Meditations

Holiness

Be holy

"Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy". The Lord says this to every man because every man, whatever his belonging, carries within him the image of his Creator and Father. Holiness is therefore to realize in oneself the likeness to God, living in a manner in conformity with his will which is revealed to us in the commandments. Man therefore has the duty to achieve "moral perfection".

Holiness must be lived in our life as the rhythm of our breath; but if we choose to live in evil we cannot live in holiness. It is true that as human beings we are weak and can fall into sin, yet the fall can become a road to humility, because in this way you can feel your own weakness in having trusted only in your own strength and therefore the need to rely on God emerges.

What can block the way that leads to holiness is the wickedness that contains in itself the wickedness, the treachery, the meanness of our acting and that makes us the complete opposite of God. Wickedness is a great poison because it destroys all the people involved. The means of measuring our wickedness are our thoughts: if you reflect on them, each of us is perfectly able to understand whether it is good or bad.

Wickedness is like a deadly weapon: every time we accept it, every time we put it into practice it is as if it killed the soul, because wickedness obscures the light of God and makes us similar to the devil; In addition, it destroys every relationship because it makes us see reality with the eyes of envy, and makes us sink so deep into darkness that it takes away all desire to repent.

In this case, God does not help us, he cannot be on our side, even if he does not stop sending us signs of love and conversion that, unfortunately, will remain unheard. When we act with malice we become blind and we want to force others to be blind like us, we must ask the Lord to eradicate our wickedness and plant within us the seed of goodness, to reach holiness.

Therefore, holiness must be our vocation. But do you have this desire within yourself? Did you pray, or did you make choices to get it? Nothing should take you away from the desire for holiness, not even mourning, suffering or illness, as they may be the indispensable way to reach it. If you believe that God sustains you and does not abandon you, then you also believe in the time of tribulation, otherwise you fall.

If you love God in gossip, the fall is inevitable. However, the Lord always gives you the opportunity to convert. So if you discover, after years of spiritual journey, new sins or other weaknesses that undermine the goal of health, it means that it was all an illusion: in reality you were not walking in faith because, if the light of God enlightens you, every weakness, every vice and every sin is revealed to you, so that you can avoid it.

So that I would not mount in pride for the greatness of the revelations, I was put a thorn in the flesh, a sent of satan charged to slap me, so that I would not go into pride. Because of this for three times I have prayed the Lord that removed her from me. And he told me: "My grace is enough for you; for my power is fully manifested in weakness".

I will therefore gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am pleased in my infirmities, in outrages, in needs, in persecutions, in the anguish suffered for Christ: when I am weak, it is then that I am strong".
(2 Corinthians 12,7-10)

Christian holiness

We know that everything contributes to the good of those who love God... Because those whom he has always known have also predestined him to conform to the image of his Son, so that he may be the firstborn among many ftratelli; those whom he has predestined have also called them; those whom he has called he has also justified.
(Romans 8,28-30)

All the faithful of every degree are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity. All are called to holiness: Be therefore perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.
(Mt 5,48).

To achieve this perfection, the faithful must use the strength received according to the measure of the gift of Christ, so that... in all obedience to the will of the father, with all their soul they consecrate themselves to the glory of God and to the service of neighbour.
(Catechism 2013)