Jack Beers:
You write in here that your dream for the book is to unleash a tidal wave of holy moments. And then actually there's more to it. You say by raising an amazing grassroots movement to transform our culture one holy moment at a time. What gives you hope that, that's possible? And what does that look like?
Matthew Kelly:
It's the only solution. And I think it's important to be clear about that. It isn't one of many solutions. It isn't one option. It's not like, oh, here's six options for the solutions to our problems as individuals, as a church and as a world, pick whichever one of the six you want. This is the only one. It is the solution. And I've known that my whole life. I think I probably have not spoken as boldly about it as I should have in retrospect, but this is the solution to our problems. And that's obviously an enormous statement. And I do think it is important to break it down. But if people have like, let's say a troubled relationship, how many holy moments would it take to turn that relationship around? Okay. I don't know. It might be one, it might be 10, it might be 10,000. I don't know.
Might be one, it might be 10, it might be 10,000. I don't know, but I do know that if you pour enough holy moments into that relationship, it will transform that relationship. And the whole world is just a multiplication of one relationship. And so what can transform a single relationship can transform the world because that's what the world is. It's us relating with each other, formally, informally, as individuals, as groups, as families, and of course, as nations.
Jack Beers:
People have loved for a long time. The quote that mother Teresa has, which is, "You want to change the world? Go home and love your family." And at one sense I love it, in another sense I thought it was frustrating because I've always felt like, "Okay, I'm in either one of two states in my life, which is one, what am I supposed to do with my life? Like, I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know where I'm going. I don't know what's next. I need to figure this thing out. Or God has answered that question.
I'm in that thing." And now I'm like, "Well, how do I do this?" And it feels like holy moments is the answer to that question. When my kids come to me like, "Dad, what do you think I should do with my life?" This is the answer. It's like, "Well, I'm not exactly sure. You've got this, but at this state of your life, the answer that you could... Is holy moments. Just start having holy moments, just start creating some holy momentum in your life. And amazing things will happen."
That was kind of what I took from it. And the practical aspect of it and how you kind of build this tidal wave of goodness in your own life. Because I feel like I can get so busy getting bogged down on the idea of these questions. What am I doing or where am I going or what's happening that I forget to live into the answers. Do you think that will help build this holy momentum if we stop sort of getting distracted by these things and just focus on this concept for a while?
Matthew Kelly:
Yes. But again, I think holy moments is the answer to those questions. So you are asking those questions, "What should I do with my life? How is the best way to live? Should I do this or should I do that? I've got this opportunity and this possibility. And what should say yes to what should I say no to?" And you've got a whole world of people who are asking very similar questions, right? In one way or another. And when that person came to mother Teresa and asked her that question, that person was representing the whole world.
Everyone who had ever lived and everyone who will ever live, who have all of those questions. And all of those questions, what we're really saying is I want to see more clearly. I want clarity. I'm confused. I'm living in a world of chaos. In that confusion and chaos, I want clarity. And what mother Teresa was doing was providing a starting point saying, "If you want clarity, start here." She wasn't saying, "This is the only thing you ever do.", When we get into that chaos, when we get into confusion, when we feel overwhelmed, what we need is a starting point and great leaders give us that starting point.
And that's what she did in that quote. And that's what she did in her life and in her work. And really in so much of her writings, which primarily was speeches. Holy moments is the pathway to clarity. I don't care what your question is, okay? Whatever question you are trying to answer in your life, whatever question you're wrestling with in your head, heart or soul create holy... Every holy moment you collaborate with God to create will bring more clarity to that question. And so it is multidimensional. It is a path to clarity, and it is a path out of the chaos and confusion of our lives in the world into the clarity that God wants us to live and thrive in.
Matthew Kelly
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