Msgr. Don Fischer reflects on how the reward of our hard work will naturally resonate to others without us even trying.

When we talk about wholeness, holiness, perfection, we're not talking about sinlessness. We're talking about authenticity. A life that is led with a kind of paying attention to who you are and what you're doing and inviting always over and over again the light of Christ, the light of divinity, to guide you. And that all sounds like you're moving. And it is true. You're moving to a more authentic self, a more perfect self, in a sense, perfection, not being without mistakes, without fault, but being right on target, hitting the mark over and over and over again. But if that sounds like I'm talking about religion, that's going to create a wonderful you. Well, what do you do with a wonderful you? You look in the mirror and say, I'm a wonderful me.

The whole idea of everything that God invites you to engage in that is your authentic self is not for you. It's for someone else. It's for a stranger. It's for the person you've lived with your whole life. It's for all these other ways in which God mysteriously says, I don't want to be the sole source of bringing light into people through my direct contact with them. I want it to be in you and in others, and I want to flow from one to the other. And the flow is always in the direction of care, love, forgiveness, guidance, and presence. So when you think about the perfection that God is calling you to, it's never to stand before him and and like the rich man in the Scripture and say, “What else do I need to do?

I've got it all worked out. I'm just about as good as I could possibly be.” And he says, “Let go of that kind of possessiveness of goodness. The goodness isn't for you. It's for somebody else.” And the secret is it's only going to bring you joy when you share it, when you give it away. So be generous.

Have a great day.

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