These are fundamental principles from which many implications can and must be drawn. The Church is constituted, called and consecrated in holiness. Holiness is the reason it exists; it is their origin and purpose. It is the light with which she illuminates the world, the salt with which she seasons it and the bait with which she catches souls. It is Christ who lives and moves in his mystical body. May we all realize how important holiness is to all of us individually and especially to the life of the Church. The appreciation of holiness begins in our understanding of the mystery of God, first revealed in the Old Testament. We start with the biblical perspective. THE ALL-HOLY GOD the state of life leads to holiness, to the gift of God.
[It] is not the prerogative of a few: holiness is a gift offered to all without exception, so that it constitutes the distinctive character of every Christian. Everyone is called to holiness in his own state of life. By living with love and bearing Christian witness in our daily tasks, we are called to be holy. (Pope Francis, General Audience for Pilgrims, November 2014) I believe that “moral” holiness begins first with the desire to KNOW God and to strive to be closer to Him every day. It means being more concerned about what He thinks than what our friends think. so much so that our lives become witnesses of His presence in us. Even in the small things– and perhaps more importantly, in the small things – “who” we are can become obvious without ever having to “preach the gospel.” (A.S. hal, perfect or whole). Sanctitas in the Vulgate of the New Testament is the reproduction of two different words, hagiosyn (1 Thess., iii,13) and hosiotes (Luke 1:75; Ephesians 4:24). These two Greek words each express the two ideas connoted by “holiness”, namely: that of separation as seen in hagios of hagos, which designates “any question of religious reverence” (the Latin saker); and that of the sanctioned (sancitus), which is hosios, received the seal of God. Considerable confusion is caused by the Reims version, which Hagiasmos renders by “holiness” in Hebrews 12:14, but more accurately elsewhere by “sanctification,” while Hagiosyne, which is correctly rendered only once by “holiness,” is translated twice as “sanctification.” Parents and teachers must teach their children and those who form them in faith the need to recognize daily actions as rich sources for sharing God`s love.
Today`s younger generation is very sensitive to reaching out to and helping the poor and needy. This instinct is a wonderful opportunity to combine the natural inclination of young people to acts of kindness and charity with the Gospel message of the universal call to holiness. Such actions, which lead to the sanctity of life, extend beyond the family into the neighborhood, workplace, and parish. Formation in the faith can remove and bring out the desire to serve the needy, contained in the hearts of young and old, combining action for justice with Jesus` invitation to follow him on the path of holiness. Ultimately, how we relate to Jesus influences our holiness of life. “A state of good in which a person is freed from sin and evil with the help of God`s grace, the action of the Holy Spirit, and a life of prayer. Such a person, if endowed with holiness, must still resist temptation, repent of the sins that can be committed, and realize that remaining holy is a lifelong pilgrimage with many spiritual and moral challenges. The struggles that are evident in the lives of the saints are instructive when it comes to explaining and describing holiness. 870 “The only Church of Christ to which we profess in the Creed that it is one, holy, Catholic and apostolic. lives in the Catholic Church, governed by the Successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him. Nevertheless, many elements of sanctification and truth lie outside their visible limits” (LG 8).
But what is holiness? Below is a brief summary of the points of the Catechism of the Catholic Church that all Catholics should know. A few months ago, I was late to participate in a discussion on theology on tap on the concept of holiness. When I tried to prepare myself quickly by looking for the definition of holiness in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), I was surprised that there was no such entry.