, with a B. The largest faith community on earth. There are almost 70 million Catholics in America. Now let's put that in perspective. That's about 20 million more people than it takes to get a president elected. Well, we've forgotten our story. We've forgotten our story. And every single day the Catholic Church feeds more people, houses more people, clothes more people, visits more imprisoned people, takes care of more sick people, and educates more people than any other institution on the planet earth could ever hope to. And let me ask you a couple of questions. When Jesus was alive, where were the sick people? They were in hospitals, right? And then Jesus, he went to the hospital to visit the sick people. And he went up and down the aisles and he cured all the people. No? No, never any such thing as a hospital. Who are we kidding? Everything that's good about modern health care emerged through the religious orders. Everything that's good about modern health care, I mean before the HMOs kidnapped it, you know, everything that's good about modern health care emerged through the religious orders. It emerged through the church. Let me ask you another question. Raise your hand if you were born to nobility, if your parents are kings, queens, dukes, earls, duchesses, knights. None of us. There wouldn't be a single educated person here today if it wasn't for the Catholic Church. Because people like you and I, we never got an education before the church came along and offered education for the common man, for the masses. Education was only ever for the elite, for the nobility. Before the church came along and educated people like you and I, most of the Western world today is educated. Because of the Catholic Church, people, we have forgotten our story. Most Catholics are ashamed to be Catholic. Is our history without blemish? Absolutely not. Will our future be without blemish? Absolutely not. Why? Because we're human. We get involved. We get in God's way. Oh, we get in God's way, don't we? We get in His way and we mess it up. But despite that, He uses us. And for 2,000 years, wherever you find men and women who call themselves Catholics, you find a group of people making a phenomenal contribution to their local community, to their national community, and to the international community. And that is something we have overlooked. We have forgotten our story and we desperately need to rediscover it. The greatest tragedy is not that we've forgotten our story. The greatest tragedy is that we're no longer considered a spiritual people. The church is considered to be a massive economic community. The church is considered to be a massive social welfare committee. The church is considered to be a massive political power. But the church is no longer considered to be a spiritual people. And that is where the heart of the crisis is. Because if we ever wish to be taken seriously ever again as Catholics, we desperately have to return to our spiritual roots. We will never be taken seriously again until we are considered a spiritual people again. And that's what we're here for today, to give some thought to that, to give some thought to that. And what I'd like to talk to you about here before we finish is the mass. What is the most common thing we hear said about the mass today? It's boring. We're used to hearing it from little kids. We've heard it from little kids for generations. The disturbing reality amongst modern Catholics is that more and more adults are saying that mass is boring. Kids are coming to their parents now and saying, Mom, Dad, do we have to go to church? Church is boring. You know what parents are thinking to themselves? They're thinking it, they're not saying it. They're thinking to themselves, you know what kid, you're right. Mass is boring. But we're going to go together and be bored. It's a family tradition. We've got a problem here people. There are 1.2 billion Catholics on the planet. There are almost 70 million Catholics in America. The central experience of Catholicism is the mass. And most people think it's boring. We've got a problem. We've got to address it, desperately. We've been trying to cover it up and band-aid it here and band-aid it there. We haven't got to the heart of the matter yet. We've been trying to do that for longer than I've been alive. We've got a problem here people and if we can't get to this one, if we can't get to this one, we can't get to it. Like I say, we've been trying to get to it but we missed the point. I try to address it in my book, Rediscovering Catholicism. Imagine this. You're driving home from work next Monday after a long day and you turn on your radio. You hear a little blurb about a village in India where three or four people have suddenly died from a flu that's never been seen before. You don't think too much about it. But coming home from church the following Sunday, you hear another spot on the radio. Only now they say it's not three or four people dead but 30,000 people dead in the Black Hills of India. By Monday morning when you get up, it's the lead story. Only now they say it's not just India but Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Northern