Cedric Pisegna - Be Your Best (01/21/2026)
Father Cedric draws from Ephesians 2:10, where we are described as God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works prepared beforehand, to encourage viewers to become the very best version of themselves without comparing to others. He shares stories from movies like Dead Poets Society and Amadeus, real-life examples like Mandy Harvey and John Wooden, and biblical figures like Moses to illustrate seizing the day, developing God-given talents despite obstacles, and defining true success as giving your all to be the best you can be. The heartfelt call is to live with passion, enthusiasm, and hard work, fueled by God’s grace, so that by being who you were meant to be, you set the world on fire.
Welcome and the Scripture from Ephesians
Hi, I’m Father Cedric Pisegna, the host of «Live with Passion». So glad that you tuned into the program. I call this «Be Your Best». This is from Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10. Goes like this, «We are God’s worksmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them».
Inspiration from Dead Poets Society
One of my favorite all time movies, «Dead Poets Society, » starred Robin Williams. He was an English teacher at a rich academy. He had a group of male students. He employed unorthodox methods to try to get these students to like English. And it was called «Dead Poets Society, » all about poetry and English.
But more than just liking English, he tried to get his students to realize that they’re individuals and to be the best that they could be. He inspired one student, for example, to ask out a girl who was very pretty, and he dared to ask her out and he got the date. He inspired another student who had a dream to be an actor to become an actor. And he inspired all the students by his unorthodox methods to love English and to be the best that they can be. There was a catchphrase from the movie, it was called carpe diem, seize the day. And that’s what I hope for you, carpe diem, seize the day.
I tell people all the time: reach for the stars, dream dreams, live with passion.
The Story of Moses and the Burning Bush
I think about Moses, for example. Here’s a shepherd out in the middle of nowhere, and he was just going about his daily tasks day after day after day. Suddenly, he sees a bush that’s on fire. And he goes over to the bush, and he senses a call from God to lead the Hebrew people out of Egypt. This purpose, this fire, came into this shepherd that we never would have heard about, a shepherd by the way, who murdered somebody. Moses was a murderer, and God chose him. And Moses, as you know, became the best that he could be. He led the people out of Egypt, and he became a priest to them. He guided them, he helped them, he became all that he could be. He was on fire because of the fire. That’s exactly what Saint Catherine of Siena said. She said, «Be the person you were meant to be, and you will set the world on fire».
I really believe that. Fire is another word for passion, enthusiasm, energy. We have to take the life that we’ve been given and make the most of it, become all that we can be, be the best that we can be. Don’t be mediocre or lukewarm or haphazard. Give your all. Give your all to your vocation.
John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success
Let me talk more about that. I was struck by a book that I read, and it was a very inspiring book. It was by John Wooden. He was the coach of UCLA back in the '60s, and they won ten National Championships. The name of his book was called «The Pyramid of Success, » and that really struck my interest, because everybody’s interested about being successful.
In the book there was a pyramid with some foundation stones on the bottom, and it worked its way up with all kinds of different elements and strategies about success, leading to the top, success. But it’s interesting the way he talks about success, he doesn’t define it in terms of winning championships or having trophies or getting medals or having money, like the world does. That’s how we define success, having a lot of money, being popular, having power. No, rather, John Wooden, the coach of UCLA, defines success as being, number one, that you don’t compare yourself with someone else, and number two, you always try to be the best you can be, not somebody else, the best you that you can be.
Avoiding Comparison: The Lesson from Amadeus
It’s easy to compare yourself with others, the way you look, the way you behave, the way you achieve in life. I think about competitiveness that we have in our culture. Watched a movie one time, it was called «Amadeus». And in the movie, there was a talented musician. His name was Antonio Salieri, and he even composed music for the Austrian emperor. And along comes this talented other musician, Wolfgang Amadeus. Now, Salieri was happy, he was composing music, he was very gifted, but he all of a sudden meets this Wolfgang Amadeus, who was wildly talented, who could compose very easily, didn’t seem to have to work hard, and he was very eccentric. Well, he became insanely jealous of Amadeus, so much so that he ended up in an insanity institution.
