Touched By Grace

Holidays as an Excuse

March 24th, 2009 by Todd Lemieux Print This Article Print This Article ·

Last week we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day and I let loose a little.  I ate food I don’t normally eat, indulged in a little more corned-beef, cabbage, sugar coated bread, desserts, snacks… you name it.

I think my indulgence was probably a little tame compared to how some others chose to “indulge”.  Certainly St. Patrick isn’t fond of his feast day being turned into a an excuse for succumbing to weaknesses to sex and alcohol, among other things.  I think that too many times if we look for occasions when we can indulge ourselves, we are going to find them.  We won’t just find it on St. Patrick’s Day.  We can find it on St. Joseph’s Day, the Feast of St. Stephen… the list goes on.  Let’s ignore the fact that our society uses Lent as an excuse to party, Easter as an excuse for spring break, and so on.

Look at yourself in the mirror.  It is difficult for me to do sometimes.  Because when I look at myself in the mirror I see the reasons why I do things that I do.  I know that I want to be a better husband.  I know that I want to be a better father.  I know that I want to be a healthier person.  I know that I want to be more productive in my job.  I know that I want to be more financially responsible.  I know that I want to be holy.

Then why do I continue to do things that go against those goals?

Probably for my own justifications for my own sins.  On some level I don’t really believe that those small indiscretions are really taking me away from the goal in the long term.

I can spend time cruising the Internet for the next big article rather than spending time with my wife.

I can spend time watching my favorite TV shows rather than spending time with my daughters.

I can eat sugar and junk food rather than eating real food that God has given us.

I can spend time doing things at work that contribute nothing to my job rather than seeking holiness for my students.

I can spend money on something that is going to be worthless in 24 hours rather than show some discretion and patience.

I can commit this little sin rather than seek holiness in all that I do.

Forget the fact that it is St. Patrick’s Mardi Gras New Year’s Break Parade.  It is quite simply time to stop rationalizing and to accept the fact that each time I chose any of the options above, I am making the point that I do not really want to be the best husband, father, productive, healthy, fiscally responsible, and, in the end, holy.

That sentence is hard to read.  It was difficult to write because it is true.  I have settled for mediocrity in my life in all of those areas and I no longer want to do so.  I no longer want to be simply “better than most” according to my own judgmental attitude toward the world.  I need to recognize that I have farther to go than anyone and I need to be better now.

This can only happen with Grace.  It can only occur by continuing to surrender myself to God and His will rather than trying to force my own will onto the world around me.

Excuses or no excuses, if we are going to look into the mirror and see ourselves the way that Christ sees us, we need to make an honest examination of who we are and where we are going in life.

The person Christ wants you to be is waiting for you.

Todd Lemieux is the founder of The Sainthood Project which seeks to help people pursue sanctity every day. He is a husband and father, speaker, writer, and organ donor. His first book, co-written with Mark Hart is entitled, 100 Things Every Catholic Teen Should Know and he has contributed to other resources, including the publications on his website. The Sainthood Project can be found on Twitter (@saintproject), Facebook (The Sainthood Project) and on the web at www.thesainthoodproject.com.



  • Warren Jewell

    . . . and you will find that ‘best of you’ has our gracious Savior already with the ‘best of you’!

    First, Mr. Lemieux and all, welcome to the human race, which, as Saint Paul notes:
    “. . . all [of us, you and me, every and all humans, no exceptions but by God’s powerful and special graces, the tabernacle vessel of Mary’s person and body] have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)

    He goes on in Romans about his own sinful nature, having picked up more on the disordered abuse of the goods within the Commandments simply by knowing what the Commandments would stop him from doing. He is confounded even in his will by the sin he knows. Do let us remember that God gave the Israelites and us (me) the Commandments because I just have not quit my disorders in my sin. Let us not blame God or His law because it is we – I! – who caused Him to state them. (And, let’s face it – if I were the only sinner of all humanity, and He came to die to save me, first He would have given me His law to give me help along my sinful way out of my sinful way – if you get my meaning: that God’s helps are always holy and salvific.)

    That is to say, as Saint Paul has it in very assimilable first-person:
    . . . if it had not been for the law, I should not have known sin. I should not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, finding opportunity in the commandment, wrought in me all kinds of covetousness. Apart from the law sin lies dead.
    I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died;
    the very commandment which promised life proved to be death to me    . [??!!]
    For sin, finding opportunity in the commandment, deceived me and by it killed me.
    So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good    . (Romans 7:7-13) [That is to say, by my nature, I am sinner for taking to that which is prohibited within the Commandments, only by sinful disorder in me due to my originally sinful nature.]
    Saint Paul goes on: We know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. So then it is no longer I that do it, but sin which dwells within me. (verses 14-17)
    For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. (verse 19)
    Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I [that best “I”] that do it, but sin which dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? [Who else?] Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:20-25)

    I cannot find the ‘best of me’ until I find Christ Jesus, Who awaits my closest touch with Him there. After all, praised be our God, the very Mass and Eucharist witnesses with a mystery of profound simplicity that Jesus just loves to deliver His graces very personally.

    And, to all, may you find Jesus, and with Him who He means for you to be.
    My Lord and my God, of Your love, be pleased to guide us all to Yourself.