“There are some who say that sanctity is not everyone’s vocation; on the contrary, it is everyone’s vocation, and all are called to it.”
– Pope Pius XI
The basic subject matter of this “school” is given in the words of our Blessed Savior: “Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” All Christians, as the Gospel teaches us, are called to spiritual perfection, i.e., to be saints, to become by grace what God is by nature--holy.
All Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity, and all share in the mission and ministry of the Church for the building up of the Mystical Body of Christ, evangelization, and the salvation of souls. God, first of all, wants us to be holy, and to do so one must try to sanctify oneself in one’s place within the Church. Then, by this holiness, a more divine life is manifested within the Church and a more human manner of life is fostered in earthly society. “Sanctify yourself, and you sanctify the world.” – St. Francis of Assisi
The Laity have the unique vocation and apostolate to infuse the spirit of Christ into the world through their ordinary duties and activities of life by living them according to God’s Will among men. In this way, their temporal activity openly bears witness to Christ and promotes the salvation of souls. Like salt and light, leaven in dough, and, as was stated in the Epistle of Methetes to Diognetus [200 AD], “what the soul is in the body, Christians are in the world.”
However, our good works are only as beneficial and effective as they are rooted in the truth and love of God, which are acquired most easily through the divine channels of grace instituted by Christ––the liturgy and sacraments of the Church––the source, center, and summit of the Christian life, which are the pillars of monasticism and the Transitus “school of perfection”.
When we allow the Church's Liturgical Year––through which we participate in the saving mysteries of the life of Christ and His Saints––to order our days and activities, and to define the course of our study and prayer––though often we stumble, waver, or fall short––we will always remain in God’s sacred space and time, in constant union with Him, and at peace with ourselves and others. “For a monk is he who directs his gaze towards God alone, and who, being at peace with God, becomes a source of peace to others.” – St. Theodore the Studite
Our interior life––the spiritual life of the soul with God––must be nourished and tended through prayer, study, work, service, silence and rest. When planted in the soil of humility and watered with daily offerings and sacrifices, our cultivation of the world within us reaps a harvest of good works that are holy and pleasing to God, which can (in turn) effectively transform the world outside us. For what the soul is to the body and Christians are to the world, the interior life––when rooted and perfected in love––is the very “soul” of every Christian’s being, life, work, apostolate, and ministry.
THE VOCATION
OF THE CHRISTIAN
In a general sense, any invitation of God to the soul may be called a “vocation”; thus we speak of “a vocation to the Christian life.” “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” exclaims St. Paul, “who chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in His sight, in charity; who has predestined us unto the adoption of children through Jesus Christ unto Himself.”
God wants us “all to be saved”; for this reason He gave us His Son, and with Him and through Him, all the means necessary for our salvation. Therefore, if a soul is not saved, it alone will be responsible.
Yet Jesus came not only to save us, but also to sanctify us. He is calling us to sanctity (holiness, perfection) and has merited for us all the graces we need to attain it. Jesus was not satisfied with destroying sin and meriting only a sufficient amount of grace for salvation. He did much more and He Himself declared it, “I am come that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.” This plentitude of life is the plentitude of grace, the supernatural life that causes sanctity to blossom.
Sanctity is not reserved for a few; Jesus, by His Incarnation and by His death on the Cross, merited the means of salvation and sanctification for all who believe in Him. He, the All-holy, came to sanctify us, and has taught us, “Be you therefore perfect, as also Your heavenly Father is perfect.” Jesus did not give this precept to a chosen group of persons, nor did He reserve it for His Apostles and close friends; He proclaimed it to the multitude following Him. St. Paul, received His message and announced it to the Gentiles, “This is the will of God, your sanctification.”
We are called in our vocation as sons of God to dare to attain divine perfection in order that we may be participants in His divine nature. Our supernatural birthright, lost to us in Eden, was restored in the blood of our Savior on Calvary. Indeed human nature is weak, but in the grace of God it can soar to the heights of perfection and hold before it as its ideal the very perfection of God.
To be in very truth in the light of Christian doctrine a son of God is the worthiest ambition of our souls. In every circumstance of life we can be sons of God in supernatural union with Him. This fact is the very basis of true Christian faith, hope, and love. We must not be defeatists or compromisers. What human nature can never do can be done by the supernatural power of divine grace.
