What is happening in the world today is a matter of great concern. A day can hardly pass without news about suicide, homicide, kidnapping, or any other evil. The world seems to be going crazy. The solution to the problem of humanity today is enrolling in the school of Jesus, the great teacher of humanity, the light that has come to enlighten us, the way to life and true freedom.
LIFE IN CHRIST INDISPENSABLE FOR EVERLASTING LIFE
“But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.”(Rom 8: 9-11).
Life in Christ means life in the Spirit. It implies the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ in the soul. Having Christ dwelling in a soul is a guarantee of everlasting life in heaven with God.
To live in Christ is to share and participate in his divine nature, that implies total transformation into the image of Christ; that is, having the same mind that is in Christ (Phil 2: 5). This will result in a new way of thinking and holy life.
New life in Christ is made possible by the power of the Spirit. The “Spirit changes the character of those among whom he comes to dwell, and transforms their life.” This is affirmed by Samuel when he said to Saul, “Then the spirit of the Lord will possess you, and you will be in a prophetic frenzy along with them and be turned into a different person”(1 Sam 10:6).
The Spirit of the Lord produces fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (cf. Gal 5:22) in the heart of one in whom he dwells. On the contrary, in the heart of one who lives in the flesh is found: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.” (Gal 5: 19).
Believers in Christ are moulded into his image and are sanctified by God the Father through the work of the Holy Spirit. The hearts of those who believe in Christ is the dwelling place of the Holy Trinity because they have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Master, and they living according to the words of the Lord.
Whereas life in Christ or life in the Spirit is a guarantee for eternal life (cf. Rom 8:10-11), life in the flesh is obstacle for attaining everlasting life. St Paul after enumerating the works of the flesh made it clear that those who live by the flesh will be excluded from attaining everlasting life: “I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”(cf. Gal 5:21)
Agnes Okoye
DOING MY PART
How different the world would be if each person does what he or she is suppose to do. It is easy to blame others for the problem of the world today, but the world will be a better place when each one does his or her part. What does it mean to do one’s part? Doing one’s part means doing what is good at every moment, helping one’s neighbour, avoiding any form of evil act.
The reward of every good act is personal, that is to say that each one reaps what he or she sows. Therefore, it is not logical to fail to do good because others are not doing good or to pay back evil with evil. When Jesus invites his disciples in the gospel of Mathew to love their enemies and pray for those who persecute them (cf. Mat. 5:44), he is urging them to do good even when the other persons do wrong to them. Consequently, under no ground is evil act or failure to do good justifiable.
Any time I fail to do right thing because someone else does not do what she or he ought to do, I am empowering that person to recreate me into the person’s likeness, to change me from being a good person to being a bad person. Such act is based on the wrong philosophy that “I cannot be who I am suppose to be unless you are who you are suppose to be.” On the contrary, one should be guided by this right philosophy “I will do what I ought to do even if you fail to do what you ought to do.”
There is a woman I know who has this as her guiding principle. She narrated how she has most of the time in her life experience being paid back with evil for her charity towards others. That not withstanding, she vowed never to stop doing good because people pay her back with ingratitude. She said she will never allow people to recreate her, that if she should stop doing good because of the bad experience she has about doing charity, it means she has allowed people to recreate her. For her, love and generosity are two precious gifts from the author of life which she will never allow people to steal from her, convinced that her reward is with God even when her good acts are not recognized on earth. What a great wisdom lies behind this thought! What a great woman!
This is the right attitude for happy and fulfilled existence. Anyone who abides by this principle will ever enjoys interior peace and has great reward in God.
"People spend too much time finding other people to blame, too much energy finding excuses for not being what they are capable of being, and not enough energy putting themselves on the line, growing out of the past, and getting on with their lives." (J. Michael Straczynski)
HOLINESS: A Call for All
Introduction
Holiness is the ultimate goal of human existence and fulfillment, hence God desires and wishes all men and women he created to be holy (cf. 1Th. 4:3; Eph. 1:4) as he is holy (cf Lev. 19:2). In the Book of Leviticus it was written:“ Take the way of holiness and be holy, for I am holy.” (Lev 11:44). In St Mathew’s Gospel Jesus says: “For your part you shall be righteous and perfect in the way your heavenly Father is righteous and perfect.” (Mt 5:48). There is no doubt that this biblical injunction is addressed to all the followers of Christ irrespective of their state of life.Consequently, holiness or sanctity is a common vocation of all human persons: men, women, and young people. There is no state of life (clerical, religious or lay state), in which holiness cannot not be attained. One attains holiness by living a life that conforms to the demand of one’s state of life. Thus, holiness is one but can be reached in many ways. In what consists holiness or sanctity and who is a saint?