And at the end of his life, I remember this haunting scene where he makes the sign of the cross, and he goes, «I absolve you from your mediocrity». Oh, how sad. His jealousy, his envy for Amadeus drove him crazy when it didn’t have to, because he was gifted. And I think about how easily it is to be competitive, especially in ministry. Now, I travel around preaching parish missions, and as you know, I’m on television and radio, and I’ve seen other priests out there that are humorous, they’re articulate, they preach very well, they get these huge crowds. And you can’t help but see that and start to compare yourself. Or I’ve seen TV preachers there on television who preach very well and have large audiences, and you can’t help but think what makes them better than me? Or why are so many people watching them? And you start to get envious.
Well, I’ve determined a long time ago that I’m glad when other people preach well, because you deserve to hear the truth. I don’t care if it’s from me or somebody else. I want you to hear the gospel in all of its fullness. And I love what Paul the apostle said about that. He had his, quote, «super apostles» during his day, and he said, «Whether it’s me or them, I’m just glad that you’re hearing the gospel». And I feel the same way about that. It kind of takes the wind out of envy or out of competition. When it comes to success, we’re not meant to compare ourselves with other people, we’re meant to be who we are. We have the DNA of Almighty God. God has put his image deep within us. And we are all talented. And to be successful, you can’t be anybody else. You gotta be who you are and realize the talent that God has put into you and become the best that you can be.
Mandy Harvey’s Story on America’s Got Talent
I watched this show one time, one of my favorite shows on television, «America’s Got Talent». We’re talkin' about talents here, that’s the gift that God gives everybody. And one woman got up there, and I’ll never forget, it was a couple of years ago. Her name was Mandy Harvey. Mandy Harvey was a young woman who was a singer, and they told the story about her life. What happened to her was when she was going to college, she had this dream and vision. God had given her a gift to sing, that she wanted to be a singer. Well, what happened to her, she got some kind of a degenerative disease that made her lose her hearing. Can you imagine trying to be a singer without hearing? It devastated her, she went into depression, and she pretty much gave up. But as she reflected upon it, and as she prayed upon it, she realized that God had given her a gift.
And she didn’t want to be depressed, and she didn’t want to give up. She wanted to develop her talent, even though she was deaf. She worked at it and she worked hard at it. Imagine trying to learn how to sing when you can’t hear yourself. And she had a real gift there. Finally, she gets up in front of a national audience. In all these people, maybe 3,000 people, in front of her is «America’s Got Talent» judges. And she gets up there and sings this song, and it was very melodic. She had a beautiful voice, very simple, very clear. And the name of the song that she sang was called «Try». A couple verses: «I will try, because the only thing in my way is me».
And I mean, the way she’s saying it and her sincerity, I started to weep. And they were showing shots of the crowd. Everybody in the crowd was starting to have tears roll down. When she ended her singing, they gave her a standing ovation. Simon Cowell, the sinister judge that can be very harsh at times, ran over, and he hit the golden buzzer that meant she was going right to the live programs. And it was a moment of goosebumps and tears. She was telling us that when it comes to dreaming dreams and becoming the best that you can be, don’t let any obstacle, don’t let any problem, any hardship stand in your way, that if you try, if you are determined, and if you don’t give up easily, if you’re resilient, you can develop that talent and become the best that you can be. And to me, that’s success.
Launching into the Deep
I think about what Jesus said to the apostles, «Launch out into the deep for a catch». And the deep is scary, it’s unknown, but the deep is where the fish are. That’s where you get the catch. That’s where you get the haul. I decided long ago I would rather be embarrassed and come into some hard times but try, than to be safe and not really try. And because I’ve been trying, that’s when my territory expanded, and I began to reach out in a large way to people. And it’s the same in your life. Maybe you’re not a preacher, maybe you’re not a singer, whatever it is, God has put something in you. He’s put gifts in you and wants you to try and to produce and to be fruitful. That was the original command: be fruitful and multiply. That’s success, that’s significance. I love Mandy Harvey, she did such a beautiful job, she talked about trying. Don’t give up on your dreams. Be strong, be enthusiastic, don’t let life pass you by.
