Holiness

This year we are celebrating the Feast of All Saints (when we celebrate all those who have become saints) on Sunday 2nd November. What is a saint? A saint is a person who is fully human and fully alive.

When I was at the junior seminary I was sometimes called a ‘holy Joe’. This was not a very flattering title. It was given to me, I think, because I spent a lot of time in the chapel and perhaps I gave the impression that I thought I was better than anyone else. I gave the air of being a sanctimonious person.

We are all called to be saints. We are all called to holiness. The Vatican II document Lumen Gentium (‘Light of the Nations’) states that this call to holiness is for all baptised Christians, not just priests and religious:

‘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 consummator 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 and women that He might move them inwardly to love God with their whole heart and their whole soul, with all theirmind and all their strength.’

Holiness is described as the ‘most attractive face of the Church’ and is attainable despite the challenges of everyday life. Pope Francis, in his wonderful letter Gaudete et Exultate (‘Rejoice and be Glad’), says he wants people to know that they don’t need special education or qualifications, nor to have taken religious vows, in order to be holy. They just have to have an open heart and a desire to spend some time with the Lord — in prayer and by reading the Gospel. He also wants people to know that the Church makes available everything they need to become holy.

In the Gospel for this Sunday, we have the Beatitudes, which are Jesus’s portrayal of what it means to be holy in our daily lives. Here the words ‘happy’ and ‘blessed’ become synonymous with ‘holy’. We gain true happiness by faithful practice of the Beatitudes. We can only practice them if the Holy Spirit fills us with his power and frees us from our weakness, selfishness, complacency and pride.

A spiritual writer who has had great influence for me in my own spiritual life is Thomas Merton. For him, holiness is not about becoming a superior, isolated being but about living fully as a human being who is deeply connected to God and to the world through active, world-affirming love and a commitment to social justice. This spiritual journey is often one of confronting weakness and brokenness, recognising that God works through our fragility to transform us into a more complete and human version of ourselves.

Come Holy Spirit, fill me with your power that I may become a saint. May I become the person that God created me to be.