We can renew the Church and build a better world. Human weakness, sin, and the evil assaults of the enemy (the world, the flesh, and the devil) are not impassable barriers. Our Savior died on the cross for us and rose to glorious life. With the graces of Redemption we are strong enough to labor for the realization of God's plan, and on our way to heaven, to love with an operative love all those whom we meet on our pilgrimage of life.
THE CALL TO HOLINESS
And in our times, the Church has repeated it strongly and on many occasions to the modern world, the universal call to holiness.
Pope Pius XI: “Christ has called the whole human race to the lofty heights of sanctity. There are some who say that sanctity is not everyone’s vocation; on the contrary, it is everyone’s vocation, and all are called to it. Jesus Christ has given Himself as an example for all to imitate. Let no one believe that sanctity belongs to a few chosen people, while the rest of humanity can limit itself to a lesser degree of virtue. Everyone is included in this law; no one is exempt from it.”
Pope Pius XII: “But God's merciful kindness does not discriminate between man and man. At his ways and purposes we can only wonder. He has sent out his invitation, time and time again, to all the faithful, that all should seek and practice perfection, wherever they may be. So it has came about in the working of Divine Providence that many chosen souls even in the midst of the world, so vicious and corrupt, especially in our times, have opened out to him like flowers to the sun, souls not only full of burning zeal for that perfection to which each single soul is called, but capable in the midst of the world with a vocation that is from God of finding new and excellent ways of seeking perfection together in associations suitable to the needs of our times and yet well adapted to the search for perfection.”
Likewise, the Second Vatican Council declares: The Church, whose mystery is being set forth by this Sacred Synod, is believed to be indefectibly holy. Indeed Christ, the Son of God, who with the Father and the Spirit is praised as "uniquely holy,” loved the Church as His bride, delivering Himself up for her. He did this that He might sanctify her. He united her to Himself as His own body and brought it to perfection by the gift of the Holy Spirit for God's glory. Therefore in the Church, everyone whether belonging to the hierarchy, or being cared for by it, is called to holiness, according to the saying of the Apostle: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification.”
However, this holiness of the Church is unceasingly manifested, and must be manifested, in the fruits of grace which the Spirit produces in the faithful; it is expressed in many ways in individuals, who in their walk of life, tend toward the perfection of charity, thus causing the edification of others; in a very special way this (holiness) appears in the practice of the counsels, customarily called “evangelical.” This practice of the counsels, under the impulsion of the Holy Spirit, undertaken by many Christians, either privately or in a Church-approved condition or state of life, gives and must give in the world an outstanding witness and example of this same holiness.
The Lord Jesus, the divine Teacher and Model of all perfection, preached holiness of life to each and every one of His disciples of every condition. He Himself stands as the author and consumator of this holiness of life: “Be you therefore perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Indeed He sent the Holy Spirit upon all men that He might move them inwardly to love God with their whole heart and their whole soul, with all their mind and all their strength and that they might love each other as Christ loves them.
The followers of Christ are called by God, not because of their works, but according to His own purpose and grace. They are justified in the Lord Jesus, because in the baptism of faith they truly become sons of God and sharers in the divine nature. In this way they are really made holy. Then too, by God's gift, they must hold on to and complete in their lives this holiness they have received. They are warned by the Apostle to live “as becomes saints”, and to put on “as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, patience”, and to possess the fruit of the Spirit in holiness. Since truly we all offend in many things we all need God's mercies continually and we all must daily pray: “Forgive us our debts.”
Thus it is evident to everyone, that all the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity; by this holiness as such a more human manner of living is promoted in this earthly society. In order that the faithful may reach this perfection, they must use their strength accordingly as they have received it, as a gift from Christ. They must follow in His footsteps and conform themselves to His image seeking the will of the Father in all things. They must devote themselves with all their being to the glory of God and the service of their neighbor. In this way, the holiness of the People of God will grow into an abundant harvest of good, as is admirably shown by the life of so many saints in Church history.
