What is your reason for going to your church every Sunday?

What is your reason for going to your church every Sunday?  Is it to find the right pastor that will tell you what you are doing in your life is wonderful and you don’t need to change anything, or is to find the pastor that will tell you there is always room for improvement?  Is it because they have “good” music and a fun social hour afterwards?  Is it because they tell you that how you are living your life is right and good and there is no reason to change?  Is it because that is where your friends go and you want to “fit it” with the right crowd?  Is it because they have the least number of "rules and regulations" for how you have to live your life?

Are your church and your faith pushing you to be the “best version of yourself” (Matthew Kelly, Rediscover Catholicism),  or are they reinforcing the “second-rate version of yourself” (Matthew Kelly, Rediscover Catholicism) that you already are?  Are your church and your faith pushing you to step outside yourself and grow in holiness, or are they telling you that mediocrity is acceptable and holiness is unattainable?  Are your church and your faith telling you that you could never truly live like Christ and the Saints, or are they telling you that you should not stop striving for the goal of living like the Saints and being Christ to the world? 

Until we recognize that God’s call for us is to live a life of holiness, and that that can only come from seeking to be the “best version of yourself,” our sinful and weak human nature will always tell us that we are just fine the way we are and there is no need to strive for anything more.  That is not God that is telling you that, that is the devil trying to hold us back from the happiness and the holiness that God intends for our lives.  We are not called to find reinforcement for the habits we already have, we are called to find the Church that pushes us outside our comfort zone and pushes us to be better and to strive for true holiness.  Are your church and your faith pushing you to be the “best version of yourself,” or are they reinforcing the “second-rate version of yourself” that you already are?  If your church isn’t pushing you to grow and to improve, then how is it bringing you closer to heaven?  Isn’t that our ultimate goal when we commit our life and our family to a church and a faith:  to get ourselves and our family to heaven?