Africa and everybody's wondering how we're going to contain this thing. France closes its borders but it's too late and the disease breaks out in Paris. Britain closes its borders but it's too late and the disease breaks out in Southampton, Liverpool, London. Panic strikes, as best they can tell. After you contract the disease, you have it for one week before you even know it. Then you have four days of unbelievable symptoms and then you die. And it's Tuesday morning when the President of the United States makes the following announcement. Due to a national security risk, all flights to and from America have been cancelled. If you have loved ones overseas, I'm sorry, they cannot come home. They cannot come home until we find a cure for this thing. Within four days, America is plunged into an unbelievable fear. People are wondering what if it comes to this country. Preachers on television are saying it's the scourge of God. And on Wednesday you're at church for a meeting when someone runs in from the parking lot screaming, turn on a radio. And while everyone listens to a small radio, the announcement is made that two women are lying in a hospital in New York, dying of the mystery flu. It's come to America. People are working around the clock trying to find an antidote but nothing is working. The disease envelops the country. Breaks out in California, Oregon, Oregon, Arizona, Florida, Massachusetts. It's as though it's just sweeping in from the borders. And then all of a sudden the news comes out. The code has been broken. A cure can be found. A vaccine can be made. But it's going to take the blood of somebody who hasn't been infected. And so all of us, we're asked to go to our downtown hospital. Sure enough, by the time you and I get down there, it's late Friday night and they've got long lines of people. They've got doctors and nurses coming out and taking blood and putting labels on it. They take your blood and they say, wait here in the parking lot. And you stand around with your friends, with your family, waiting, wondering, scared. Thinking to yourself, what on earth is going on here? Thinking to yourself, how did it ever come to this? Wondering to yourself, could this be the end of the world? And then suddenly a young man comes racing out of the hospital. He's screaming a name and waving a clipboard. You don't hear him at first. He screams the name again. You don't hear him again. But then your son hugs his jacket and says, Dad, that's me they're calling. Before you know it, they've grabbed your son. They're racing him into the hospital. You say, well, wait a minute. Hold on, where are you going? What are you doing? They turn around and say, it's OK. His blood is clean. It's perfect. We think he's got the right blood type. We just need to make sure one more time that he doesn't have the disease. Five minutes later, out come the doctors and nurses, crying and hugging one another. Some of them are even laughing. The first time you've seen anybody laughing more than a week. And an old doctor walks over to you and your wife and says, thank you. Your son's blood, it's clean, it's perfect. We'll be able to use it to make a vaccine. As the word begins to spread across the parking lot, people begin to celebrate. And then the doctor pulls you and your spouse aside again and he says, I'm going to need a moment. You step over and he says, we didn't realise that the donor would be a child and what we're going to need is a consent form signed. Seems simple enough, so you begin to sign a consent form. But as you do, you realise the box for the number of pints of blood to be taken is empty. So you stop signing. You look up at the old doctor and you say, how many pints? And that is when the doctor's smile fades. He says, we had no idea it would be a child. We weren't prepared. We're going to need it all. What do you mean you're going to need it all? He's my only son. He grabs you by the shoulders, he shakes you, he says, we're talking about the whole world here. Do you understand that? Do you get that? You say to him, but I mean, can't you give him a transfusion? He says, if we had clean blood, we would, but we don't. Please, will you sign the form? We need to hurry. You sign the form. You realise it's the only thing to do. And then he says to you, would you like to have a moment with your son before we get started? Can you walk back to that hospital room where your son sits there saying, mummy, daddy, what's going on? Could you tell your son you love him? And that you would never let anything happen to him? Unless, of course, it just had to be. And then when the old doctors and nurses come back and say, I'm sorry, we've got to get started. People all over the world are dying. Could you leave? Can you just turn around and walk out where your son sits there saying, mummy, daddy, what's going on? Where are you going? Why are you leaving? Why have you abandoned me? And then next week, next Sunday, for example, when they hold a ceremony to honour your son, some folks don't bother to come because, let's face it, they've got better things to do. A whole bunch of people