Tag: Holy

Sign Off and Listen For the Whisper

You have to be made of tough stuff if you want to become holy. I was going to add, ” in this day and age;” however, when I read about the Saints and Martyrs of long ago, they also endured tough times – even more so than today. They were often trying to avoid physical torture, imprisonment or even death for their beliefs, whereas today, (at least in the United States) we have laws and rights allowing us our religious liberty without fear of governmental punishment. Unfortunately, our country is starting to become one in which our freedom of religious expression is being put on trial.

We hear about minority groups being “offended” or insulted by someone’s particular beliefs and usually, these groups are ones who have infiltrated large organizations who have some kind of influence on the media. It used to be that media reported news fairly and impartially; that is far from the truth in today’s world. Whatever particular agenda these groups have, they are able to manipulate those in their control to get that message out there to the public. Media, politicians, Universities and even religious sects can bombard us with so many versions of “the agenda” we become immune or worse, start to believe what they are “selling.” Being told things like moral relativism should be embraced, everyone can believe and live however they feel is right, and seeing violence, poverty, sexual impurity and hate, on a daily basis, is Satan’s way of manipulating our thoughts and minds. Those of us, who are trying to become holy, do not have to deal with the threats and punishments saints of the past had to; however, today, we are fighting with the torturing of our minds and death of our souls if we aren’t careful. With all of these influences, there is no way we can achieve holiness by our own power.

God created us to be saints. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 2013) states, ” All are called to Holiness.” Only with God’s grace can we become saints. We must cooperate with God and follow where he leads, even in our ordinary ways of life. God is interested in our friendship and love. We must spend time with God in order to develop that friendship and love he so desires of us. Tuning out, turning off, and letting go of our technologically driven life for a few minutes each day will allow us to draw closer to Him. How can we expect to develop a friendship if we don’t give our undivided attention to Our Loving Father and His Son each day? It is often said that God speaks to us in a whisper. If we have everything “turned on,” how can we expect to hear that whisper amidst the chaos? Many times, people say they cannot be alone or they cannot stand the silence, I wonder why. Learning to be alone, not always having to be “doing” something, embracing the silence, and allowing yourself to be open to drawing closer to God and listening for that whisper will change your life. With these little changes in our behavior,  we learn that, “To be a saint requires nether extraordinary actions or works nor the possession of exceptional charisms.” Pope Benedict XVI  We only have to let God work through us – who’d have thought it would be that easy!

Once we have allowed God to work through us, truly guiding our lives, we can begin to grow in holiness and understanding that God has always been with us. We begin to understand that there isn’t a single moment God is not communicating with us in some way. He may use nature, interior thoughts, a loved one or friend or any particular event. As we grow deeper in our Spiritual life, we will realize that every event is a word of God to us. He is in everything that happens and it requires a deep faith to recognize Him in everyday, ordinary incidents. It is difficult to think that the God of the Universe can be present in our individual daily lives. We expect to see a heavenly Christ who reigns above all; however, to believe God can be so human and involved in our mundane lives is not only difficult for us, it was difficult for those during the early Church.

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus returns to his native land and those who knew him couldn’t accept that he was truly the Son of God. They questioned how he gained his wisdom, how he could perform his mighty deeds, wasn’t he just a carpenter, a relative of many and was born the son of Mary? They had Jesus right in front of them and couldn’t see Him for what he is! They couldn’t accept his humanity and the influence he could make upon their lives. We may do the same thing by not recognizing someone who is saintly among our acquaintances unless they do something extraordinarily holy. We have difficulty believing someone we know could be so ordinary could be so holy; unless of course, they suffer piously or we discover something about them after they die that elevates them to “sainthood” in our eyes. We must remember that our faith teaches us that Christ lives within our hearts and we should pray for our eyes to be opened to seeing Christ in others, even those who may bother us, annoy us or even be related to us! Let us remember to take the time to tune out Satan’s distractions and  develop the friendship and love for God our Father and Jesus Christ his son. Once we can do that, we will see the world and God’s people in a whole new way!

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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.