EWTN on Location - 2020-09-15 - Cardinal Burke and Bishop Strickland

[Music] [Applause] [Music] i'm very happy to be with you today for this online conference on the very important topic of you are called to holiness and i thank ann wilson and all of the members of the saint john newman chapter of catholics united for the faith for organizing today's online conference i am addressing the subject you therefore must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect holiness the fruit of god's life in us in the sermon on the mount recorded in chapters 5 through 7 of the gospel according to saint matthew our lord proclaims the fulfillment of the old law given to moses on mount sinai in his very person he declares do not think that i have come to abolish the law and the prophets i have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them for truly i say to you till heaven and earth pass away not an aorta not a dot will pass from the law until all is accomplished the heart of his teaching is found in the beatitudes with which he opens the sermon on the mount the beatitudes describe eight ways of living poverty of spirit mourning over evil meekness hunger and thirst for righteousness mercifulness purity of heart peacemaking and persecution for the sake of righteousness which bring happiness in this life and assure the fullness of happiness in the life to come in short the beatitudes are the fulfillment of the ten commandments given by god to moses on mount sinai they do not replace the ten commandments but bring them to fullness in a life lived in christ after he had declared the beatitudes our lord made clear that god has created man to embody them in daily life he uses the images of salt and light in order to underline that it that it is of the very being of man to live so in his very being man is to be salt of the earth and the light of the world in fact as he teaches when man is true to his vocation to be salt and light he reflects the life of god within him let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven the man who fails to be the salt of the earth to reflect the presence of god within his soul is like salt which has lost its savor our lord declares it is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trodden under foot by men in other words a man who is not living in the presence of god and is not reflecting god's living presence to others has betrayed his very being our lord then gives particular teachings regarding virtuous actions like love for enemies almsgiving prayer teaching the people the lord's prayer and fasting and their contrary or vicious actions like unjust anger adultery divorce swearing oaths retaliation judging others profaning what is holy and self-deception all of these teachings underline the reality of god's life in man in its practical expression in man's way of living at the conclusion of the teaching on the love for enemies our lord declares you therefore must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect man can only be perfect as god is creator and redeemer is perfect if god gives to man a share in his perfection in the sermon on the mount god the son incarnate our lord jesus christ teaches us that god indeed has called us to share in his perfection from the beginning that is from the creation what is more he teaches us that by his redemptive incarnation god in a most wonderful way has re restored that share in his perfection which our first parents rejected in the garden of eden as part of today's online conference i reflect on the reality of holiness the perfection of god and our participation in god's holiness i first reflect on the original share in god's perfection at the creation and then on the restoration of that participation in god's holiness through the redemptive incarnation of god the son original grace in the two accounts of the creation found in the book of genesis it is clear that god created man among all creatures to have a personal relationship with him in that sense man is the masterwork of the whole of god's work of creation in the first account we read then god said let us make man in our image after our own likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth so god created man in his own image in the image of god he created him male and female he created them the first account of creation expresses the being of man as a coworker of god in the care of the creation man and virtue of his participation in the image and likeness of god in virtue of his share and the very being of god is the steward of the created world in the second account man's participation in the being of god is expressed in a powerful way after describing the creation of the earth and the heavens the account continues then god formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul in creating man god brought him to life by breathing his own life into him man is not just a body but also a living soul that is the only earthly creature to be animated by god's own breath god calls every man into being by creating him in his own image and likeness by breathing into him his own divine breath saint paul teaches this truth in the letter to the romans referring to the right conduct of the gentiles of those who do not do not yet belong to the chosen people he writes when gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the law requires they are a law to themselves even though they do not have the law they show that what the law requires is written on their hearts while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or perhaps excuse them on that day when according to my gospel god judges the secrets of man by christ jesus every man even the man who has not yet received the gift of faith and as much as god has called him into being is in relationship with god god has made him in his own image and likeness he has inscribed upon his heart the right order of things the conscience in a particular way manifests the breath of god and man man's participation in the perfection of god inasmuch as it reminds man of the right order of things and accuses him when he has violated that right order the