I want to tell you about the time I met the pope in 2010. It was a disaster. When I studied for the diplomatic service of the Vatican, we had the privilege of meeting the Holy Father once a year. On the bus trip to the Vatican, our class dean told us that the pope only has about 20 seconds with each of us, because if he spends more time with each person, that will be 30 minutes! So he advised us to prepare what we would say and keep it short. I decided I would say in Italian, “Thank you, Holy Father, for everything you do for us.”

During the actual visit, after listening to the Holy Father’s speech, we lined up to shake his hand, and when it came to me, I genuflected (on the left knee), kissed his ring, stood up, and my superior, standing to my left introduced me, “This one is from Canada.” The Pope said, “Anglofono?” Right when he said that I thought: I don’t know what that word means! I’ve never heard that word in Italian! So I just smiled and walked away, because I had no idea what he just said to me. Only a few seconds later, I realized that he asked if I was an anglophone, because he didn’t know if I came from the French or English-speaking side of Canada.

(Can you spot me in the video?)

I bring up this story because I was nervous about meeting the pope, but not excited. Not excited to meet the pope!? That’s right. It’s not because I don’t love him, I do. But there are two things more special to me than meeting him: 1) learning to think as he does, getting inside his head and seeing reality as he does, and understanding Jesus and God like he does. 2) being close with Jesus in the Eucharist. Because I grow when I’m with Him. I love learning and growing. And one of the best ways of learning is by imitation. When I read the pope’s works, I can imitate him. When I spend time with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, I can imitate Him.

St. Paul says in the second reading today, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” We imitate the people we’re with. That’s how we learn as children. We don’t learn by textbooks. We learn, for example, how to socialize, how to speak a language by imitation.

I learned the some great social skills when I was a teenager by imitating the core leaders of our youth group. I learned how to smile when something went wrong from a guy in the seminary. One time, I saw him get bear hugged by another huge seminarian, and, even though he was in so much pain, he laughed about it and handled it so well—that was a lesson for me, because, had I been in his shoes, I would have been really angry. I learned to play sports competitively, but without an edge, while playing soccer with a monk at the Abbey. He also taught me by his example to pray. Seeing him at a desk praying quietly while everyone was asleep taught me how to be dedicated to prayer. There is another priest that I’ve learned so much from that I feel I should get course credit every time we drive together or share a meal.

One time while giving spiritual direction, the person asked me, “How do you learn to think like that?” because what I was telling her was so helpful. I responded that I was taught by my own spiritual director to break problems down into different parts and see what’s accurate and what’s not.

We learn by imitation, even in the little things. “If you and I sit down at lunch and you order soup and a salad, it makes me think twice about ordering a double cheeseburger with fries. If my friends are going to the gym after work, I feel that inner nudge to work out myself. If a colleague is honest and humble about a mistake he has made I am humbled by his example” (Matthew Kelly, Rediscover Catholicism, 119).

Imitation happens, even if it’s only subconsciously. Sometimes we spend time with people who swear or gossip a lot, and we think it won’t affect us. The truth is it does. Most people give in and join in, while others, while they try to resist, don’t do it well, and it holds them back from growing.

The truth is, if you and I spend time together, you’re going to become like me—that might be a scary thought. And I’ll become like you! Believe it or not, we’ll start imitating each other’s phrases, interests. Did you know no one swears around me? Because I don’t. Whether they like it or not, they’re acting better because of my presence. We either rise to the level of people who are great, or we fall to the level of people who are not.

St. Paul never met Jesus face-to-face, but he became like him because he spent so much time with him in prayer. The most time I spend with anyone is with God in prayer, even more than my family and friends and anyone here. Hopefully, that will help me to become like Jesus.

We imitate the people we spend time with. But there’s a second way to spend time with good people (not as powerful, but very influential): that’s with good books. I love reading the Bible, books by Pope Benedict and by the saints. You see, I’d rather spend time with people who are dead that bring me to life, than with people who are alive that bring me to death (cf. Matthew Kelly, Rediscover Catholicism, 120).

At my old parish, we tried to invite Matthew Kelly to come and speak, because he’s so good and it’d be worth $100 to hear him. But we couldn’t manage it because he only goes to places that guarantee audiences of around 800 people. In this case, reading his books is like having him over at your house. The books we read influence us: we imitate their values or lack of values. That’s why I’m suggesting reading Rediscover Catholicism.

Pay attention to the people you spend time with and the books you read because they influence us. We imitate what we read and we imitate the people we spend time with.