Holiness...

St. Francis of Assisi gave up everything he had to become a beggar for the poor. Sts. Peter and Paul died for their faith. Sts. Felicity and Perpetua sang on the way to their execution. Blessed Theresa of Calcutta loved so much that she put up with the stench and deformities of the sick and homeless people on the streets of India. Pope John Paul II evangelized to the world teaching them to respect their bodies, have devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, and bring young people to the faith. 

What do all these great men and women have in common? They were all very holy. With benchmarks like this, sometimes I find myself thinking, "There is no chance someone like me can make it to Heaven." Looking at how holy these people were and then looking at how unholy I can be is almost a little depressing. I doubt that I will ever beg for a meal for the poor, die for my faith, help sick and dying homeless people, or evangelize to the world. How do I stand a chance of achieving holiness when I am so far from it? The answer may be written in plain text in a book written by C. S. Lewis called Mere Christianity. 

In this book Lewis states that being holy is very hard, but there is a method that the average man or woman can use to grow in holiness. This method is to approach every decision in your life and try to think how a truly holy person would make this decision. What would St. Francis do? What about Mother Theresa? Would John Paul do that? Or the ever popular, What would Jesus do? Asking yourself this and making the decision will be a good start, but Lewis takes it a step farther. He says to take this logic and apply it to your life completely. In other words, act holy all the time. If you are constantly acting holy, you will begin to form a habit and holiness does entail a love for God, so by acting holy, you will form a habit of loving God. By completely loving him and "acting" holy, soon you will begin to grown in real holiness. 

So while I will never be as holy as the Saints I mentioned at the beginning, it is important to remember that a big part of the reason the Catholic Church formally recognizes these great men and women is to give us an example to live by. A standard to strive for. A goal in life. By imitating these great examples, we may never be as holy as they are, but we may achieve a degree of holiness that is impossible for us to reach on our own.

But now I'm back to my mission: striving for true holiness...