natural law that is the law inscribed in creation and above all in the heart of man is articulated in the ten commandments regarding the natural law we read in the catechism of the catholic church man participates in the wisdom and goodness of the creator who gives him mastery over his acts and the ability to govern himself with a view to the true and the good the natural law expresses the original moral sense which enables man to discern by reason the good and the evil the truth and the lie the catechism of the catholic church goes on to explain the relationship of natural law to the ten commandments or decalogue its principle precepts are expressed in the decalogue in the beginning immediately after the creation of man by god man lived in accord with the law of god the truth beauty and goodness of man's life in communion with god is represented in the garden of eden man however because he is made in the image and likeness of god remains free in his love of god satan a murderer from the beginning and a liar and the father of lies in the words of our lord recorded in the gospel according to saint john tempted our first parents to abuse their freedom in order to make themselves slaves to him when satan they in their pride turned against the source of their being with the pretense that they themselves could determine the true the good and the beautiful they went against the good order with which god had created them in his own image and likeness they preferred the foul breath of satan's rebellion to the breath of life coming from the mouth of god from that moment sin entered into the world and above all into the heart of man from that moment man had to struggle and fight against satan in his deceptions in order to be true to his being in god the grace of redemption notwithstanding man's prideful rebellion god infidelity to the love with which he had created man promised to send the redeemer he declared to satan i will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel the seed of the woman the new eve the blessed virgin mary is god the son incarnate the new adam who by his suffering death resurrection and ascension has won for man the grace of victory over sin and death the grace of communion with god not only in this life but in the eternal life to come so it is that christ with complete realism can teach in the sermon on the mount you therefore must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect saint peter repeats the teaching in his first letter quoting the book of leviticus he instructs the faithful as obedient children do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance but as he who called you is holy be holy yourselves in all you conduct since it is written you shall be holy for i am holy christ himself confronts the profound sense of his command when a rich young man approaches him addressing him as good teacher christ responds why do you call me good no one is good but god alone although our lord then recited for him the commandments making clear that goodness comes from god from fidelity to his life within us the rich young man was apparently completely upright in following the commandments in fact the gospel tells us that jesus looking upon him loved him and therefore invited him to become a disciple but the rich young man went away because he had great riches that he did not want to give up in order to follow christ to live in god with all his heart the point is that all holiness comes from god and therefore leads man into ever greater holiness leads man to give his heart more and more to god yes god alone is good god alone is holy but giving our hearts to god we share in his goodness in his holiness we have recently celebrated the solemnity of pentecost the descent of the holy spirit upon the apostles and through the apostolic ministry upon all of the faithful meditating upon the descent of the holy spirit with a seven-fold gift into the hearts of the apostles and through the apostolic ministry into the hearts of all the faithful we are deeply conscious of how our lord risen from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the father continues his saving work in our midst by the outpouring of the holy spirit from his glorious pierced heart into the church in his meditation for saturday of the octave of pentecost according to the extraordinary form of the roman rite dom prosper guerrero describes the incomparable and unceasing work of the holy spirit in our souls describing the work of the holy spirit and those who are cleansed from the death of sin and filled with the life of grace through baptism dom guerongi writes he takes them as he finds them that is fallen children of adam he first supplies to them the ordinary means of sanctification though he intends to carry them to extraordinary virtue the courage wherewith he carries on his work is truly divine he has to deal with nature fallen indeed and tainted with a poison which is mortal but a nature which retains some resemblance to its creator it is a ruin but still it is an image the spirit then has to destroy what there is of corruption and defilement at the same time he has to purify and foster what has not been irremediably affected by the poison the case requires an infinite care he knows where and when to cut or burn and what is very wonderful he makes the invalid himself help him to apply the saving remedies just as he does not save the sinner without the sinners sharing in the work so neither does he sanctify the saint without the saints cooperation but he in spirits and encourages him by countless touches of grace so that while corrupt nature keeps gradually losing ground in the soul the healthy parts are being transformed into christ and finally the whole man is under the perfect mastery of grace our daily living is a pilgrimage toward our final destiny in heaven which requires of us the steadfast struggle to cooperate with divine grace and thus to overcome the corruption to which our nature is given as a result of sin meditating upon the reality of the action of the holy spirit coming into our hearts from the glorious pierced art of jesus we recognize in