Episode Transcript  

One

What Does it Take to be Great?

This is a remarkable time in human history to be alive. Most of us, thanks to modern technology, no longer have to chase down our food, haul water, or chop wood to cook. For the first time, we live with more leisure time than any generation before us.

But how are we using this great gift of free time?

Are we using it to truly develop ourselves — to reach our full potential, to grow closer to God, and to help our loved ones reach heaven?

This is the first episode in a new series on using our free time well — to live intentionally, to grow in holiness, and to spend our days on what matters most. And this first meditation is on what it takes to be great. 

There’s a famous line from Shakespeare’s play, Twelfth Night. It goes like this: 

“Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.”

“Be not afraid of greatness.” That’s a powerful challenge. And it points to the virtue of Magnanimity, which is the virtue of someone who is truly great. 

Literally, “magnanimity,” means “being big-souled,” and it’s a virtue that we’re all supposed to be striving for. But what, exactly, does magnanimity mean? What, exactly, does it mean to be great?

Two

Three Levels of Greatness

A truly great man or woman fulfills at least three criteria.

Whether it’s a great actor, or a great military strategist, or a great musician or artist or athlete – you want to see these three characteristics in someone we would consider “great.”

First, the person who is great has to be really good at something. The first mark of greatness is skill. They can’t just do something impressive once, as a kind of fluke. They have to actually be really good at something. Secondly, someone who’s great has to have an opportunity to use, to actually do what they’re good at. So the second mark of greatness is achievement. If you’re a really great writer, but you never get the chance to write anything serious, well, then you’re not really a great writer. And the world is probably full of people who have great talent, great ability, but for whatever reason, circumstances never converge so that they can showcase their gift and put it to use. Finally, the person who is great has to really enjoy their greatness. So the third mark of greatness is noble delight. 

Stress and fear and anger and uncertainty, these are all marks of beginners. Not of masters. Nobility and excellence show themselves in confidence as well as technical performance. A great musician loves to play, as does a great athlete, or anyone else who’s truly great at anything. And if the musician or athlete or whoever just enjoys their one skill, but the rest of their life is a miserable mess, it proves that the greatness is limited to just one narrow area of their personality. 

Which means a truly great, comprehensively great person must be a happy person. And yet, even though greatness is something the great person himself enjoys, it’s also true that this greatness comes at a price. A magnanimous person is someone who earns the greatness of his ability, the largeness of his soul. 

Someone who is truly great is always someone, always, who makes great sacrifices.

Three

Only What Costs Something is Worth Doing

Chesterton once pointed out that if things were too easy, we’d never do them. If anyone could make a three-point shot in basketball just as easily as you pick a pebble up off the ground, you wouldn’t bother taking three-point shots, any more than you go around picking pebbles off the ground. Part of the draw of greatness is precisely the challenge of it. Getting good at something makes our soul bigger, makes us magnanimous, so reaching that point means you have to make the effort to expand yourself.

You have to be willing to develop new skills. You have to constantly learn to appreciate new things. And most importantly, you have to be committed to advancing in virtue. And it’s precisely this fear of challenge, which is the vice of pusillanimity, that prevents us from reaching greatness and those supreme enjoyments that come with it.

Four

Sloth

A lot of people have heard of the seven deadly sins, and one of the ones many people don’t understand is the sin of Sloth. One of the best Catholic Philosophers, Joseph Pieper, says that the slothful man is one who “would prefer to be less great in order to avoid the obligations of greatness.” 

In other words, Sloth is the vice, the sin, of being bothered by the greatness to which God has called us because it involves so much work. It’s wishing God would just leave us alone, leave us comfortable in our mediocrity. Leave us alone to fritter away our time and our energy on the two supreme enemies of greatness: mindless money-making (busyness), mindless pleasure (entertainment).

This is a sin against God. It’s a sin against our humanity. It’s the supreme sin of negligence and waste. And we’re all guilty of it at some level or another. So how can we get out of it? How can we get away from sloth and closer to magnanimity? That is what we are going to get after in this series on using our free time well. 

Five

The Path to Greatness

Shakespeare wrote that some men are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. The truth is, all of us are born for greatness, and all of us have the circumstances necessary for greatness thrust upon us. The only question is, which of us will respond to God’s grace to achieve the greatness we’re called to? 

It’s not too complicated. As we said, greatness only really requires three things: skill, achievement, and noble delight. So pursue these things in work, in leisure, and above all in your spiritual life. Try to get good at prayer and serving the people in your life. Try to do something really significant for God with your life. And take delight in it. Try to get good at your job, try to do something worthwhile in it, and take delight in it. Try to get good at something in your leisure time. Try to do something worthwhile with your skill. And take delight in it. 

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