Tag: holiness

Unexpected Time Out for God

In the last year, my life has changed pretty significantly. I’ve had to deal with a physical issue that has caused my professional career of 29 years to come to a screeching halt. I enjoyed my career; however, like most people, was looking forward to the day I didn’t have to wake by an alarm and could do what I wanted. I have to tell you, it’s a lot different when you are planning on retiring from your profession versus having to quit.

I’ve come to realize that God wanted me to take time out for Him, and He probably wasn’t going to get the time He deserved from me, without having to physically stop me in my tracks, because I’m one of those people who have always had something going on. I love to hike, bike, explore, try something new, learn and in general, be active. I had always thought I would have time for “being more Holy” later on, when I couldn’t do all those active things I was doing. Apparently, God decided that time was sooner than later.

Mentally, I was upset that my body failed me. I was always proud of the fact that I could quickly pass younger people on a hike or really get my speed up on a bike ride at my ripe old 50-something age. I didn’t want to face the fact that 29 years of a very physical job did me in and not only would I have to stop working, I could no longer do some of the active outdoorsy things I loved. I could sense myself starting to get a little depressed, down or frustrated, especially during my recovery period and I can fully understand how some people could spiral downward if they didn’t have a relationship with God. Now, I’m not saying I had the best relationship; however, a couple of years earlier, I had made the commitment to attend Adoration every week and I believe that was the catalyst that started me on my journey into learning more about my faith and wanting to become as Holy as I could be with my time here on earth.

When thinking about what it takes to become Holy, one might think they are to pray constantly, attend daily Mass, give to the poor, feed the hungry and on and on. I know that is pretty much what I thought becoming Holy was all about. When you look at it like that, the majority of people who are working or attending school, wouldn’t have time for everything “required” to becoming Holy, and I knew that physically, I wouldn’t be able to do much of anything except prayer for a while. The Catholic Church says that we are all called to be Holy and this Universal Call to Holiness is based upon Matthew 5:48 – “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect.” From the very first pages of the Bible, we see the call to holiness expressed in the Lord’s words to Abraham: “Walk before me, and be blameless”.

When God stopped me in my tracks and I had the time to sit and reflect, I discovered that the Council of Vatican II stated, “Holiness is first of all a gift of grace, the gift of love by which we love God above all things and our neighbor for God’s sake. But in order for love to grow, we must cooperate with this grace, completing what God has begun in us.” We first receive grace through Baptism and the Holy Spirit. Allowing the Holy Spirit to work through us depending on our situation or obligations will allow us to grow in Christ’s love for one another.

Using our specific strengths or talents, each one of us can become more like Christ; thus, becoming more Holy. We need to remember to accept our specific gifts with love, know they are from Christ and use them for God’s will, out of love for Him. This is what so many people (including myself) need to understand. Many of us may not be able to physically do for others; however, we may actually be doing more for someone’s soul by praying for them, seeking reparation for souls who are in purgatory, or offering your sufferings for others. I’ve read about many a saint who, while confined to their sickbed, asked not for a cure to their ailment(s) because they were doing more good for souls by offering up their sufferings for them. We have to remember that it is out of charity and love for others we do these things.

Some people, many Protestants and even some Catholics, mistakenly think we Catholics are all about doing good deeds. They believe we are tallying up a list of our good deeds to present at the gates of Heaven, as our ticket to get in. The Catholic Church teaches that our moral life, the righteous life that God desires from us and is one we need to live to become Holy, is precisely fulfilled in our interior disposition toward God and neighbor. If I love God and love neighbor, my heart toward God has changed from opposition and animosity, to one of faith, love, trust and filial dependence on God. Through this gift of love for others and to live a virtuous life as Christ did, we are called to do good deeds. This is just an extension of the gifts we are given through faith in Christ. We can recall St. James 2:17 saying, “Faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead” and in James 2:22, “You see that faith was active along with his works and faith was completed by the works.”  We must have both to fulfill God’s will for our lives.

Deepening our Faith through scripture, the Eucharist, prayer and other sacraments, will allow us to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit more fully and recognize the times we can be more charitable, virtuous and Holy in our lives. For those of us who have physical limitations, it is wonderful to know that God made us able to help the souls of others through the offering of our sufferings to Him. We may not be aware of all we do for others in this lifetime; however, one day we will be shown just what our prayers and offering up has done for souls. I, for one, am looking forward to that day.