our midst and indeed in our very being the mystery of the redemptive incarnation described by saint paul in the in his letter to the romans therefore since we are justified by faith we have peace with god through our lord jesus christ through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of god more than that we rejoice in our sufferings knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope and hope does not disappoint us because god's love has been poured into our hearts through the holy spirit who has been given to us notwithstanding our weakness and failings notwithstanding the evil which satan sleeplessly tries to work in the world and even in the church we are full of hope and go forward with courage thanks to the grace of the holy spirit dwelling within us we trust god's word to us that we are to be perfect as our heavenly father is perfect saint paul frequently uses the image of a sports contest to describe to describe the struggle of daily christian living even as the athlete must discipline himself and can just consistently subject subject himself to training and then persevere in the athletic contest so to the christian in accord with poverty of spirit must must acknowledge that all that he is and all that he has comes from the hand of god he must discipline himself in order to be properly disposed to receive and cooperate with the manifold graces which god never fails to pour forth into our hearts from the glorious pierced heart of his divine son the dogmatic constitution on the church lumengencium the second vatican ecumenical council devotes a special chapter to the mark of the church which is holiness the council fathers declare the church whose mystery is set forth by this sacred council is held as a matter of fact to be unfailingly holy this is because christ the son of god with the father and the spirit is hailed as alone holy loved the church as his bride giving himself up for her so as to sanctify her he joined her to himself as his body and endowed her with the gift of the holy spirit for the glory of god therefore all in the church whether they belong to the hierarchy or are cared for by it are called to holiness according to the apostles saying for this is the will of god your sanctification this holiness of the church is constantly shown forth in the fruits of grace which the spirit produces in the faithful and so it must be it is expressed in many ways by the individuals who each in his own state of life tend to the perfection of love thus sanctifying others it appears in a certain way of its own in the practice of the councils which have been usually called evangelical this practice of the councils prompted by the holy spirit undertaken by many christians whether privately or in a form or state sanctioned by the church gives and should give a striking witness an example to that holiness throughout the christian centuries from the very beginning christ has called certain members of the faithful to embrace the way of the evangelical councils by the consecration of their lives to him and to the church these individuals whether consecrated virgins or hermits monks apostolic or contemplative religious have been both a source of example and of actual graces for all christians who are called each according to his vocation and particular gifts to manifest the life of christ within him from the moment of baptism the sacrament of confirmation which completes baptism strengthens and increases the grace of baptism for the witness to christ in the world the catechism of the catholic church setting forth the teaching on christian holiness especially as it is set forth in the teaching of the second vatican ecumenical council reminds us that holiness of life is attained by following christ on the way of the cross the way of perfection passes by way of the cross there is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle spiritual progress entails the assassins and mortification that gradually lead to living in the peace and joy of the beatitudes fittingly the second vatican council devotes the penultimate chapter of lumengenzium to the church as pilgrim the whole of the christian life and therefore of the life of the church constitutes a daily pilgrimage with the many sacrifices and struggles involved to remain on the way of holiness of life that leads to the fullness of life in heaven holiness of life today contemporary christian culture especially in the west faces the gravest of challenges in being true to its holy nature and its call to grow in holiness and to give witness to holiness in the world man has abstracted his intellect and will from his god-given nature doing so he has justified the attack on the law written by god in our human nature an attack manifested principally in the lack of respect for the inviolable dignity of innocent human life for the integrity of marriage as the cradle of human life and for the freedom of conscience the crisis is also entered into the church at a time when the secular culture has never needed more the clarity and the strength of the church's teaching and practice most of all in what pertains to the truth about human life the family and conscience she appears to be confused and divided she even gives the impression of wanting to accommodate herself to the culture a totally secular way of thinking manipulating religious language to serve mundane interests reduces the church the mystical body of christ to political camps at war with each other political and partisan interests become the norm of attitudes thoughts and action in the church when the church must be guided by christ alone who is alive in her teaching in her sacraments and in her discipline to remedy the situation of the decline of christian culture pope saint john paul ii declared amending of the christian fabric of society is urgently needed in all parts of the world and he hastened to add that if the remedy is to be achieved the church herself must be evangelized anew fundamental to understanding the radical secular secularization of our culture is to understand how much the secularization has entered into the life of the