The Risk of Holiness

Within Sacred Scripture, it is fair to say that we encounter many spiritual and physical dramas between God and man. One who may be encountering the Word of God for the very first time may see the bible as a constant soap opera where God loves, man rejects God’s love, there are consequences to rejecting God’s love, man begs for forgiveness and mercy, God is infinitely merciful, man decides to sin again, God demonstrates his mercy and message through the prophets, and then the Son of God comes into the picture to die for the salvation of man.

This entire narrative may sound foolish and pathetic, but it reveals God’s intention to provide man with the gift of holiness. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, were created in a state of holiness and justice.[1] This means that our first parents were created with the freedom to live in holy communion with God the Father. The gift of holiness and justice can be described as an opportunity to live in a holy and intimate relationship with God, or what the Catechism describes as a Divine Intimacy.[2]

The construct of this Divine Intimacy is the active participation of Adam and Eve in the life of God the Father. Though the active participation of our first parents with God was interrupted due to the first sin of Adam and Eve, it was not destroyed, as revealed in the birth of the only-begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ. Christ came into this world to redeem man from his fallen nature due to sin, and establish a path of redemption and ultimately salvation for all mankind. Man’s responsibility in answering the message of Jesus Christ is to embrace Him as a model of holiness.[3] It is fitting that one of the central reasons why the Word became flesh was to be our model of holiness.[4]

In the Gospel of St. Matthew, we encounter Jesus urging his disciples to take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.[5] The message of holiness is further amplified when Jesus tells his Apostles that he is the way, the truth, and the light.[6] The example of the virtue of holiness revealed in the Gospels of St. Mathew and St. John requires that the person who strives for holiness freely commit to embracing the way and life of Jesus Christ at the expense of shedding their way of living. Both acts of faith require an exercise in charity, which the Catechism describes as the soul of holiness to which all are called: it governs, shapes, and perfects all the means of sanctification.[7] There is a risk in seeking to live a life of holiness, especially one that reflects an active relationship with Jesus Christ. The risk involves professing to believe in Christ and thus becoming a Son of God and not a son of the world. Now, the risk of holiness requires you to follow Christ and His Church, founded on the charity of Jesus. Further, the choice now is to act justly and right with an intention to perform good works for the benefit of others. Holiness is the perfection of charity[8] and thus positions us to reject the emptiness of a spiritually saturated self-seeking will, and instead, we surrender our will to Christ.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes an even greater risk in embracing the gift of holiness,

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^[9]

The call to perfection, as echoed in the Catechism, requires an embrace of the Cross and, hence, an embrace of suffering united with the suffering of Christ on the Cross. The desire for holiness requires a willingness to renounce those acts, thoughts, and behaviors that distract us from living a life of grace and holy sanctification. In the quest for a life of holiness associated with Jesus Christ, do we desire to live with a Christian mindset? Is our life predicated on anticipating the coming of the Kingdom of God?

These questions serve as an entryway to investigate the reality of our own identity as a child of God and whether we possess a desire to shun our own personal temptations in the desert and allow ourselves to be ministered to by Christ and His Church. The prayer that Jesus Christ taught the faithful, the “Our Father,” serves as a practical guide to seek a life of holiness with Jesus. Every time we pray, “Hallowed be thy name,” we affirm our call to holiness in baptism by the Father in Christ Jesus. The Catechism explains this relationship further by quoting St. Cyprian,

By whom is God hallowed, since he is the one who hallows? But since he said, “You shall be holy to me; for I the Lord am holy,” we seek and ask that we who were sanctified in Baptism may persevere in what we have begun to be. And we ask this daily, for we need sanctification daily, so that we who fail daily may cleanse away our sins by being sanctified continually.… We pray that this sanctification may remain in us.^[10]

What is involved with the risk of seeking holiness? A personal desire to turn away from sin and seek the sanctification of the Cross of Jesus Christ, and joyfully embrace suffering in all its wonder and splendor. The risk is replacing all false allusions of humanistic holiness with the holiness of Jesus Christ, who died for you. The risk is being viewed as the most awkward person who expresses a desire to be united with Christ in his suffering. If you desire to seek a life of holiness, the following practical suggestions may serve as a good start;

Begin your day with fifteen to twenty minutes of silence, meditating on the life of Christ, and gradually increase the time as you are able or desire.

Pray the Angelus at noon. The recitation of the Angelus invites us to reflect on the holy actions of our Blessed Mother and her docility to the will of God in the birth of Jesus Christ.

Conclude the evening with a personal examination of conscience to help you gauge your developing relationship with Jesus Christ.

To love God as he ought to be loved, we must be detached from all temporal love. We must love nothing but Him, or if we love anything else, we must love it only for His sake.

St. Peter Claver, Slave of the Slaves