I have to
read, “Lumen Gentium” for my new class in Ecclesiology. For this week I had to read a couple
chapters, one being chapter five on sanctity and I must say it blew my
mind! As you know, my initial Christian
formation (as an adult) began in protestant churches where it’s very common to
preach three things: one that Jesus is our friend, two once saved always saved and three that love is our mission. In my Christian walk I never heard about my call
to sanctity until I arrived home. Yet,
for me when I returned to the Catholic faith this whole notion of sanctity just
seemed wildly uncomfortable and at times really exasperating! For years, I had been taught that love fuels
the Christian life and love was something I did towards God, others and myself-
which is not wrong, but it is incomplete truth because love is not just an
action of “doing” it’s an action of transformation. For years, I heard that we needed to be more
like Christ and I thought I need to be more loving- but that is only the
beginning. When Jesus dies for us he
does so to sanctify the church so that we can return to the Father. For God is holy and only holiness is found in
Him. In the churches I attended, anyone
who accepts Christ as our Lord and Savior has complete passage to God; thus,
very little is taught about holiness. Now,
the choice to accept Christ is super important, but it’s only the beginning it doesn't end there. When we are united to Christ as
his church we accept the call to holiness because we are called to the fullness
of the Christian Life. I am not sure how
in my quest to love I lost sight of the transformation that love invites us
to. I just thought holiness is one of
those Catholic things that I have half an understanding about. Though I did try to be a better person I didn’t
have the motivating factor that God wants us to be holy. In fact, when other
Catholics told me they wanted to be saints inwardly I cringed and criticized
thinking that wanting to be a saint was more of a position or title thing like
wanting a PHD or something of the like for the sake of appearances. Yet, I was terribly wrong.
So, when I read chapter five of “Lumen Gentium” I couldn’t believe
how I missed the call to holiness not as a title, but a transformation process
in our desire to be more like Christ!
For the
first time in my life I can honestly say that I want to be a saint- though I
still feel a little weird saying it out loud because old ways take a while to
make it from your heart to your head. It’s
different now to think of sanctity as pleasing to the Lord and an invitation that
He makes giving us His Son as an example and leaving the Holy Spirit to guide
and help us. Before I had to be good
because that’s what Christianity demanded, now I have to be holy because God
invites me to eternity with Him. To
accept my call to holiness is to accept the gift of eternal life with my Father
and His Holy Church (smile).
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