Call to holiness

Why is holiness or sanctity seen as the purview of religious leaders, priests, monks and nuns? As A. reminded us last Friday, we are ALL called to holiness.

Most people confuse holiness with religiosity and perceive holiness as living according to a strict or extreme moral religious code. Not for regular human beings, and certainly not fun, or fun to be around.

Nothing could be further from the truth. We are all created with a spark of the divine in each of us and Jesus is constantly calling us to connect with Him, whether it be communion through prayer or by calling forth an innate impulse of love and expressing it in the world.

Humans are fundamentally good with the need for truth and beauty engineered into our DNA.

As children we each have a sense of God, a natural sense of the sacred, of awe and wonder, which unfortunately diminishes as we get older.

Part of the reason is due to familiarity - remember the first time you saw a rainbow and measure the levels of awe and excitement you felt that first time with the last time you saw a rainbow (or maybe you didn't even see the rainbow in the sky for you were too busy looking at the road or your iPhone screen).

Part of it is the relentless human need to search for answers and explain away the natural world with science and technology, thereby demystifying the magic of the Creator's artistry.
 
Mostly it is due to a broken and distorted view of the world that comes from human experiences tainted with anger, hate, injustice, prejudice and lies.

A lost sense of the sacred, of what is holy in life, is replaced by fear, cynicism, despair and superstitious beliefs. Also by the pursuit of worldly pleasures that offer an all too fleeting and superficial satiation, leading to addictive/compulsive behaviour.

When I had a very limited and distorted vision of self and God, I believed in a distant, unloving God who punished wrongdoers and I felt I was beyond redemption, riddled with sin and doomed always to failure.

It was only with restored self-worth and a more incisive view of the Trinity that I was able to revive my sense of sacred. To find God in all things and see His hand in my life has given me a renewed sense of wonder.

Like a child I find life fascinating again: There are new discoveries every day. Miracles to behold. Much to be grateful for, to laugh over, every day.

This incites me to want to know more and more about Him, to spend time with Him and get to know Him better, and ultimately, to want to be more like Him.

This is the call to holiness.

Not to be some prudish, sour, Goody Two-Shoes who follows the rules out of fear, but to be someone who recognizes and acknowledges this embedded desire for holiness, for God, and seeks Him out actively.

It's an awesome experience so do say yes.