Cloud of Witnesses

"With so many witnesses in a great cloud all around us, we too, then, should throw off everything that weighs us down and the sin that clings so closely, and with perseverance keep running in the race which lies ahead of us." (Hebrews 12:1)

Who are my witnesses and my inspirations?

• Peter
  
• Paul
  
• John the Evangelist
  
• Augustine
  
• Ignatius Loyola
  
• Francis Xavier
  
• Peter Canisius
  
• Louis de Monfort
  
• Therese of Lisieux
  
• Dominic
  
• Vincent de Paul.
  

These and many more are my patron saints. These and million others have completed the race, proving that it can be done. Why can't I? Anthony Robbins, the motivational writer would say: Seek their strategy. Unilever PLC will put it this way: Go for the best practice.

What are the things that weigh me down? What excess baggage am I carrying here and now?

"Then there are others who receive the seed in thorns. These have heard the word, but the worries of this world, the lure of riches and all the other passions come in to choke the word, and so it produces nothing." (Mark 4: 15-20)