CALL TO HOLINESS

The Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition Chapter 5

? 48 You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Chapter 6

H

A. The Call To Holiness Most Rev Alexander Sample https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gufSuEugnIE

all christians are called to holiness

call to holiness is in your state in life, circumstances, in ordinary life—every little decision

Desire to be baptised is desire to be holy—do you want to be baptized is the same as do you want to be holy.

Conform our life to JC

do gods will in everything…give glory to god and serve our neigghbor

Peter Kreeft (the Snakebite Letters)—wrote essay about todays culture war—we are at war good vs evil—who is the enemy is satans n demons—what is the weapon to win, how do we win—answer holiness, need saints…all it takes is saints---imagine 12 more Mother Teresas. You can become a saint. Its your choice. You are not a saint because you don’t fully want to be. What holds us back. Whats the price—everything—100%. [story: bishop asked the best way to increase vocation. a priest responded that the best way yo increase vocations in this diocese your excellence is for you to be canonized! lol]

Once we have the conviction Christ will give our need

Prayer—priority! EVERYDAY! Never advance without prayer

Sacraments-esp penance & Eucharist. Penance one of the most neglected sacrament

Works of Penance

works of mercy, showing love for others

THis is the time for saints. We cant afford any lukewarmness

B.

HOLINESS FR MIKE SCHMITZ

Holiness is being set aside for a purpose—in baptism you were made holy. “No was was born a child of God. we were all born beloved creatures of God whom God loves and who is in His image and likeness, but no one is born a child of God. You’re only made into a child of God by your baptism.” In baptism we become partakers in the Divine Nature. When ever St Francis would come upon a newly baptised person, he’d genuflect in front of them because THey have in indwelling of God’s very presence.

You already holy. How do I live holy is the question? Will you live according to your vocation. Main vocation of everyone is to become a saint. (15:30) THe call to holiness

Secondary sense of vocation is what we are called to marriage, priesthood, religious life or consecrated single life

Third sense vocation are the tasks God’s calling you to right now

God knows you. God loves you better than you love yourself.

3 questions (33:00)

am i in a state of grace

Am I doing my daily duties/tasks

Did I pray today

SUCCESSFUL PRAYER

1st ingredient is humility

Forgiveness (doesn’t mean I don't. hurt or that we are friends again) Forgiveness is justice. It means that I won’t collect on what you owe me. Therefore we must know what it actually costs us before we can let it go, forgive that debt. Doesn't mean I trust you or we’re best friends.

3. Mass—I will never be able to live as a disciple of christ unless i pray. i will never be able to live holy unless i pray. I’ll never be the man/woman I’m called to be unless I pray. How should I pray:

When are you going to pray? must pray on purpose. Can’t be vague “I’m going to pray today sometime’ ‘NO YOU’RE NOT!” When am I going to pray. Put in on calendar. God, you can have my leftovers!

where are you going to pray? a place that helps, facilitates

What are you going to pray or how are you going to pray? Checking off a list and unable to enter prayer—clear the deck (56:14). Clear it all away and pick one thing if you are only praying for 15-20 minutes, if an hour you can have more. Commit to the “one thing” (rosary, scripture, daily readings etc) for a liturgical season.

C. Ralph Martin “Called to Holiness” stpaulcenter.com

Jesus summed up his teaching in a startling and unambiguous call to His followers: “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (). Perfect in purity of heart, perfect in compassion and love, perfect in obedience, perfect in conformity to the will of the Father, perfect in holiness—when we hear these words we can be understandably tempted to discouragement, thinking that perfection for us is impossible. And indeed, left to our own resources, it certainly is—just as impossible as it is for rich people to enter heaven, or for a man and a woman to remain faithful their whole lives in marriage. But with God, all things are possible, even our transformation.

What really holds us back from a wholehearted response to the call of Jesus, of Vatican II, of the repeated urgings of the Spirit, is not really the external circumstances of our lives, but the interior sluggishness of our hearts. We need to be clear that there will never be a better time or a better set of circumstances than now to respond wholeheartedly to the call to holiness. Who knows how much longer we’ll be alive on this earth? We don’t know how long we’ll live or what the future holds. Now is the acceptable time. The very things we think are obstacles are the very means God is giving us to draw us to depend more deeply on Him.

he whole purpose of our creation, the whole purpose of our redemption is so that we may be fully united with God in every aspect of our being. We exist for union; we were created for union; we were redeemed for eternal union. The sooner we’re transformed the happier and the more “fulfilled” we’ll be. The only way to the fulfillment of all desire is to undertake and complete the journey to God.