Jack Beers:
“So Holy Moments come into this. They come into your life, maybe not necessarily in the form of the phrase, holy moments, but the concept came to you when you were 16, the idea that there are choices that you make that are holy and choices that you make that are not holy. So, it kind of came to you when you were a teenager. What happened there and what changed in you when you had that realization?”
Matthew Kelly:
“I was in this conversion type experience, probably from when I was about 15 to, let's say 16 or 17, and I had this great spiritual mentor. He's the one who encouraged me to stop by church for 10 minutes each day on the way to school. He's the one who encouraged me to start reading the Bible, in particular, the gospels over and over again. He's the one who took me to nursing homes, taught me how to spend time with the poor, how to spend time with the lonely. Obviously he had an enormous influence on my life. In the midst of all of that, if you delve into the faith, you realize, okay, at the core of the faith is this universal call to holiness. Our tendency is to think that is for some people. We also like that. That's why we put saints on pedestals, because it separates them from us. It gives us the ability to say they're different. I'm not like that. And because I'm not like that, I'm not called to what they did or they do, or more importantly, how they became the best version of themselves.
It was at this time in my life, and on a day in particular, I can see where I was. I was walking home. I'd been having coffee with this guy. I was right outside a family doctor's office. It was actually in a home. It was in a neighborhood. It was on the corner of the street. I can see myself there. I remember that moment. It was, and is, a defining moment in my life. It just occurred to me that some moments are holy, and that we participate in them. Some moments are unholy. We participate in them and our participation, our choices, our decisions give moments, their positive or negative charge, in most cases, and give moments there of holy or unholy charge.”
Jack Beers:
“One of the most arresting parts in the book, I literally had to stop reading it for a second and reflect on it. You said something in there, "Everything good in your life is connected to that moment." And that was just like, wow. That's how powerful one idea can be. That's how powerful this idea in particular is. What gave you the confidence to say that, and what makes you say that everything that is good that has come from your life has come from that particular moment?”
Matthew Kelly:
“It's just a fact. I don't feel great confidence is needed to say that. just is, it's just a fact. I look at my life, I look at what has happened, I look at the opportunities I've had. I look at the ways I've suffered. I look at the friends I've had. I look at this incredible work I've had the opportunity to do. It has all been, I can tie every single moment of my life back to that moment, good or bad. In most cases, the good or bad has to do with whether I have embraced the wisdom of that moment in this new moment or rejected the wisdom of that moment in this new moment. There's been plenty of both.”
Matthew Kelly
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