The Cornerstones: Industriousness and Enthusiasm
And then «The Pyramid of Success» had a couple of cornerstones. These were at the bottom, bottom right, bottom left as you build your pyramid of success. And there was a great strategy of success and methods of success. And the two cornerstones were being industrious and enthusiasm. And if you want to be successful, you’re going to need those two things. You’ll need other ingredients, but especially this thing about work. As I told you, I’ve been a priest now for 30 years and in television for 15 years. And in the beginning, it wasn’t all that hard, but as I continued to expand, I realized that I had to keep producing and creating new things and learning and growing and trying new things. Never easy. And then writing books and trying to produce material that will be engaging, practical, and touching people’s lives. So I worked hard at that, and it wasn’t necessarily easy.
I think it was my dad who gave me a great work ethic. My dad was a carpenter and he was always determined and he worked hard at his job. He worked with excellence. And I got that from my father. And I found out that as I produce new series, new episodes, new books, my outreach (and that’s what we’re all about in ministry) my outreach has expanded. My territory is growing. And that’s what it’s all about, that we can influence people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, inspire people to become all that they can be, and me, myself, becoming the best that I can be.
Being Your Best in All Areas of Life
When I talk about being your best, certainly in your professional life, whatever it is that God has called you to be, maybe it’s a doctor, maybe it’s a mechanic, maybe it’s a janitor, or whatever it is, a priest, you become all that you can be in the field that you’re in.
But also becoming your best means that you develop your relationship with God, your spirituality. You become your best with that. It’s not something you put on the back burner, your relationship with God. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you besides. Seeking God first is extremely important, and it empowers you to really become your best, whatever it is you’re gonna do. You don’t do it of your own volition, you do it through the grace of God, through the strength of God, through the fire of the Holy Spirit. You live with passion. And then of course, being your best means that you develop character and virtue. In another episode, I talked about holiness. And we all have a call to holiness, to becoming our best.
That means developing virtue and staying away from evil. I want you, with all my heart, to be your best. Work, try, give it energy.
The Power of Enthusiasm
And then one of the building blocks was enthusiasm. That word, by the way, «en theo» means in God. God is the one who gives energy, who gives fire, but we’ve got to cooperate with that, and enthusiasm is catchy. I have been a missionary for 30 years, and it means living out of a suitcase and traveling and going to all these different churches and preaching the gospel, and you know, because I was pretty young and had a lot of energy and those different things, but a couple of our priests really inspired me. They’re older, they live out of a suitcase, and they’ve got this energy and this fire, this gospel energy. And I would watch them and look at them and say, you know, they’ve been on the road all these years and they’re older and look at what they do.
I think about Billy Graham and how he preached with such enthusiasm in his older age. Think about John Paul II, now Saint John Paul II, Great Pope of the Catholic Church. Think about Pope Francis. These men are in their 80s, 90s, and they have such great enthusiasm, such great fire. Remember what Saint Catherine of Siena said. She said, «Be the best that you can be, and you will set the world on fire». And it’s that fire of Pentecost that comes with that power to be the best that you can be. Enthusiasm is extremely important.
Enthusiasm in Preaching and Life
When I first started in the preaching ministry, I used to move quite a bit. I would stalk around. And there’d be this big church, you know, and all these people out there, and I’d be moving back and forth and preaching with all kinds of enthusiasm and trying to be as articulate as I can.
I call it «the caged lion, » you’re goin' back and forth and back and forth. And people would come up to me after and say, Father Cedric, how do you do that? You’ve got all this energy, you’ve got all this enthusiasm. And how do I get that in my life? People that were married and, you know, the honeymoon season’s over, the honeymoon is over, and things are kind of blah. Or maybe at work, things aren’t really happening, and they wanted that enthusiasm. For me, I know where the enthusiasm came from: it came from the Holy Spirit. But I preach with a lot of energy because the message of the Gospel is so important, and I want to make sure that people get it. And sometimes I just want to zip you open and pour it in and make sure that you get it.
