Lent- 2019- Striving for Goodness and Holiness Again

It's Lent once more. Here we go again, striving to be better, to get it right, to grow closer to God and more like Jesus.  I went to Mass on Ash Wednesday in Southwest Florida and the parish I attended had many changes since last Lent. A beautiful new parish center and gym was built and opened which includes a restaurant and beautiful meeting rooms. There is also beautiful outdoor space. It's called the the Pulte Family Life Center, and as you can tell from the name, Mr. Pulte, the builder, gave a very large donation to help build the center. He was a very generous man, who died last year.
What was sad about the whole thing was not only did Mr. Pulte not live to see the building come to life and be completed but the pastor whose vision it was, mysteriously left the priesthood before he had a chance to see the building finished and dedicated. To say the parish family was shocked is an understatement. He had just celebrated 20 years as a priest the year before and now he is seeking laicization.
Since the pastor (who I will leave unnamed) is leaving the priesthood and disappointing thousands of parishioners, as he was greatly loved, one wonders where all this chaos in the church is going.
It's not easy to live the Christian life to its fullest. It's not easy to grow in holiness and find out what God's will is for your life.  Of course holiness is attainable and we've seen many examples of holy lives in our lifetime. I think of St. Mother Teresa,   Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Francis.
We all know what to do by now, and between religious books, the lives of the saints, Catholic television shows, bible study classes, parish retreats and programs and religious you tube videos and DVD's and all the devotions Catholics have at their disposal, and Mass, if you give enough time to spiritual growth, you can absolutely grow in holiness.
 I heard Fr. Donald Haggerty, a priest of the Archdiocese of NY, who was interviewed on EWTN recently, say that just visiting a Church everyday, even for 10  minutes, (if you can't attend daily Mass), when its quiet and still inside is a good and simple way to grow in holiness. I've done that often, during the week and I would agree. But its a good suggestion so I'll do it more.
There are so many distractions in the modern world, so many things pulling us away from what's really important. It takes discipline to stay the course, to keep focused on Jesus.  I hope you have a good and holy Lent.
Amen to that.
NJA