Into the Realm of Holiness we should seek throughout Life

Into the Realm of Holiness we should seek throughout Life

To find holiness is not a mystery to avoid; it is the one attribute that Jesus proposed to his disciples; “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  (Mt 5: 48).

Finding perfection is a challenge we all must reach for if the world of evil continues to attack and surround any of us who are following the dictates of Christ and become just like him.  It wasn’t that Christ wanted to become the Paschal Lamb for any particular reason, but because the attraction to sin was so great that mankind chose the easier path in life to please his wandering attitude without the watchful eye of God.  Christ’s Passion is the path for us to follow.   

“All Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity.”  All are called to holiness:  “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  (as mentioned in the opening paragraph).  (CCC 2013).

Spiritual progress tends toward ever more intimate union with Christ.  This union is called “mystical” because it participates in the mystery of Christ through the sacraments - “the holy mysteries” - and, in him, in the mystery of the Holy Trinity.  God calls us all to this intimate union with him, even if the special graces or extraordinary signs of this mystical life are granted only to some for the sake of manifesting the gratuitous gift to all.  (CCC 2014).

The way of perfection passes by way of the Cross.  There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle.  Spiritual progress entails the ascesis and mortification that gradually lead to living in the peace and joy of the Beatitudes: (CCC 2015).

He who climbs never stops from beginning, through beginnings that have no end.  He never stops desiring what he already knows.  (St. Gregory of Nyssa).

In the communion of saints, many and varied spiritualities have been developed throughout the history of the churches.  The personal charism of some witnesses to God’s love for men has been handed on, like “the spirit” of Elijah to Elisha and John the Baptist, so that their followers may have a share in this spirit.  A distinct spirituality can also arise at the point of convergence of liturgical and theological currents bearing witness to the integration of the faith into a particular human environment and its history.  The different schools of Christian spirituality share in the living tradition of prayer and are essential guides for the faithful.  In their rich diversity they are refractions of the one pure light of the Holy Spirit.  (CCC 2684).

Is the probability of reaching holiness too far out of reach for many who hear about it and close their minds to even try?  

Let’s take a look at Elisha, after the guild prophets went out to Elisha and asked him, “Do you know that the Lord will take your master from over you today?”  “Yes, I know it,” he replied.  “Keep still.”  When they had crossed onto dry land, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask for whatever I may do for you, before I am taken from you.”  Elisha answered, “May I receive a double portion of your spirit.”  “You have asked something that is not easy,” he replied.  “Still, if you see me taken up from you , your wish will be granted; otherwise not.”  As they walked on conversing, a flaming chariot and flaming horses came between them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.  When Elisha saw it happen he cried out, “My Father! My Father!  Israel’s chariots and drivers!”  But when he could no longer see him, Elisha gripped his own garment and tore it in two.  He now would take the mantle of Elijah, succeeding him as God’s prophet.  (2 Kgs 2: 3, 9 - 12).

We need not wait for one before us to be taken up to heaven in order to pick up the ministry of reaching the poor and disillusioned that our leader was successful in sharing the word of God.  Holiness comes in a package of humble beginnings and a manner of following the one who called us into ministry; Jesus Christ our Savior and the Son of God.  Here is the very essence of what holiness is through our own sacrifice to sin’s attraction to the Blood of Christ that calls us to obedience in the same love that he gives to those who want it.

Ralph B. Hathaway