church herself in the words of pope saint john paul ii but for this mending of the christian fabric of society to come about what is needed is to first remake the christian fabric of the ecclesial community itself present in these countries and nations it truly is a joy to join you with this holiness conference i'm bishop joseph strickland bishop of the diocese of tyler in northeast texas i commend all of you who have virtually pulled this together i know we had intended to actually gather for a conference but as we're all facing the challenges of these times i commend you for continuing to seek holiness continuing to look at this topic as something very important for all of us when i was asked for a title for my talk i chose the title the lord of the universe calls us all to holiness and what i wanted to emphasize with that rather grandiose title is who jesus really is fully god and fully man as we look at and i want to look specifically at john's gospel actually what's called at least in the translation that i'm using the book of glory chapters 13 to 17 his great discourse to the disciples just before he offers himself over for suffering and death the focus suffering and death of his passion so the lord of the universe is this jesus that we hear from in john's gospel as we think about holiness in the the broadest sense i believe we all share an innate call something deep within us that says we are called to be holy and at the same time i think it's our human reality that we tend to think yes there's a call to holiness it feels like it's deep within us but then when it comes to me we sort of say who me i can't really be called to holiness that's for other people and you may be thinking as i stand here as a catholic bishop of course you guys are called to holiness but really if we look deeply at the message of jesus christ at the the message of god father son and spirit throughout all of revelation the call to holiness really is a universal call and i think it's part of our well i can speak for myself it's it seems to be part of our human nature that we deflect it to someone else men say oh the women they're the ones called to holiness and maybe the women say well not me but other women are called to holiness certainly as a priest for many years and as a bishop before that as a deacon you know as you move through holy orders people well it's holy orders people think oh those are the holy guys those are the ones that are supposed to pray those are the ones that are supposed to be seeking god always but really it is a universal call that i would hope for a chance for all of us and my talk of about 40 minutes to to just reflect together on what that call means specifically looking at these chapters from john's gospel and specifically looking at about six different passages chosen from 13 to 17 of the gospel according to john as i think about that universal call to holiness that i believe is embedded in every human being it to me it hearkens back to the reality we're created in the image of god even if we deny god which sadly many people in the world today do deny god they walk what they proclaim to be an atheistic past a life without god no belief in divinity but i really think of you if you scratch down a bit into that person's life scratch the surface of that facade my bias is that all of us as human beings because we believe and what has been revealed we're created in god's image so there's a natural feeling a natural call a natural urge to holiness and to what all of that means i think about as a preacher for many years getting on airplanes um i don't usually dress in the cassock of a bishop but when i'm on a plane i usually am dressed as a priest with the pectoral cross that the bishop wears as a sign of his office and very often getting on the plane a passenger or one of the flight attendants will will say oh it's great to have you here father or thank you or or i can relax now i always kind of laugh at that because you know i feel like i don't know anything about planes i'm sorry i can't really help you there but to me it speaks to that that sense of of holiness and that sense of of our call to be with god um and as people recognize dress like this or dress as a priest there is a presumption of a call to holiness certainly we've seen the the tragedy of that not being lived out because all of us bishops priests deacons all in holy orders are sinful men and sometimes we've seen that manifest and hopefully and i would imagine that in many ways if you are participating in this virtual conference on holiness i would imagine that you are in spite of all the sinfulness of our world in spite of the the tragedies of brokenness even within the church you are seeking to live out that call to holiness and you agree that there is an innate call there that we're all challenged to respond to in our daily lives as men and women as mothers and fathers as husbands and wives as priests and bishops we're all called to holiness that's a basic um challenge and in uh tone of the second vatican council that there's still a lot of debate over the second vatican council and especially how it's been implemented but we believe that it is a council that was inspired by the holy spirit certainly went astray in the 60s that i grew up in as many things went off track in our call to holiness but ultimately if we read the documents and we put aside the missteps and the hype of the 60s and 70s when the council was implemented if you simply go back to the documents and read them afresh today i think you will see that universal call to holiness that flows out of the second vatican council and we believe that the holy spirit inspired that to call us all to realize what it means to be baptized what it means to live as godly people that basic call to holiness and so as we look at specifically the call to holiness i turn myself my own personal bias shows in my choice of john's gospel we know historically and the scripture scholars are very pretty much unanimous in saying yes john's gospel the gospel according to john was the last gospel written toward the end of the first century and i think