I’ve been out there with you watching on television. I’ve been out there with you in the pews. And when somebody is up there and it’s not engaging and it’s not touching my life and it’s not practical, it’s all for intents and purposes boring. Maybe this is why Robin Williams, as an English teacher, knew that, and he used unorthodox methods and used a lot of enthusiasm to inspire his students. When I see things like that, I always get angry because you deserve so much more. You deserve to hear the gospel with sincerity, with clarity, and with enthusiasm, because the gospel message, «gospel» means good news.
In one of the other episodes, I’ll talk about what the gospel is. The gospel brings eternal life. The gospel is the power to overcome our obstacles. The gospel is the breath of God for us to become the best that we can be and to live our lives with enthusiasm and with fire.
Vince Lombardi and Practicing Enthusiasm
It was Coach Vince Lombardi, the coach of the Green Bay Packers, who lived years ago. They won all those Super Bowls, if you remember. Coach Vince Lombardi talked about enthusiasm to his players. He said, «Be fired with enthusiasm, or you will be fired with enthusiasm». And I think that’s really good, because whether it’s football, whether it’s singing, whether it’s preaching, whatever you do, whatever your walk of life is, enthusiasm is catchy and it leads to success.
Some of the building blocks of the pyramid of success: trying, hard work, a good work ethic, very important, being determined, being resilient, don’t give up, and then energy. You’ve got it within you, stir it up. I was reading a book by Norman Vincent Peale, and he wrote «The Power of Positive Thinking». I was reading that book, and it was about a baseball player who was trying out for a professional team. And he was cut from the team, and the coach said, «You just don’t have enthusiasm». But he knew that he had the talent, so he thought to himself, where am I gonna get enthusiasm? And he decided to do this, he decided to fake it. He acted like he had enthusiasm, even though he didn’t feel like it. He thought, I’m gonna run during practice, I’m going to clap, I’m gonna, you know, stay extra long, I’m gonna be enthusiastic.
Well, lo and behold, because he was talented, he made the team. When they asked him about his enthusiasm, he said, «Practice led to me actually becoming enthusiastic. I didn’t feel like it all the time, but as I practiced being enthusiastic, I became enthusiastic». Sometimes I think about, when I get up there in front of people, I’m nervous, you know, there’s a lot of people out there and they’re all looking at me. And in order to proclaim the gospel well, you have to be kind of attractive. What I mean by that is, it was Saint Teresa of Avila who said, «Lord, save us from sour-faced saints». And what I mean by attractive, you have to smile. The joy of the Gospel, Gospel brings such joy.
And sometimes when I’m in front of all those people and they’re all looking at me, the last thing I feel like doing is smiling, I feel kinda… but I’ve determined something, that even if you don’t feel like it, you can smile. There’s an energy within you, a grace within you, you can do it. And then you actually become happy. I feel that way right now on television. I know I’m reaching out to tens of thousands of people right now, and there’s a joy of the gospel that bubbles up within you. And so I’m simply saying be enthusiastic, and if you don’t feel like it, try it, practice it, and you will become enthusiastic. If you don’t feel joyful, try smiling, practice smiling. Mother Teresa said that a smile is the beginning of love. And every time you get a picture taken, you want to get it taken with a smile on your face.
John Wooden’s Definition of Success
Now, I wanted to tell you that Wooden’s pyramid of success has other building blocks, such as initiative, sincerity, poise, ambition, integrity. These were all ingredients. I can’t go through them all. But work, be enthusiastic. Be the best that you can be. You can do it. Don’t just live; live with passion. And I wanted to give you his definition: «Success is the peace of mind that’s attained only through the self-satisfaction of knowing that you made the effort to do the best of which you are capable». You may not win the game, but as long as you played hard, and you were the best you that you can be, that’s success. Quit comparing yourself with everybody else. Realize that God has put a talent within you, and produce that talent. Give God back interest. Be the best you can be, and don’t just live, live with passion.