Someone on YouTube asked me an interesting question in a comment on YouTube: "How do you grow in holiness?"
The answer could be as simple as a checklist or as well covered as a six-volume set of books. YouTube doesn't provide the space for writing a series of books, so a checklist it will have to be. This is the essential recipe that I sent to that commenter, and because it was such a good and important question, I wanted to share my response with all of you.
Ordinary Catholic Life
Live a good ordinary Catholic life. Go to Mass, receive the Sacrament, go to confession about every two months. Nothing else will matter if this first point is passed over. Live a normal and consistent Catholic life.
Self Sacrifice and Service
"self-sacrifice is a way humans image and imitate God."
Also, and this is something people vastly underestimate, devote yourself to the service of others. That could mean going the extra mile at work, either for your employer or for the people you work with. It could mean being more available to your spouse or children if you have a family. It could mean doing a favor you don't want to do or calling a friend who could use someone to talk to. It sounds like a frivolous thing but self-sacrifice is a way humans image and imitate God. Holiness is to be like God, and so self-sacrifice and service to others, in small ways or in great ways, really takes you far in the pursuit of holiness.
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Prayer Life
Develop a healthy prayer life and maintain it once you've developed the discipline and routine. You don't have to pray like a monk, but at least start by praying three times a day, even if they are simple memorized prayers, and then build yourself up from there. Praying the rosary regularly is advisable, but don't feel you have to dive into that too soon if it's not something you're used to doing. Do build yourself up to it over time.
Change your life
Every day, try a little harder to get sin out of your life. As I said before, you are not going to turn into a monk overnight. You are going to try and fail, and try and fail, and try again. That is a normal cycle. The important thing is that you keep trying. It is not important that you keep failing. Do not count the failures, because, believe it or not, Jesus does not count the failures. He counts the failures that are not followed up with a comeback—with trying again. He counts those comebacks! So keep them coming.
Eventually, the individual sins that you keep failing at are going to simply go away. You will overcome them over time as long as you keep trying. Be patient with your failures. Go to confession regularly and never stop trying. I can't emphasize this enough: never stop trying. Persistence is the key.
It's that 'Simple'
Believe it or not, that's the essential recipe for growing in holiness. To become holy is to become more like your authentic self. The holier you are, the more real you are, and you begin to feel it in your lived experience in the world (even in ordinary things) and in your closeness to God. Also, to become holy really is to become like God himself. That's really the point. That's why holiness results in heaven, and it's not easy to become like God, so it's not easy to grow in holiness. That's okay that it's not easy.
When you face challenges or difficulties, or you start to lose hope, remember that what you're feeling in those moments is normal, because growing in holiness is hard. It has its ups and downs, its joys and its sorrows, but it's an amazing adventure, so never give up and never lose hope. It's a difficult path, but it's not all difficulty. There's a lot of joy, peace, and wonder along the way as you progress.
I hope this helps. Reach out any time. God be with you my friend.
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