that speaks to something of its depth of its higher theology as scripture scholars say and john's gospel i think is a perfect gospel to look at for reflection on the call to holiness because if you look at john's gospel it it is very mystical and it calls us into a a relationship with god i guess i would put it this way john's gospel throughout the all the chapters of john's gospel virtually everything that the the gospel writer john records about this jesus of nazareth is a reminder that we are created in god's image as we know he begins with that famous prologue in the beginning using the same words as the book of genesis and so that call to holiness really flows out of how god made us you might say that angels are holy by their very existence by the mystical existence of angels they are holy beings we on the other hand are called to holiness we're created in god's image but the unique gift that we have is that we choose to follow in that call of holiness we are not so automatically holy as we're called to grow in holiness in that universal call of sharing life with our father to be children of the father as jesus tells us in beautiful imagery in john's gospel so as we look specifically at the fourth gospel john's gospel i believe it is a fitting example or a fitting backdrop for our reflection on holiness certainly all the gospels have beautiful imagery that can feed our understanding of our call to holiness but i think john's gospel has a special place in that that high theology that calling to go beyond ourselves to go beyond this world to go into the mysteries of our faith and much of that is what the call to holiness is about to be in this world but not of this world to let our hearts know that we're called somewhere else so as we look at john's gospel as the specific gospel to focus on as i mentioned earlier i turned to these chapters called the book of glory in this translation that basically begins with jesus talking the disciples washing the feet of the disciples at the last supper and then right up until he is betrayed and taken to his passion and cross a beautiful discourse that speaks of the eucharist that speaks of really the totality of what it means to follow jesus christ and i think therefore speaks very clearly to the call to holiness as i mentioned earlier there's six sections of these four chapters that i wanted to highlight and what i'd like to do now is to just read each of these one after the other two to begin to look at what kind of language what sort of imagery what does the lord offer us he is the holy he is the son of god he is fully god and fully man that great mystery that is jesus and i think in these chapters and these sections of john's gospel specifically he really illustrates to us how he embodies holiness and gives us some some very clear challenges some very clear call to how we imitate him how we live the call of holiness ourselves i'd like to begin with a few verses beginning with chap verse 12 of chapter 13. so when he had washed their feet and put his garments back on and reclined at table again he said to them do you realize what i've done for you you call me teacher and master and rightly so for indeed i am if i therefore the master and teacher have washed your feet you ought to wash one another's feet i have given you a model to follow so that as i have done for you you should also do then we can turn to the very beginning of chapter 14 do not let your hearts be troubled you have faith in god have faith also in me in my father's house there are many dwelling places if there were not would i have told you that i am going to prepare a place for you and if i go and prepare a place for you i will come back again and take you to myself so that where i am you also may be and then continuing in chapter 14 beginning at verse 15. if you love me you will keep my commandments and i will ask the father and he will give you another advocate to be with you always the spirit of truth which the world cannot accept because it neither sees nor knows it but you know it because it remains with you and will be in you i will not leave you orphans i will come to you in a little while the world will no longer see me but you will see me because i live and you will live and then we can turn to the very beginning of chapter 15. i am the true vine and my father is the vine grower he takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit you are already pruned because of the word that i spoke to you remain in me as i remain in you just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine so neither can you unless you remain in me the fifth passage we look at at the beginning of chapter 16 verse 12. i have much more to tell you but you cannot bear it now but when he comes the spirit of truth will guide you to all truth he will not speak on his known but he will speak what he hears and will declare to you the things that are coming he will glorify me because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you everything that the father has is mine for this reason i told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you and then finally toward the end of chapter 17 toward the end of this great discourse of our lord jesus christ at chapter 17 verse 20. i pray not only for them but also for those who believe in me through their word so that they may all be one as you father or in me and i in you that they also may be in us that the world may believe that you sent and i have given them the glory you gave me looking at each of these passages a little more closely i think we'll gradually see coming out of these passages from the gospel according to john various elements important elements of what it means to be called to holiness as we begin to look specifically at these passages i'm reminded of the first years i was in the seminary i entered the seminary at 18 a young kid who really had no idea what he was getting himself into but by the grace of god by the support of some great priests and others brothers seminarians i gradually grew to the point where i was able to be ordained and i have to say i've tried to continue to grow