HOLINESS
a) Healthy happiness
b) Characteristics of Holiness
c) Renouncing worldly goods
d) Apostolic life
e) Contemplative life
f) The Virgin Mary
g) Searching for Holiness
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a) Healthy happiness
Being a Christian means following Jesus. The saints we worship are the testimony of the number of people who have followed, loved and imitated Him. All of us have been called to be saints.
However, as St. Teresa of Avila said, "a saint who is sad is a sad saint". And "you have to be very happy; I repeat, always be happy, and let everyone see your happiness", repeated Saint Paul again and again. So happiness is the sign of the Christians, and we can achieve this:
-through doing our deeds,
-not worrying about what is relative.
Happiness is achieved through knowing how to enjoy everything which God has given us, just as he created it: in order, with knowledge, kindness and beauty.
b) Characteristics of Holiness
Holiness is the result of our union with God. It is the fruit of this. God, on his side, has done everything possible to achieve this. In order for it to occur depends on us, and how we fight for this and how we correspond to this.
We must:
-love God above all things and love our
neighbours, as we love ourselves, and our enemy who does us wrong;c) Renouncing all the worldly things
Holiness is something which corresponds to all Christians, from newly baptized ones to the ones who are preparing for their deaths. All Christians "are on this earth", but "we are not from this world".
This world is just passing, deceiving, far away, where we are only passing through, exiled here.
So we shouldn’t get attached to things from here, which are just appearances, deceiving and with an expiration date.
We must:
-living in the
transcendence, seeing things through their whole truth, from that 99% that is only through
God;
-not getting attached to worldly things, keeping our feet on the ground, of course, but not staining our heart with corrupted things.
d) Apostolic life
This is the first type of Christian life, and this was ordered directly by Jesus Himself: Go throughout the whole world and preach the gospel". After this confirmation, all Christians became the Lord’s apostles, and they must begin to demonstrate this apostolate.
This apostolate which is developed through lay people throughout the world consists of:
-proclaiming
Jesus, living the gospel (sacraments, pious life…) and proclaiming the gospel (in our families, in catechism, to friends…);
-making society Christian, giving testimony through our work, fighting for Christian values, and christianizing everything which is pagan.
e) Contemplative life
This is the second type of Christian life, and this belongs to the people who have decided to be devotes themselves to God. They are in a religious order, and they give their lives to Jesus, they are will Him and they pray for everyone else. They live in poverty, obedience and chastity.
The contemplative life can be:
-passive, continually praying through sacrifices and enclosure (silence, cloister…),
-active, helping the least
f) Virgin Mary
The Virgin Mary was full of Grace and virtues from her immaculate conception, but she also lived her whole life, generously giving back to God. For all mankind, she is a special person because she is:
-immaculate. Mary was conceived without the stain of the original sin, and stayed pure and clean her whole life;
-virgin. Mary was never with a man before or after giving birth. Jesus was conceived through the Holy Spirit, and she dedicated herself to her home and to prayer;
-mother. Mary is the Mother of God (of Jesus Christ, the true man and the true God), our mother and mother of the neediest;
-lawyer into heaven. Mary never knew the corruption of becoming old or of dying. She "slept" and was taken to heaven in body and soul, to be our advocate from the heavens.
g) Searching for Holiness
Jesus Christ asked all of His disciples "to be holy as God is holy". This doesn’t mean that we have to be perfect (we never will be), but we should try to be perfect, as God is.
The first step to being holy is to want to be holy, and this implies:
-being shrew
like snakes, being astute enough to move like light through the darkness,
-being simple like doves, with no big pretensions, complications or insincerity.
Wanting to be holy means a full battle against mediocrity, coolness, apathy and laziness.
Mercaba Eds
Diocese of Cartagena-Murcia
General
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