Am I missing out?

There is a resistance to my growth in holiness.  I experience it more than seven times per day¹.  Only recently did I discover that I do this.  I'll have an opportunity to give God a moment of holiness, but I just can't seem to do it.  Why?  Because I feel like I'm missing out.

Do you do this, also?  Do you hear the voice of conscience ask you to be generous in one area of your life, or even just to omit some occasions of sin?  If so, it's likely that you really want to respond as perhaps the Holy Spirit is prompting you, but you just can't seem to let go of what he's asking you to sacrifice.

Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI said in his first homily as Pope² that when we give ourselves to Christ, we don't miss out on anything.

And so, today, with great strength and great conviction, on the basis of long personal experience of life, I say to you, dear young people: Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and he gives you everything. When we give ourselves to him, we receive a hundredfold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ – and you will find true life.

So that's what it is, after all.  I really long for fulfillment, and I keep thinking I'll find them in the fleeting desires of every day life.  But only when I attach myself to Christ, to virtue, to holiness, to those things which are pure and lovely and excellent³, that I will be truly alive.  I won't miss out on a counterfeit life, because Christ offers the authentic life.

I'm not missing out—I'm moving forward.