Source: Moving in the Spirit, Becoming A Contemplative in Action.

 

Page 17.  Temptations will be with us for our entire life; Jesus was tempted.  It should be stressed, however, that their presence or absence is no indication of personal holiness; how we deal with them is.

 

 

Source: Never Alone.

 

Page: 80.     Holiness is growth in godliness, and God is not self-centered.  He is a giving God, always sharing the immensity of His infinite goodness with His creatures.  Our holiness, then, is authentic when it is reaching out to others, sharing with others what God has poured so lavishly into our own lives.

 

The real work of our spiritual life lies essentially in what subconsciously takes place beneath the surface of our daily life, as God uses events and circumstances as well as people to alter our thought patterns, clarify our vision, reset the direction of our life, and realign our personality to harmonize with Jesus own inner life.

 

 

 Pages: 108-109.     The purpose of our lives is to grow into a fully matured child of God, which means developing the life of God within us.   Becoming spiritually mature means to practice the various virtues to an heroic degree.  This can take place only if we encounter endless occasions to exercise these virtues.  Take patience.  How could we attain heroic patience unless we are subjected to many trying situations where we have to practice endless patience?  Over time we attain a very high degree of patience.  Or take the virtue of courage.  How could we ever attain heroic courage unless we are put into circumstances that demand extraordinary valor and courage?  Or heroic love. To arrive at a state of heroic charity, God must place us in the right and difficult circumstances and give us the grace to accomplish things that demand extraordinary love of God and of others.  Gradually, our love will grow to a level we never would have thought attainable, and the wonderful thing about this growth in holiness is that it is mostly the work of God within us and is all so beautifully unself-conscious.

 

 

Source:  Romans, 1, 5-7.

 

Through him we have received the grace of apostleship, to bring about the obedience of faith, for the sake of his name, among all the Gentiles, among whom are you also, who are called to belong to Jesus Christ; to all the beloved of God in Rome, called to be holy.

 

1,7: Called to he holy: Paul often refers to Christians as the holy ones or the saints.

 

 

Source:  The Word Among Us, January 1 - February 20, 1996.

 

Page: 43.     For Titus, the task included the appointment of elders in every town (Titus: 1:5) who were to govern and guide the church.  For us, the task might be to preach the good news, to work at sustaining and strengthening the body of believers, to help one another grow in holiness, to work for justice, peace and brotherhood, or perhaps to help those in need.

 

 

Source:  Matthew, 5, 3-10.

 

The Beatitudes

 

Blest are the poor in spirit: the reign of God is theirs.

Blest are the sorrowing: they shall be consoled.

Blest are the lowly: they shall inherit the land.

Blest are they who hunger and thirst for holiness: they shall have their fill.

Blest are they who show mercy: mercy shall be theirs.

Blest are the single-hearted, for they shall see God.

Blest are the peacemakers: they shall be called sons of God.

Blest are those persecuted for holiness sake: the reign of God is theirs.

 

Source:  The Word Among Us, January 1 - February 20, 1996;

 

Pages: 45-46.     Explanation of the beatitudes:  The beatitudes are the way of life God intends for us.  They are signs of Gods kingdom.  There are two different ways of looking at the beatitudes. One is to see them as ideals of perfection that Jesus is holding out to us if we wish to follow the narrow path of Christian holiness.  Although it is important to strive for Christian holiness, the difficulty in this interpretation is that the fullness of the beatitudes is at times so difficult to attain that we need to look to

Another meaning of the word blessed to understand how to apply the beatitudes in our lives.

 

The second way of looking at the beatitudes is to see them in themselves as blessings that God gives us.  The first beatitude could be paraphrased as How blessed you are by God if you are pure in spirit. This is the sense of many uses of the Greek word makarios (blessed) in the New Testament.  For example, Jesus told the apostles, Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear (Matthew 13:16), and he told Simon Peter, Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah!  (Matthew 16:17), and Elizabeth told Mary, Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord (Luke 1:45).

 

When we think of the beatitudes as blessings, we see that God gives us each of these blessings as a foretaste of our heavenly reward.  God allows us to be poor in spirit, meek, hungering for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, and, yes even persecuted and mourning, because this is how we share in the characteristics and life of Jesus.  He is the perfect fulfillment of the beatitudes, and we can call on him to give us grace so that we can move toward him in greater Christian holiness.

 

The beatitudes do not constitute what the world considers great or noteworthy---quite the opposite.  This is reflected by St. Paul who wrote to the Corinthian congregation that God had chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise (1 Corinthians 1:27).  The beatitudes illustrate once again an important spiritual truth: The life of God and the life of the world stand in opposition to one another.

