Measure of Success

Success is often measured by many different yardsticks in our secular society. Some measure “success” by how much money they make, or how many material possessions they have at their disposal. Athletes often measure “success” by how many victories they have or championship rings they have won, records held, and the like. A smaller segment of society measures success by their health and the number of close and personal friends they have.

Holy Name Society members have a different measure of success. In the Gospel of John we are taught, "I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly. (Jn 10:10) and Pope John Paul II taught us “God, who alone is goodness, fullness of life, the final end of human activity, and perfect happiness.” (Pope John Paul II, Veritatas Splendor). From this HNS members understand that success comes from perfect happiness and that his can only come from one source - a live centered on Jesus Christ and following His teachings.

Sometimes God has to take almost everything we hold near and dear to our human hearts, before we take the time to realize what success truly is and is not! Read the note below from a man who discovered the true meaning of success.

Monty S. #215642
Lieber C.I.
Ridgeville, SC 29472-02O5

I was not raised in a religious family. We were not church going people. Not regularly anyway. As a child I did attend church from time to time but not enough to know what it was really and truly all about. I just was never taught.

When I was about 13 or 14 years old I had a friend who was Catholic and attended Saint Patrick’s Catholic Church. I started going there and I really enjoyed it. I began weekly “conversion classes” but sadly it didn’t last for very long. I don’t remember why I stopped, but I did. I knew a lot of religious people throughout my life but I wasn’t one of them.

One thing about being incarcerated is that it gives you plenty of time to think. I would often think about the people I knew throughout my life up to the time of my imprisonment. I was in a sense trying to figure out why some of those people seemed to be successful in their lives while my life at that point had come to such a dismal failure. Not all of these people were necessarily wealthy in a financial sense. In fact, only a few would fit that category of “success.” They were all just successful at life. They were happy with life and always, or most always, seemed to be at least cheerful about things. I must have thought about this a hundred million times. I would even make lists of the people for comparison trying to figure it out. I was desperate to know where I had gone so wrong.

Then one day it hit me: The most successful people I had ever known in my life all had one very important link in common. They were all Christians. “Wow,” I said to myself.

I immediately commenced my investigation of the Catholic Church and faith. I didn’t realize it at the time but what I started was going to take me down a completely new and wonderful path of discovery on my way to finally finding success and true happiness in my own life.