‘Success in life and business begins by focusing on death’: Author says only God can satisfy a restless heart

Internationally known author and speaker Tarek Saab of Fort Worth, Texas, signs copies of his book on March 4 at Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish in Indianapolis. Saab spoke to a capacity crowd attending the parish’s “Spaghetti and Spirituality” Lenten adult education program. He is the co-founder of Lionheart Apparel, a Christian clothing company, and president of T. Saab Media Inc. (Photo by Mary Ann Wyand)

By Mary Ann Wyand

Ambitious entrepreneur and business executive Tarek Saab was “fired” by real estate tycoon Donald Trump on the hit NBC network reality show “The Apprentice” on May 1, 2006.

Since his determined quest for success failed on national television nearly three years ago, Saab has found his priceless niche in life through his international ministry as a young adult disciple of Christ who promotes faith, family, marriage and morality in his book and speeches.

His fast-paced and entertaining autobiography, appropriately titled Gut Check: Confronting Love, Work and Manhood, was published in 2008 and is already in its second printing.

The book sold well after his speech to a capacity crowd during the “Spaghetti and Spirituality” Lenten adult education program on March 4 at Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish in Indianapolis.

A Maronite Catholic from a low-income Lebanese and Portugese family in New Bedford, Mass., Saab looks a lot like actor Orlando Bloom.

His devout faith, tenacity, humor and unflinching zest for life were apparent as he related stories about his rise to fame and fortune and determination to succeed in the corporate world until he realized that only God can satisfy his restless heart.

“The truth is that success in life and business begins by focusing on death,” Saab told the crowd, who listened with rapt attention as he related how Jesus, St. Augustine and St. Francis of Assisi eventually became his role models. But he said it took him a few years to learn that important lesson about life and faith.

“I had spent my young adult life focusing on the future without ever once considering the Catholic concept of a final end,” he said. “What’s the point of achieving all your earthly dreams if you fail the only test with eternal ramifications? If we don’t ever consider our salvation, I think we’re missing the whole point.”

Quoting from the Book of Sirach, Saab said, “ ‘In all thy works, remember thy last end and thou shall never sin’ (Sir 7:36). Our careers, … recreation, … relationships are not an end. They’re a means to an end. God has entrusted our wives, our husbands and our children to us to help them get to heaven. … We are stewards of their salvation. … We have to commit to the principle that if it doesn’t help us get to heaven then we should want no part of it. This is how we enter onto the road to happiness.”

The turning point in his faith life, he said, was not a climatic moment.

“It was just simply day after day after day after day after day realizing that I was never ever going to be happy pursuing the American dream,” Saab said. “… In James 4:14, it says, ‘For what is your life, a vapor which appears for a little while and afterwards shall vanish away.’ We’re one second away from the judgment. We just don’t know the second. You might ask, ‘Why focus on death and not on sanctifying your work by focusing on God?’ I did sanctify my work by focusing on God. But death is our account review.

“As Catholics, … we know how we will be judged in every aspect of our lives,” he said. “We’ll be judged by how well we follow the Ten Commandments, by how well we avoid the Seven Deadly Sins, by how well we love God with all of our heart and soul, and our neighbors, our co-workers, our family members and others as ourselves. So what does this mean for our lives? How do we learn how to live specifically as good Catholic men and women? We follow the examples of the saints ... the highest examples of Christian virtue.

“… So what does Christ offer the true Christian?” he asked. “Brace yourselves. I think this is a good message during Lent. He offers us suffering. … Christ is the greatest witness of suffering because God is love and there is no such thing as love without sacrifice.”

Saab’s degree in electrical engineering earned at The Catholic University of America in 2000 led to a lucrative career. He took the highest paying job he was offered with Texas Instruments in Dallas, Texas, then in California’s Silicon Valley.

“I learned something very quickly,” Saab said. “... Sometimes God gives you everything that you’ve ever wanted so you can realize that it’s not what you needed all along.”

At age 24, he considered himself a Catholic, but wasn’t living out the Church’s teachings in his life because he was too busy earning $135,000 a year.

“Yet, despite all these material things, I was still unsatisfied, and I couldn’t figure out exactly what it was,” he said. “… My business ethics and relationships were fashioned not by the will to please God, but [by the desire] to advance in my company. But where does it end? I like to say that the irony for the capitalist is that the grim reaper is a communist. He comes for everyone equally in the end.

“Through all of these experiences, it was like the hound of heaven was nipping at my heels,” Saab said, “plucking at my conscience and saying, ‘You need to be better. You need to be different.’ I dragged my faith behind me in every aspect of my life. I knew I couldn’t leave it behind, but I looked for happiness elsewhere.”

Saab said he found true happiness with his wife, Kathryn, and their daughter, Mariana, because he realized that “living out one’s faith is … the only way to live, … the only path to freedom.” †