 

 

Source: Thessalonians, 5:23-24.

 

Concluding Prayer

 

May the God of peace himself make you perfectly holy and may you entirely, spirit, soul, and body, be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The one who calls you is faithful, and he will also accomplish it.

 

5:23: Paul is not offering an anthropological or philosophical analysis of human nature.  Rather, he looks to the wholeness of what may be called the supernatural and natural aspects of a persons service of God.

 

 

Source: Picture of a lighthouse from Deborah Harr, Author: Dwight L. Moody.

 

A holy life will produce the deepest impression.

            Lighthouses blow no horns;

                        They only shine.

 

 

Source:  Catechism of the Catholic Church.

 

Part Three, IV, 2013.     All Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity. (Lumen gentium, 40/2.)  All are called to holiness: Be perfect, as your heavenly Father.  (Mt 5:48.)

 

In order to reach this perfection the faithful should use the strength dealt out to them by Christs gift, so that...doing the will of the Father in everything, they may wholeheartedly devote themselves to the glory of God and to the service of their neighbor.  Thus the holiness of the People of God will grow in fruitful abundance, as is clearly shown in the history of the Church through the lives of so many saints.

Part Three, IV, 2015.     The way of perfection passes by way of the Cross.  There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle.  (2 Tim 4.)  Spiritual progress entails the ascesis and mortification that gradually lead to living in the peace and joy of the Beatitudes:

 

He who climbs never stops going from beginning to beginning, through beginnings that have no end.  He never stops desiring what he already knows.  (St. Gregory of Nyssa, Homily in Cantibury)

Source:  Matthew, 5, 17-20.

 

The Old Law and the New.  Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets.  I have come, not to abolish them, but to fulfill them.  Of this much I assure you: until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter of the law, not the smallest part of a letter, shall be done away with until it all comes true.  That is why whoever breaks the least significant of these commands and teaches others to do so shall be called least in the kingdom of God.  I tell you, unless your holiness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees you shall not enter the kingdom of God.

 

5:20: The false justice of the Pharisees, their lack of true interior holiness, will exclude them from the kingdom.

 

My personal comment: Some translations use holiness, other righteousness and others more faithful.

 

 

Source:  Titles of the Holy Spirit.

 

Spirit Of Holiness

 

Scripture: Romans 1:3-4

... regarding His Son, who as to His human nature was a descendant of David, ... and

who through the Spirit of Holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

 

Reflection:

The Spirit of Holiness declared the sonship of Jesus in his triumph over death and through His Holy Life.  That same Holy Spirit works in the believer and we are called to be holy (1 Thesessalonians 4:3 ff).  We are called to manifest the holiness of Jesus Christ.  It is the Spirit of God, which perfects us.  The Greek word, found in the admonition of Jesus,  Be perfect as I am perfect  (Matthew 5:48), is Teleios and it refers to our accomplishing what we were created to be.  Those of us who belong to Christ have been recreated to be like Him and it is the Spirit of Holiness, which will bring that about.

Prayer:

Father, send the Spirit of Holiness upon me that I too may find my sonship and identify in being conformed to the all holy image of your beloved Son, Jesus Christ.

 

Petition:

       Come, Holy Spirit...

 

 

Source:  Bible Meditations for Every Day.

Page 51.     James gives some advice.  A holy man in this context is simply someone who preaches the word of God.  Apply this to you situation and respond in prayer!

 

James: 5:16-20:   Declare your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may find healing.

            The fervent petition of a holy man is powerful indeed.  Elijah was only a man like us, yet he prayed earnestly that it would not rain and only a man like us, yet he prayed earnestly that it would not rain and no rain fell on the land for three years and six months.  When he prayed again, the sky burst forth with rain and the land produced its crop.

 

My brothers, the case may arise among you of someone straying from the truth, and of another bringing him back.  Remember this: the person who brings a sinner back from his way will save his soul from death and cancel a multitude of sins.

 

Page 52.     Paul sends greetings to the church of God which is in Corinth!  We are first of all consecrated in Christ Jesus and called to be holy people, and only secondly members of St. Judes! Focus on the essentials and keep in mind that the institution, which will never be perfect, is secondary.

 

1 Corinthians 1:1-3.     Paul called by Gods will to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and Sosthenes our brother, his greetings to the church of God which is in Corinth; to you who have been consecrated in Christ Jesus and called to be a holy people, as to all those who, wherever they may be, call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.  Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.