The greatness of ordinary life.
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For the last 2 years at every Wednesday Audience, the Holy Father has dedicated his talks to the saints as examples of holiness for Catholics. This past Wednesday the Pope directed our attention to the 'universal call to holiness' and the means of sanctifying ordinary life. Like St. Therese, Fr. De Caussade, and St. JoseMaria Escriva, the Holy Father recognizes that ordinary life is the seedbed of holiness.
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Saintliness is the measure of Christian life.
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"Often we are led to believe that sainthood is reserved to a few chosen ones", the Pope said. Nonetheless, "saintliness, the fullness of Christian life, does not consist in the achievement of extraordinary feats, but in uniting oneself with Christ... in making His disposition ... His behaviour ... our own. ... The II Vatican Council, in the Constitution of the Church, speaks clearly of the universal call to sainthood, affirming that no-one is excluded".
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However, a holy life, the Pope continued, "is not principally the result of our efforts, as it is God ... who renders us holy, and it is the action of his Spirit which animates us from within, the same life of Christ resurrected which is communicated to us and which transforms us ... Saintliness is therefore ultimately rooted in baptismal grace, in being introduced to the paschal mystery of Christ, by which His Spirit, His resurrected life, is communicated to us. ... But God always respects our freedom and asks us to accept this gift and to live with the demands it brings, asks that we may allow ourselves to be transformed by the action of the Holy Spirit, conforming our will to the will of God".
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"How can it be that our way of thinking and our actions become the thought and action of Christ?" asked the Pope. "Once again, the II Vatican Council offers us clear guidance; it tells us that Christian holiness is none other than charity, fully experienced". However, in order that charity might, "like a good seed, grow in the soul and there bear fruit, the faithful must listen gladly to the Word of God and, by its grace, carry out His will through their works, participate frequently in the sacraments, above all the Eucharist and the Holy Liturgy; they must constantly apply themselves in prayer, in the abnegation of their selves, in the active service of their brothers and in the exercise of every virtue. ... For this reason the true disciple of Christ is characterised by his charity both toward God and toward his neighbour". - VIS
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Photo: St. Therese at the laundromat. ;)
