Session 5 Summary

In this session, Bishop Barron talks about Path Three to Holiness, that is, "your life is not about you." In Path One and Two, Jesus gathers and heals us. Now he sends us on a mission. In the Bible, when God appears and speaks, inevitably He sends people out. Moses didn’t stay in the burning bush, and Isaiah didn’t keep staying in the temple. They, and Jeremiah, and Saul of Tarsus, were all sent by God to do His work. So, yes, it is our lives, but it is about God's mission for us. We are ingredients in a higher Will that wants to use our lives for His purpose.

In John 21:18, Jesus said to Peter, "When you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go." Many of us probably can relate to this. In the first half of our lives, i.e., when we are young, we set our own agenda: our desire, our plan, our goals. But there is a Power within us that can lead us to a "place" that is infinitely better than we can imagine in the second half of our lives. That Power is the Holy Spirit.

The challenge is for us to surrender to that Power; to play our role – however small that is – in God’s Theo-drama instead of starring in our own Ego-drama. Bishop Barron said that to find God’s purpose for us is like to find a treasure of great price in the field. You sell everything you have when you find it. The saints did that.  

Bishop Barron also talked about 1985 book “Habits of the Heart” by Robert N. Bellah. Bellah wrote about “Sheilaism” which goes something like this: “I believe in God. I'm not a religious fanatic. I can't remember the last time I went to church. My faith has carried me a long way. It's Sheilaism. Just my own little voice ... It's just try to love yourself and be gentle with yourself. You know, I guess, take care of each other.” It is an individualistic religion of many Americans. My life is about me.

Contrast that to St. Paul. In the opening of his letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul said, “Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus.” St. Paul made it clear that he worked on God’s agenda, not his. And so it should be for all of us. With all our power, abilities, and beauty; with everything we’ve got, we should do His will.