MotW, I'd like to agree AND disagree with you (charitably, of course) in your opinions:
1) Deo gratias. Rarely have truer, fitter words for the Christian life been expressed.
2) I'd like to insist that our heroes should in fact be BOTH living and dead. By this I mean the Saints of the Church; there are no greater heroes in history, EVER, than those who lived lives of heroic sanctity and supernatural zeal both for God's glory and for souls. My hero is Francis of Assisi (hence my screen name), but I have recently fallen in love with the virtues of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, whose biography I am currently reading. What a beautiful devotion to Our Lord and His Sacred Heart she expressed, and how she encouraged it in others!
3) I could not agree with you more, except to point out that 'Progress' is a virulently anti-Catholic work that should have no place in a Catholic's library. When I lived as a Protestant, I read the life of John Bunyan; indeed, a 'pastor' that I know is an INTERNATIONALLY-known expert on the life of Bunyan and on 'Pilgrim's Progress'. Trust me when I tell you it was definitely written with poisonous malice toward Christ's true Church.
In short, zeal for souls can only be gained and/or increased as we recognize our own desperate need for God's great mercies and graces.
PONDER THE CROSS OF OUR LORD. Contemplate His sufferings, His wounds, His rejection by men, though He loved them so much. Recognize YOUR sins as those that brought Christ low and burdened Him as He bore the Cross to Calvary.
Now, then, mindful of all that Christ suffered, call to mind the fact that He did not suffer for His own sake, but for YOUR sins, and that the merits of His Passion, Death and Resurrection are more than superabundant to satisfy YOUR faults and those of ANYONE who will come to Him in faith through His Church.
CONFESS REGULARLY. DO NOT despise or treat lightly the great and wonderful blessing of unburdening yourself of your secret sins and pleading with Christ, through His priest, for forgiveness and absolution. He is great in mercy and will abundantly pardon those who confess willingly, completely and with that firm resolve to conform their life more closely to His.
Finally, NEVER forget that we are not, as the Protestants are, in the business of handing out condemnation. We, as those called to be saints, are to HUMBLE ourselves in acts of charity and in telling others about the Faith, not to go about arguing or screaming in the streets. GIVE REASON, by your prayers, your deeds and your chastity and modesty, for people to WONDER at the work of God, just as they did when they marveled at the lame man that was healed through the prayer of St. Peter. The Apostle confessed that it was not his power that healed the man, but it WAS the prayer of a righteous man, not the presumptuous arrogance of the heretics who believe they have no obligations before God other than mental assent.
The more we draw close to Christ and lean upon His strength and receive of His merciful graces, the more we will be like Him. That, and nothing else, will make our lives attractive to others, and make the souls of others attractive to us, because our hearts will be like the Sacred Heart of Our Lord, Who said, "Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest."[/color]
Immaculate Heart of Mary, triumph soon.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.