In his catalogue of Tools for Good Works Saint Benedict includes his caution: Do not aspire to be called holy before you really are, but first be holy that you may more truly be called so. And in this Benedict is warning against an unhealthy preoccupation with self that is overly concerned with creating a good impression and gaining the esteem and admiration of others, and in this way being more concerned that others should see us as holy and less concerned with whether we are in fact holy. However, authentic holiness is typically marked by the absence of this form of unhealthy self-centered preoccupation. We see this in Moses who, when he came down from Mount Sinai, is described as not knowing that the skin of his face had become radiant while he conversed with the Lord. And this unawareness was not because he didn’t have a mirror to see the radiance himself, but because true holiness always tends towards self-forgetfulness and propels us out from self towards others in love and service. This is another way of affirming that holiness is never an end in itself but is always both the prerequisite and the fruit of our union with God in self-giving and self-forgetting love. Accordingly, let us strive, not so much to be holy, but rather seek to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and in the process we may well discover that we have become holy without even knowing it.