Finally, Pope John Paul II stated: First of all, I have no hesitation in saying that all pastoral initiatives must be set in relation to holiness. It is necessary therefore to rediscover the full practical significance of Chapter 5 of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, dedicated to the “universal call to holiness”. The Council Fathers laid such stress on this point, not just to embellish ecclesiology with a kind of spiritual veneer, but to make the call to holiness an intrinsic and essential aspect of their teaching on the Church. The rediscovery of the Church as “mystery”, or as a people “gathered together by the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”, was bound to bring with it a rediscovery of the Church's “holiness”, understood in the basic sense of belonging to Him who is in essence the Holy One, the “thrice Holy.”
To profess the Church as holy means to point to Her as the Bride of Christ, for whom He gave Himself precisely in order to make Her holy. This as it were objective gift of holiness is offered to all the baptized. But the gift in turn becomes a task, which must shape the whole of Christian life: “This is the will of God, your sanctification.” It is a duty which concerns not only certain Christians: “All the Christian faithful, of whatever state or rank, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity” (LG, 40).
At first glance, it might seem almost impractical to recall this elementary truth as the foundation of the pastoral planning in which we are involved at the start of the new millennium. Can holiness ever be “planned”? What might the word “holiness” mean in the context of a pastoral plan? In fact, to place pastoral planning under the heading of holiness is a choice filled with consequences. It implies the conviction that, since Baptism is a true entry into the holiness of God through incorporation into Christ and the indwelling of his Spirit, it would be a contradiction to settle for a life of mediocrity, marked by a minimalist ethic and a shallow religiosity. To ask catechumens: “Do you wish to receive Baptism?” means at the same time to ask them: “Do you wish to become holy?” It means to set before them the radical nature of the Sermon on the Mount: “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
As the Council itself explained, this ideal of perfection must not be misunderstood as if it involved some kind of extraordinary existence, possible only for a few “uncommon heroes” of holiness. The ways of holiness are many, according to the vocation of each individual. I thank the Lord that in these years he has enabled me to beatify and canonize a large number of Christians, and among them many lay people who attained holiness in the most ordinary circumstances of life.
The time has come to re-propose wholeheartedly to everyone this high standard of ordinary Christian living: the whole life of the Christian community and of Christian families must lead in this direction. It is also clear however that the paths to holiness are personal and call for a genuine “training in holiness”, adapted to people's needs. This training must integrate the resources offered to everyone with both the traditional forms of individual and group assistance, as well as the more recent forms of support offered in associations and movements recognized by the Church.
ACT OF CONFIDENCE
“Jesus, I trust in Thee!”
O my God, in spite of my unworthiness, I have a fervent longing to become a saint. I desire this not for my own satisfaction, nor to obtain the esteem and praise of others, but solely because you desire it; for You have said: “Be ye holy, because I am holy.” My one aim is to conform entirely to Your will and Your desire, to please You, to give You glory, to correspond to Your infinite love, to give You all the love You expect of me and of which I am capable. You teach me more and more clearly that sanctity does not demand of me great exterior works, but only a strong, generous love which will lead me to fulfill Your holy will perfectly.
O my God, when I consider that You, the Creator and Lord of the universe, have deigned to make known Your will to me, who in comparison with You, am less than a little worm, I am filled with confusion. A King so great and so powerful speaks to the least of His servants with the goodness with which He would speak to a beloved son! Yes, O my God, You speak to me thus, and manifest Your will by Your commandments, the duties of my state, and all the circumstances of my life. Everything that surrounds me––every incident, event, sorrow and joy––all express Your will and tell me at every moment what You desire of me.
O my God, how I wish I had that profound spirit of faith to help me recognize each circumstance of my life as a messenger of Your divine will! I beseech You, O Lord, give me the fidelity I need to persevere with humility and constancy in this path of continual adherence to Your will. With Your help, I will make this practice the center of my interior life.
O my God, shall I ever fall again? Yes, for I am frailty itself; but I know that You will be even more eager to help me rise again that I shall be prone to fall. My firm resolution and my perseverance will be to “begin again” every day, every instant, humbling myself profoundly for my weakness, but having utter confidence in Your will to sanctify my soul.
THE UNIVERSAL CALL