To Become Holy as the Father is Holy

St. Paul in his Letter to the Thessalonians states, “This is the will of your heavenly Father—your sanctification.” The New Testament is replete with statements like these, exhorting us to pursue holiness. Remember Jesus’ injunctions: “Be holy as your Heavenly Father is holy” and “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for holiness, they will be filled” (Mt. 5:9). St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta explained, “Holiness is not the privilege of the few; rather, holiness is the duty of all.” All of us are called to become saints; this is a universal vocation, a universal call to holiness. If we want to get to heaven—and we all do—then we must do all in our power to arrive at the holiness of life that God has called us to.

This being the case, we will offer a roadmap, a spiritual GPS for the journey up the heights of the mountain of God, the mountain of holiness. We hope that all will read, pray over, and implement these action items to attain holiness. Have always before your mind’s eye the words of Jesus: to be holy as your heavenly Father is holy!

Sin is the antithesis of holiness. Mortal sin ruptures our friendship with God; venial sin chills the relationship. We are conceived in sin, born sinners, and die as sinners. Nonetheless, our life-long pursuit is to reject and eliminate sin from our lives. As inspiration, let’s borrow the motto of St. Dominic Savio, who on the day of his First Holy Communion proclaimed, “Death rather than sin!”

St. Teresa of Avila defines prayer as “spending alone time with the Friend that I know loves me.” Great definition. What air is to the lungs, so is prayer to the soul. A holy person strives on a daily basis to improve and upgrade his prayer life, his Friendship with the Lord Jesus. St. Augustine coined the saying, “He who prays well lives well; he who lives well dies well; he who dies well all is well!” It’s true—and heaven is the prize!

We cannot love somebody that we do not even know. So to grow in holiness, we must make a concerted effort to get to know God in a more profound and intimate manner on a daily basis. Read, meditate, contemplate, pray over the riches of the Word of God, especially the Gospels. A short method for using the Bible is: 1) pray; 2) read slowly; 3) ponder the message of the text; 4) discern what the Lord’s message is for you (Ask: How is God speaking to me right now?); 5) talk to Jesus about it; and 6) put it into practice.

Get into the habit of making a visit to the Blessed Sacrament every day, if this is within your means. Remember the little poem: “Whenever I see a church, I stop to make a visit, so that when I die the Lord will not say: who is it?” Friends like to visit, talk, share feelings, desires, and experiences. Spend time with Jesus in love so as to become more like the Lover and grow in holiness of life.

We all need models and guides on which to pattern our lives. To be holy, we ought to model the holy, namely, the saints. What better way to learn from them than by reading their works and immersing ourselves in their lives, while asking God for the grace to imitate them. The Catechism states that the saints help us especially in two ways: 1) through their power of intercession and 2) by their shining example of holiness. They are a stimulus for us to imitate daily.

Despite our best efforts, we do at times fall into the mud of sin. The worse thing that we can do is to give into discouragement or despair when this happens. The Founder of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary, Venerable Father Bruno Lanteri, has coined a classic two-word saying for those who have fallen—nunc coepi—meaning, “begin again.” Even after we have fallen, start again right away. Like in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, return to the embrace of the Father, throw yourself in His loving arms, and beg for mercy by means of a good sacramental Confession. Remember the consoling words of St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans: “Where sin abounds, the mercy of God abounds all the more!”

By far the most efficacious means of growing in holiness is to receive the Author and Fount of holiness in the depths of your soul by means of frequent, faithful, and fervent reception of Holy Communion. Even just one reception of Holy Communion could transform us into saints. The reason this does not happen every Sunday is not because of some fault in the Sacrament, but in ourselves in our lack of a proper disposition to receive Him! This is why we emphasize the fervent reception of Holy Communion, especially through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, for this is the quickest, easiest, and most efficacious pathway to holiness. Only God can make us holy, and Holy Communion is God Himself. So receive Him often and fervently, and you will be made holy!

Perhaps often forgotten as an essential ingredient to holiness, we must make a clear declaration as to the importance of joy: God loves joy! God loves those who serve Him with a joyful spirit. One of the most enriching fruits of the Holy Spirit is that of joy. A joyful person is motivated to do great things for God. The joy of the Spirit can motivate us to overcome insurmountable obstacles. The prophet Nehemiah encourages with these words: “May the joy of the Lord be our strength.” Even Our Lady reinforces this essential point: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior . . . The Almighty has done great things for me and holy is His name.”

The Mother of God, the Mother of the Church, and the Mother of us is a most powerful stimulus to grow in holiness, to desire to be the saints that God is calling us to be. St. Dominic Savio appeared to St. John Bosco after he died and asked him what he thought brought Savio greatest joy in his life. Bosco thought: his prayer life, his penance, perhaps his effect on the other boys. None of these were correct. Rather, St. Dominic was filled with joy most by merit of his love and devotion to Mary. Therefore, he encouraged St. John Bosco to promote love and devotion to Our Lady far and wide. If we want to attain sanctity, we must lift our eyes to Mary, the Holy Mother of God, and trust that she will help us ascend the mountain of holiness so that we will be able to contemplate the Face of her Son Jesus in this life and forever in the next. Amen.

Author’s Note: My book, From Humdrum to Holy, is another great resource for daily efforts to grow in holiness. It’s simple and easy-to-read, offering short, substantial chapters on how you can go from a humdrum life of mediocrity and lukewarmness to a life afire with the love of God.

Photo by Alessio Soggetti on Unsplash