We often hear how difficult it is to be a Christian today, largely due to the pervasive carnality of our modern culture. But a mere glance at the lives of the saints throughout history makes clear that those who would have God work through them have always struggled against a variety of worldly influences. I think our real challenge today is that we'd rather be normal rather than different (weird), let alone holy. Maybe it has always been so. Perhaps, by such a mindset, we give ourselves permission to accept the world's standard for our lives rather than God's, which we deem unattainable. We'd be right to think such a calling is beyond us, if it were up to us to achieve it. If we convince ourselves we cannot sing such a pure song, then it becomes comfortable to tolerate or even indulge in the counterfeit pleasures that the world offers.
In acknowledging that, by my sacramental life and (it should go without saying, for it is one and the same) by God's grace, I am different, I am holy, I hear God's call in my life in a way that helps me recognize where I've compromised. I begin to see the ways in which I've settled for less than God has dreamt for me, a song inferior to the one he would compose. As my life begins to sing notes that match God's melody rather than clash against it, I come to know that there is a joy greater than that to which I erroneously cling.
As is so often the case, there are two opposite errors in which we tune out the song of holiness.
Some people view salvation like this: when we're saved, God declares us to be holy even though we aren't, because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ covering over our sin. While that might seem merciful, if it were so, God would be a liar. We forget that when God declares a thing, that thing IS! There is no denying it or arguing with it. If God "says" or "declares" that we are holy, then he MAKES us holy, by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is why we paraphrase the centurion at each Eucharist: "Only say the word and I shall be healed." We know that what God speaks, is.
Understanding how we err in the other direction takes some development. The Church links the concepts of salvation (delivery from the penalty of sin) and sanctification (transformation in Christ), as they should be. We view them as a process in which we’re continually transformed by grace as we walk with Christ. Yet we often hinder ourselves from experiencing grace’s full manifestation in our lives. The error lies in this: twisting the concept of this process, we often still think of ourselves as slaves to sin as a result of being human, with scant hope of ever being saintly. Sometimes we go so far as to disdain holiness, for fear of hypocrisy or of failure. But it is this very slavery to sin from which Christ has purchased our freedom. We must avoid embracing the common attitude that holiness is a goal beyond us, for it is a denial that God's grace and power are without limit, a denial of Christ's victory. It can represent a failure to fully believe in Him, a reverse pride that declares that my shortcomings are too great for God to overcome! We must remember that while we may not fully experience our holiness in this life – indeed, the closer we grow to Christ the more aware we are likely to be of our unworthiness of him – it is no less real, and we are to grow in it each day. This happens not merely by virtue of our trying harder or being better, but because of God's grace transforming more of our lives.
This is what we celebrate in a special way each Lenten season. It isn't that we become holy by our efforts, though our willingness to participate in the process is necessary. It's more that, as we become more willing, allowing God to open us more to grace, He enables us to participate in and communicate with his grace more completely. It is the Holy Spirit who whispers to us, revealing those areas in which we remain closed off. If we don't heed the whisper, because of the holy grace God has already poured into our lives through our Baptism, it is the Holy Spirit who ultimately hits us alongside the head with whatever two-by-four it takes to get our attention. In either case, it is also the Holy Spirit who opens those locked doors when we finally yield to his ministrations to us, the Spirit whose voice soars through us, making our life a majestic song of God's glory.
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