The feast of All Saints on 1st November reminds us that the calling of each person is to be holy. The Bible is clear on this point, particularly as the Book of Leviticus presents it. "For I am the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God; you shall therefore be holy, for I am holy" (Lev 11:45).
We Christians too are encouraged to be holy. Jesus tells us: "You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt 5:48). Following Jesus' summons for holiness, the entire New Testament tradition never tires of reminding us that this is the basic mission we all have which stems directly from our baptismal vows. "Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him" (Eph 1:4). "But as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; since it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy'" (1 Pet 1:15-16).
One of the main four documents which emerged from the Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, dedicates a whole chapter on the universal call for holiness of Christ's disciples. It says: "All of the faithful are invited and obliged to holiness and the perfection of their own state of life" (no. 42). Obviously, God's programme is to sanctify bishops, priests, religious sisters or brothers, laity, single or married, parents or not, rich or poor. Again, the same Dogmatic Constitution on the Church reiterates this call two paragraphs earlier when it states: "All Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of love, and by this holiness, a more humane manner of life is fostered also in earthly society" (Lumen Gentium, 40).
Holiness is primarily God's transforming gift. In the Second Eucharistic Prayer, priests invoke the Holy Spirit to sanctify the Eucharistic gifts of the bread and wine and transform them into the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. "You are indeed Holy, O Lord, the fount of all holiness. Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray, by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall, so that they may become for us the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Simply put, holiness is being who God desires us to be. Lumen Gentium tells us: "In order to reach this perfection, the faithful should use the strength dealt out to them by [grace], so that, following in his footsteps and conformed to his image, doing the will of God in everything, they may wholeheartedly devote themselves to the glory of God and to the service of their neighbour." In other words, as Blessed Teresa of Calcutta used to say: "Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love."
Having said that, holiness does not happen overnight. It necessarily implies a continual struggle with our egoism and self-centredness. Thus, holiness is a journey of ups and downs. Saint Paul was so practical on this tangible shade of holiness when he said: "Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brethren, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil 3:12-14). And Jesus, through his Church, offers us his helping hand not only by giving us his Holy Spirit, the Spirit of holiness, but also when he works through the sacraments, those saving signs of grace, especially in the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist.
Finally, watching movies, listening to talks or reading books about the lives of the saints will surely encourage us to take our Christian vocation of holiness more seriously. Furthermore, as Saint Bernard of Clairveaux said, "seek[ing] the prayers of the saints" to attain our holiness is really helpful".
Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap
Paola