God, the Holy One: Holiness as Share in the Life of God
In essence, God is the only Holy One, and it is through union with him that one is sanctified by the action of the Holy Spirit. A person becomes holy in as much as he or she participates in the life of God by a life of perfect union with his will. In this case it can be said that it is no more the person that lives but God lives and moves in him or her. The heart of such a person becomes the abode of the Blessed Trinity.
A person in whom dwells the Trinity is a holy person because by this union he or she shares in the life of God. The enjoyment of the indwelling of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit is consequent to one’s faithfulness in keeping the words of Christ. Keeping the words of Christ or obedience to him is a sign that one loves Christ. In answer to the question of one of his apostles, Judas -not the Iscariot- as to the reason why Jesus said he will show himself to them and not the world, Jesus responded: “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my Father will love him; and we will come to him and make a room in his home. But if anyone does not love me, he willnot keep my words, and these words that you hear are not mine but the Father’s who sent me.” (Jn. 4:23-24).
A holy person or a saint is one that seeks for and does the will of God at all time. The will of God is something good and perfect. God expressed his will in the Ten Commandments he gave to Moses which in the New Testament are summed up in the two commandments of love of God and one’s neighbor. Keeping God’s commandment is a proof of one’s love of God and a guarantee of divine indwelling hence Jesus affirms:
If you love me, you will keep my commandments; and I will ask the Father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever, that Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him for he is with you and will be in you.
I will not leave you orphans, I am coming to you. A little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me because I live and you will know that I am in my Father and you in me, and I in you.
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; remain in my love. You will remain in my love if you keep my commandments and remain in his love ( Jn. 14: 15-20; Jn. 15:9).
What is the Lord’s commandment? It consists in love for one another as he loves us. Jesus gave his commandment of love to his disciples, he says:
This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you. There is no greater love than this, to give one’s life for one’s friends; and you are my friends if you do what I command you.
I shall not call you servants any more, because servants do not know what their master is about. Instead I have called you friends, since I have made known to you everything I learned from my Father.
You did not choose me; it was I who chose you and sent you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. And everything you ask the Father in my name, he will give you (Jn. 15: 12-16).
The love of Christ for all humanity has these characteristics: it is free, unconditional and unlimited. Jesus loves us not for our goodness, nor for what we have done for him or will do for him. He came to the help of humanity by dying our death without our asking him for help. He loved us when we don’t merit his love because of our condition of sin. Jesus loves us even when we refuse and contradict him.
Given Christ surpassing love and tenderness for human beings, he did not hate or reject us for our sins; rather he bored with us giving up his life as ransom for our iniquities. Jesus the holy, immortal, just, incorrupt and sinless one is given up for us sinners. Thus in Christ, the holy One, the wickedness of multitudes is hidden and countless wicked sanctified (Cf. Epistle to Diognetus, in Divine Office Vol. 1, Collins, London 1974, 128).
The goal of Christ’s love is to help us rediscover our dignity as images of God and attain the dignity and freedom of the children of God. He does not love us to make us slaves; rather his love liberates us from slavery of sin and selfishness.
The love of Christ is love that is given to friends and foes, because it is a love that pardons. Jesus interceded for those that hanged him on the cross saying: “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.” ( Lk 23:34).
The love of Jesus is for every person, and forever. He loved us to the end, to the point of dying for us on the cross (cf. Jn 13:1). Not even death can come between the love of Christ and humanity. He loved us to his last breath without withdrawing in the face of suffering. This shows his fidelity in his love. He loves us with an everlasting love. The love of Jesus is a faithful love, love that never ends. It is a love that cost him his life: “There is no greater love than this, to give one’s life for one’s friends.” (Jn 15:13).
Holiness as Love for God and One’s Neighbour
Holiness involves relationship of intimate union with God and unconditional love for others as Jesus loves them. One in whom dwells the Holy Trinity begins to see the world with the eyes of God and to love his fellow human beings as God loves them. It is contradictory to live in God and not love those made by God. That is why St John made a categorical affirmation that, “If you say, “I love God,” while you hate your brother or sister, you are a liar. How can you love God whom you do not see, if you do not love your brother whom you see? We received from him this commandment: let those who love God also love their brothers.” (1 Jn. 4:20 -21).
A saint is one who lives evangelical life, which consists in unconditional love of God and fellow human beings. Put in another way, a saint is one who loves like Christ. St Paul tells us what love is and what it is not: “Love is patient, kind, without envy. It is not boastful or arrogant. It is not ill-mannered nor does it seek its own interest. Love overcomes anger and forgets offences. It does not take delight in wrong, but rejoices in truth. Love excuses everything. Believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1Cor. 13:4-7).
