Morale officers, take note

“Being a saint is God’s main goal for you,” Rev. James Martin SJ told Wheeling (WV) Jesuit U. graduates, but it was downhill from there:

The key to becoming a good saint for God [he added] is to always “remember to be yourself.”

“God celebrates diversity,” he said. “We are meant to be ourselves.”

But what if yourself is no damn good?  You routinely lie, cheat, and call people bad names.  Will “Be yourself” do it then?

Other advice landed better, if platitudinously:

“You are called to lead holy lives in your own way – in your own careers,” he said. “I can do something you can’t do, you can do something I can’t do – together let us do something for God. In our diversity, we can do something for God.

Diversity, eh?  That’s the burning issue?  No prayer and meditation?

“The biggest barrier to overcome is thinking you have to be someone else,” said Martin. “You are overlooking the beauty of what God has created.”

I do not think that’s the biggest barrier, being much inclined to give higher rating to putting Number One first, to the exclusion of other blokes. 

In closing, Martin told the graduates the key is to “bloom where you are planted and be holy by being yourself.”

And go sweet-smelling off into the sunset, yeah!