Holiness-We are All Called, but are You Listening?

I love late-Spring mornings; not too early mind you, but early enough that I can see the dew on the grass, hear the birds chirping and feel the peace of quiet stillness as the world wakes up.

Usually, it’s at this time of day when I feel the closeness of Jesus. I may not be praying in the “normal” sense of the word, but I acknowledge the presence of Our Lord in the stillness, the birds and the beauty of the world I get to observe, and I’m thankful.

Of course, in my quest of becoming a holy person, I try to have times of prayer, reading of the scriptures or spiritual books and even listening to Catholic radio or podcasts during the day; however, I need to remember to ask Jesus for help in achieving the holiness he wants out of me, and everyone for that matter. I realize making a plan to cultivate the interior life, of love for Jesus, requires me to do the same things I would do if I were making a goal of losing weight or starting an exercise routine, and that is a critical part of growing in holiness.

We hear from the Vatican that there is a Universal Call to Holiness, but what does that really mean? Basically, it is to imitate Jesus by allowing his life to transform ours. Pope Benedict and Pope Francis both mentioned how Jesus’ life could be described in the 8 Beatitudes described in the Gospel of Matthew. In the Beatitudes, they give us a basic outline for living as Jesus did and echo his mercy, spirituality and compassion for others. When we practice the virtues of humility, charity and brotherly love, we transform our inner person because love is the motivation and God is love, itself.

Imitating Jesus and allowing his life to transform ours can be difficult. We have the initial struggle due to the stain of original sin, our tendencies toward sin, and the pressures of the outside world to contend with. Often, we struggle with what we want to do and what we should be doing, or we don’t feel like we are progressing on our spiritual journey because we aren’t sensing any consolation after a trial or we dont have any feelings of closeness from Our Lord.  In the book, ” The Fulfillment of All Desire,” Ralph Martin says, ” When we start looking for or seeking a certain feeling or sensation in our spiritual activities rather than God Himself, we have departed from the straight path of faith and have begun to seek ourselves rather than God.”  Likewise, Saint John of the Cross mentions those who are beginning on the spiritual path to holiness, “often want God to desire what they want and they become sad if they have to desire God’s will and feel an aversion toward adapting their will to God’s.” It didn’t occur to me right away that part of my road to holiness would take the turns that God willed and not the turns I mapped out. That was a pretty significant lesson for me; however, my little twists and turns were hardly worth mentioning compared to some saints I’ve read about. These holy men and women often had to undergo tremendous external and interior trials on their path to holiness and they all accepted it as God’s will for them and bore the physical and spiritual trials willingly. We have the recent Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta who went through decades of “the dark night of the soul,”  where she didn’t have the sensory delights or affirmations of the Lord but knew she was being lead by God to a deeper trust and abandonment to His will. There were also numerous saints who suffered terrible physical ailments and even torture but never lost their faith. I’ve questioned my own faith at times after reading about so many brave saints and wonder if I’d have been just as faithful.

We know that for most people, with age comes wisdom, and we can also conclude those who are seeking to become holy require many years, if not a lifetime, to reach some level of holiness, if they are lucky. Even Jesus chose disciples who at first glance were flawed men that abandoned Him in his time of need. Yet, they were chosen and perfected through time and had moments of success as well as failures. They ultimately achieved such a high level of sanctity they were willing to die for the love of the Lord. So, if these flawed, ordinary men could be chosen and perfected why not us?

We, as chosen members of the Body of Christ, have been given the chance to grow and be “perfected” through faith and Baptism in order for us to reach Heaven. We know that the Bible tells us nothing unclean shall enter heaven and Jesus calls us to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect. This perfection isn’t something related to our everyday life in the sense of being a perfectionist about everything, it is the perfection of the soul. We are called to a higher standard even though we are imperfect, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can apply the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles to love one another and grow in that love. Saint John talks about this love by saying, “In this love brought to perfection among us, that we have confidence on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.” (1 Jn: 4:17) And I love this quote by Ralph Martin when he said,  “Holiness begins with the fear of the Lord and ends in a love without fear.”

My goal in growing in holiness is to achieve the love of God insomuch that I go through the times of trials and sufferings without desolation and know there will be a purification of my soul and in that I will find joy. It is hard and I think as I grow closer and allow the will of God to become my will; I will be challenged even more as my faith is tested. With the help of the Holy Spirit, I think I’m up to the challenge….are you?