in my time as a priest but i remember in those early years in the seminary we would have what were called rector's conferences the rector would meet with each of us once a semester individually and just talk over how things were going and i remember probably in my the middle of my college years i was probably 20 21 something like that and i remember the rector asking if i was becoming holy and i remember that that question kind of taking me by surprise making me a little uncomfortable here i was in the seminary in formation for priesthood which thankfully resulted about six seven years later i was ordained a priest but i have to say the question of my rector in the seminary at that rector's conference are you becoming holy it sort of took me by surprise and honestly made me uncomfortable because i thought well i'm i don't claim to be holy but through the years obviously that was a few years ago and i still remember that question and i think it it probably is the reason that you are participating in this virtual conference on holiness because of that that hunger and that longing that question maybe you're a little uncomfortable with the idea of holiness as probably most of us are and there is something healthy about not claiming holiness for ourselves if i look at my experience as a priest as a parish priest for most of my priesthood i can remember people in the pews people participating in the community that i would have called holy that would have probably laughed to be pointed to and say you're a holy person and there's something healthy about that there's a lack of of awareness knowing the call is one thing but beginning to believe that we've reached that or even that we're acknowledging that we're in in serious ways on the path there's something a little uncomfortable about that and i think that's appropriate i think it's even built into some of the imagery and some of these passages that we can reflect on from john's gospel let's begin with the well-known story of the washing of the feet i think embedded in this story is that lack of being comfortable with the call to holiness and i think our lord gives us this marvelous image of service of humility and really of holiness and as often as the case as we see later as the story unfolds simon peter says that lord you can't wash my feet that's that's a humble servant's job you're my lord and master and then this passage we read christ really points that out you call me teacher you call me master and rightly so but as teacher and master he models what real holiness is and i think as is often the case with our beloved saint peter the first pope the the head of the apostles the one who gets it wrong so often i think once again he gives us a good image of the challenges we face with that call to holiness that i believe we all share a universal call from the lord of the universe to be holy and again to put into this context to remind ourselves jesus the lord of the universe the one who was in the beginning with god the word of god the word incarnate all the the mysterious elements of jesus christ fully god and fully man here he is taking off his outer garments wrapping a towel around his waist and washing feet one of the lowliest jobs in a household at that time in that culture a call to holiness and like saint peter we are ambivalent about that peter first says oh lord you can't wash my feet but then when jesus says not in these terms but he's basically saying peter if you want to be holy if you want to share my life i have to wash your feet and then peter says well wash my head my head just wash me wash me down lord and and then of course the lord says you've been washed it's only your feet that need to be washed and i think there's a beautiful interplay there that we can all reflect on and relate to where that call to holiness is the lord's call ultimately a very specific way of responding to the lord i think for all of us and i know in my experience of trying to seek holiness even as i'm shy about admitting that sometimes i think that for all of us we we kind of get ideas of okay this will make me holy this is what i need to do and so often that's my agenda that's my plan for holiness and the real i think embedded in this first passage that we look at specifically in this washing of the feet as an image of holiness i think it's a reminder to us especially with the interplay with saint peter holiness is giving ourselves over to god not following our path and what we've decided and what we've calculated is going to make me holy but giving ourselves to the will of god certainly our lord images that throughout this book of glory discourse and throughout the gospel through all four gospels really jesus christ is holy because he seeks the will of the father and he clearly gives us that image so i think that that image in the chapter 13 of the washing of the feet really is worth reflecting on deeply for how we embrace that call to holiness and once and i think it probably happens for all of us i think it happened for any of us in seminary formation you get the idea well if i read this book and if i say these prayers and if i follow this prayer routine then i'm going to grow in holiness and certainly those are not bad things but i think that first passage reminds us that it's god's call it's the lord of the universe god almighty is calling us to share his life that's the call to holiness and in our humanity we're constantly seeking or called to that humility that willingness to do the father's will and not our own and in the the interplay there just like with saint peter we begin to see our personal call to holiness and i think that highlights that it's different for all of us we can't say okay this is the formula to grow in holiness everyone's path is different certainly virtue is embedded there shunning sin and seeking virtue but how we grow in holiness is beautifully a very individual call for each of us from god our father through his son in their holy spirit [Music] you

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Length: 56min 52sec (3412 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 21 2020