The fundamental point about holiness or sanctity is that it entails life of perfect union with the will of God by keeping the two commandment of love of God and love of one’s neighbor. A life of union with God leads to bearing of much spiritual fruits:
I am the vine and you are the branches. As long as you remain in me and I in you, you bear much fruit; but apart from me you can do noting. Whoever does not remain in me is thrown away as they do with branches and they wither. Then they are gathered and thrown into the fire and burned. (Jn. 15:5-6).
Thus, a saint is one in whose life is seen the fruits of the Spirit: charity, joy, peace, patience, understanding of others, kindness and fidelity, gentleness and self-control.” ( Gal. 5:22-23). Loving God and one’s neighbor inevitably demand sacrifice.
Holiness or sanctityis not attainable without suffering: “If anyone wants to be my disciple, let him deny himself take up his cross and follow me.” There is no saint that has not in one way or another participated in the cross of Christ. Starting from the apostles, the disciples of Christ often times have had to undergo persecutions in different forms.
The faithfulness of the apostles to the order of Christ of preaching repentance and salvation in his name brought to them the persecution of the Jews. Till today, those who are faithful in their service of God are still in different part of the world under persecution. Many Christians in Nigeria have lost their lives in recent time from the action of the Muslim fundamentalist, the Bokoharam because they are serving the Christian God.
Holiness and Martyrdom
There are two types of martyrdom, blood and white martyrdom. The former involving shading of blood and the later suffering of any kind without shading blood. Sainthood is not possible without trials, sufferings and temptations. Life of holiness may expose one to suffering any of the above mentioned martyrdoms.
Abiding by the two commandments of love of God and neighbour in one’s daily life is not an easy endeavour. It calls for self-sacrifice and readiness for persecutions of different types. To make fundamental option for God and to abide by the words of God could be a reason for one to be hated and persecuted in a world that is becoming more and more secularized and indifferent to God. Jesus made this clear when he said:
If the world hates you, remember that the world hated me before you. This would not be so if you belonged to the world, because the world loves its own. But you are not of the world since I have chosen you from the world; because of this the world hates you.
Remember what I told you: the servant is not greater than his master; if they persecuted me, they will persecute you, too. If they kept my word, they keep yours as well. All this they will do to you for the sake of my name because they do not know the One who sent me.” (Jn. 15: 18-21).
Saints are those who love and serve God in joy and in pain and are willingly to sacrifice their lives to God for the salvation of souls in imitation of Christ. They count themselves privileged to suffer for the sake of Christ and to participate in Christ salvific work through their suffering. Saints too are those who by the grace of God live virtuous life to a heroic level.
Holiness and Divine Grace
Holiness is a work of grace which requires too human collaboration. Without Christ and grace that comes from union with him, one cannot attain holiness. Hence Jesus said in the Gospel of John: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5). We cannot love God and our neighbour unconditionally with the help of divine grace. We cannot do the will of God in our daily lives without grace of God. In fact, we cannot become only by our human effort. It is God who makes us holy by giving us grace to live by his words. That is not to say that our collaboration is not needed. St Augustine rightly affirmed that “God who created us without us cannot save us without us.”
Holiness: the Greatest Achievement
Achievement can of different kinds: material and spiritual. The greatest of all achievement one can attain on earth is holiness which falls to the spiritual sphere. We are created to be in union with God in this life and in the life to come. This can be possible only by a holy life. Thus, one who attains holiness has fulfilled the reason for his/her existence. If one, makes uncountable and wonderful achievements without attaining holiness in one’s life time, such achievements worth little.
Conclusion
As noted above, we are made by God to live in communion with him in this life and in the life to come. Holiness consists in the life of loving intimate union with God through adherence to his commandments of love of God and one’s neighbor. Hence, holiness is the fulfillment and realization of the reason for our existence. Our true and lasting joy lies in living a holy life. Each and everyone made by God is called to be holy by a life in conformity to the will of God.
23rd May 2014
LIVING WELL EACH MINUTE
A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step.
A journey of holy life starts in a day.
If I am able to live well each second, I will be able to live well each minute.
If I am able to live well each minute, I will be able to live well each hour.
If I am able to live well each hour, I will be able to live well each day.
If I am able to live well each day, I will be able to live well each month.
If I am able to live well each Month, I will be able to live well each year.
If I am able to live well each year, I will be able to live well my whole life.
I live my whole life well, if I am able to live according to Christ’s
commandment of loving all men and women as he loves me.