come with a pretentious smile and just pretend to care. Another whole bunch of people come and sit around and say, this is pretty boring. Wouldn't you want to stand up and say, excuse me, people, my son, he died so that you could have the extraordinary life that you have? Maybe that's what God wants to say. Maybe in the midst of this culture that's all consumed with what's in it for me, what do I get out of it and how quickly do I get it, maybe we've missed the point. Maybe we've overlooked the point. We want to have a richer experience of Mass. I'll tell you what to do. Get yourself a journal. Get yourself a journal tomorrow. Go out and get yourself a journal. Write down on the front cover, God show me one way in this Mass I can become a better person this week. Bring it to church with you on Sunday every week. And listen, listen to the music, listen to the readings, listen to the prayers, listen to the quiet of your heart, listen to the preaching. That one thing, it will knock you down. But I'll tell you what will happen. Human behavior is so predictable. You'll all go out tomorrow and get your journals. Yes or yes? Of course you will. Why? Because we love buying stuff. You take it home, you write down on the front cover, God show me one way in this Mass I can become a better person this week. How will you write it? Neatly. Very neatly. Why? Because we start everything neatly. You'll bring it to church with you on Sunday and you'll sit down in your pew and you'll actually be in the pew before the music starts. I know it's a novel idea. You'll actually be in the pew before Father gets to the altar. They call that early. And you'll sit down and you'll open your journal. You'll look at that question for God and you'll say, God just show me one way in this Mass I can become a better person this week. And then you'll listen. You'll listen to the music. You'll listen to the prayers. That's not Father talking to himself. You'll listen to the readings. You'll listen to the preaching. You'll listen to the quiet of your heart. And that one thing, it will knock you over. It will knock you over. You won't be sitting there thinking, I wonder if that was the one thing. You won't be sitting there thinking, oh there might be a better one thing later. No, no, no. Now the one thing, it'll knock you over and you'll write it down on its own page. You resist the temptation to write down five things, you write down one thing. One thing's the most you can handle each week. You write one thing on its own page, you close the journal, you'll be inspired. You'll be centered. You'll be focused. You'll go home from church and you'll say, man was it really that easy? That's the tragedy people. It was, it is and it will be. It had nothing to do with the priest, the altar service, the readers, the Eucharistic ministers, the kneelers, the church, the microphone system, the coffee after mass, the parking lot, or any of those other things that we've been trying to improve here in the last 25 years. It's got everything to do with the way we approach it. You do that every Sunday for a year, you will have the most powerful spiritual resource. You can take it to your quiet time each day. You can flip through it. You can say, how am I doing in that one? Good. How am I doing in that one? Not so good. How am I doing in that one? Eh, I forgot about that one. How am I doing in that one? How am I doing in that one? Our lives change when our habits change. Our lives change when our habits change. It's not three o'clock and God doesn't have any favorites. Our lives change when our habits change. Our relationships change when our habits within relationships change. Our families change when our habits as members of families change. And our church will change when our habits as members of church change. Get yourself a journal, people. Imagine every person in your parish with a journal coming to church on Sunday asking the question, God, just show me one way in this mass I can become a better person this week. Everyone can do it from three years old to 113 years old. Imagine the conversations you'd have with your spouse. Now you've got spiritual intimacy because you know what you're struggling with. Imagine the conversations you'd have with your kids. Now you've got a connection. Imagine the conversations you'd have with your pastor. Ask the question, people. Get yourself a journal. Imagine your parish would be on fire. Take it one step further. There are almost 70 million Catholics in America. Almost 70 million Catholics in America. Imagine every Catholic in America coming to church on Sunday with their journal looking for their one thing. Imagine every Catholic in America, 70 million Catholics in America coming to church on Sunday looking for the one way they can become a better person this week. You'd have a Catholic revolution in six weeks. Please. 70 million Catholics in America? It's a sleeping giant. It's a sleeping giant. I'd like to wake that giant up. I think it's time. God bless you. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you, Matthew. After those comments about McDonald's, I'm sure glad I don't own one.