WE have to take initiatives in
developing our spiritual
life. We cannot be complacent and passive in this area. We have not
been made like robots or automatons that just wait to be switched on
before we move. We have to be fully responsible for our spiritual
life.
While it’s true that our sanctification is first of all a
responsibility of God, our Creator and Father, who with the Son and
the Holy Spirit, continues to undertake our redemption and
sanctification, we as persons and children of God also have to take
full responsibility of our duty to be holy.
We should not be remiss of this duty. God is treating us
the way he treats himself, precisely because we are children of his,
created in his image and likeness. What God is and does, that’s what
we should also try to be and to do, obviously with God’s grace always.
This is not being presumptuous. It’s just being consistent
to what Christ himself said: “Be perfect as your heavenly father is
perfect.” (Mt 5,48) St. Peter in his first letter reiterates the same
idea: “As he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your
conduct.” (1,15)
But we should not forget that while everything depends on
God, everything also depends on us. It’s a 100%-100% proposition, not
50-50, nor any other ratio. God’s full responsibility over our
sanctification does not detract any bit from our full responsibility
over our own sanctification.
We need to take initiatives in developing our spiritual
life. This has to be a personal affair, involving our most intimate
human faculties, our intelligence and will, our mind and heart.
We have to be wary of this requirement because we are most
vulnerable to go through our spiritual life by just coasting along,
mainly dependent on some external support systems that can only give
the semblance but not the very substance of holiness. Yes, it is easy
to wear a mask of piety.
We can go through the motions of sanctification, making
the appearances of prayer, sacrifices, virtues, etc., but still miss
the true object—complete albeit dynamic identification with God that,
in the end, is what sanctity is all about.
That’s why we can see that in spite of our impressive
regimen of spiritual exercises and practices of piety, we still can
see gaps and inconsistencies, as we easily fall into rash judgments,
shy away from sacrifices and occasions of self-denial, secretly
splurge on self-indulgence and self-absorption, etc.
We may manage to be impressive in our external piety, in
our theological thinking and reasoning, in assuming certain
characteristics of a charismatic person, but we may still be far from
true holiness. The scribes and Pharisees of old were also good in some
forms of piety, but they were far off the mark insofar as holiness is
concerned.
To be sure, sanctification is not simply a matter of
collecting pious activities, the personal and the popular ones, but
rather that through these activities we get to have an actual
encounter with the person of Christ who is always intervening in our
lives.
True sanctification entails getting involved in God’s
continuing work of human redemption. It’s not just a status. It
involves a till-death active cooperation in the saving providence of
God for mankind and the whole world.
It would be a real pity if after going through so many
pious acts, we still would miss the mark. It would be like what
Shakespeare once said: “It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound
and fury, signifying nothing.”
True sanctity involves all aspects of our being. It’s not
just a matter of good intentions and desires, and nice pious words. It
involves our feelings and passions. It is readily shown in our
behavior that does not shun from sacrifices and can well tackle heroic
challenges and trials.
We have to take initiatives in developing our spiritual
life. We can never say enough—that we are already ok. There will
always be new challenges. Our weakened and erratic human condition
will take care of that. God will always be asking for more even as he
gives us more graces.
Everyday, we have to set some goals to reach, pursuing
them with all our effort. It can be in the way we pray, develop
virtues, concern ourselves in the lives of others. It’s important that
we concretize these goals and identify the appropriate means. The
strategies we make should captivate us as fully as possible and
trigger us into action.
life. We cannot be complacent and passive in this area. We have not
been made like robots or automatons that just wait to be switched on
before we move. We have to be fully responsible for our spiritual
life.
While it’s true that our sanctification is first of all a
responsibility of God, our Creator and Father, who with the Son and
the Holy Spirit, continues to undertake our redemption and
sanctification, we as persons and children of God also have to take
full responsibility of our duty to be holy.
We should not be remiss of this duty. God is treating us
the way he treats himself, precisely because we are children of his,
created in his image and likeness. What God is and does, that’s what
we should also try to be and to do, obviously with God’s grace always.
This is not being presumptuous. It’s just being consistent
to what Christ himself said: “Be perfect as your heavenly father is
perfect.” (Mt 5,48) St. Peter in his first letter reiterates the same
idea: “As he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your
conduct.” (1,15)
But we should not forget that while everything depends on
God, everything also depends on us. It’s a 100%-100% proposition, not
50-50, nor any other ratio. God’s full responsibility over our
sanctification does not detract any bit from our full responsibility
over our own sanctification.
We need to take initiatives in developing our spiritual
life. This has to be a personal affair, involving our most intimate
human faculties, our intelligence and will, our mind and heart.
We have to be wary of this requirement because we are most
vulnerable to go through our spiritual life by just coasting along,
mainly dependent on some external support systems that can only give
the semblance but not the very substance of holiness. Yes, it is easy
to wear a mask of piety.
We can go through the motions of sanctification, making
the appearances of prayer, sacrifices, virtues, etc., but still miss
the true object—complete albeit dynamic identification with God that,
in the end, is what sanctity is all about.
That’s why we can see that in spite of our impressive
regimen of spiritual exercises and practices of piety, we still can
see gaps and inconsistencies, as we easily fall into rash judgments,
shy away from sacrifices and occasions of self-denial, secretly
splurge on self-indulgence and self-absorption, etc.
We may manage to be impressive in our external piety, in
our theological thinking and reasoning, in assuming certain
characteristics of a charismatic person, but we may still be far from
true holiness. The scribes and Pharisees of old were also good in some
forms of piety, but they were far off the mark insofar as holiness is
concerned.
To be sure, sanctification is not simply a matter of
collecting pious activities, the personal and the popular ones, but
rather that through these activities we get to have an actual
encounter with the person of Christ who is always intervening in our
lives.
True sanctification entails getting involved in God’s
continuing work of human redemption. It’s not just a status. It
involves a till-death active cooperation in the saving providence of
God for mankind and the whole world.
It would be a real pity if after going through so many
pious acts, we still would miss the mark. It would be like what
Shakespeare once said: “It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound
and fury, signifying nothing.”
True sanctity involves all aspects of our being. It’s not
just a matter of good intentions and desires, and nice pious words. It
involves our feelings and passions. It is readily shown in our
behavior that does not shun from sacrifices and can well tackle heroic
challenges and trials.
We have to take initiatives in developing our spiritual
life. We can never say enough—that we are already ok. There will
always be new challenges. Our weakened and erratic human condition
will take care of that. God will always be asking for more even as he
gives us more graces.
Everyday, we have to set some goals to reach, pursuing
them with all our effort. It can be in the way we pray, develop
virtues, concern ourselves in the lives of others. It’s important that
we concretize these goals and identify the appropriate means. The
strategies we make should captivate us as fully as possible and
trigger us into action.
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