Be Holy in All Your Conduct (1 Peter 1:15)

The Call to Holiness

‘God wants you to be holy’ (1 Thess 4:3). We must not be content with the Christian life we are leading. Are we seeking what is essential: holiness? Are we venturing into these deep waters? We must aspire to be saints. Being a saint is the goal of the Christian life. “Be holy, as your Father is holy” (Mt 5:48). Saint John Paul II said: “Every church must be enthusiastic about holiness”.

So the call to holiness is addressed to everyone. It is the Church’s primary objective: that all Christians may become saints, that all people may be saints. Holiness is not optional; it is a commandment from God: ‘Be holy’.

What does it mean to be holy?

Perhaps I am willing to be holy, but what does that mean? To be holy is to be set apart, to live differently from others for God’s sake. Through Baptism, we are set apart by God. To be holy is to be like God (2 Peter 1:3–4). For God alone is holy, and it is He who sanctifies. In Eucharistic Prayer No. III, the priest says: ‘You are truly holy, God of the universe, and all creation proclaims your praise, for it is you who give life, it is you who sanctify all things, through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, with the power of the Holy Spirit’. It is therefore God who imparts his holiness.

How can one set out on the path to holiness?

Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus said: ‘Holiness does not consist in practices, but in an inner disposition, because, though we are weak, we trust in God’s mercy and in his fatherly love’. This means that the first step towards holiness is the desire to be holy. Before holiness consists of actions, it is first and foremost a desire, an inner disposition, a will. Do you have the desire to be holy? If you do not, ask the Holy Spirit: ‘Lord, give me the desire to be a saint.’ If you have this desire, you are already on the path to holiness. Jesus calls on you to make up your mind, to take the decision not simply to be a ‘good Christian’, but to be a saint. Let us be the harbingers of a new wave of holiness. Let us share this ideal with others. Even young people and children must strive for holiness: we remember children such as Saint Dominic Savio, Saint Maria Goretti, Saint Kisito, Carlo Acutis and many others. A good member of the Word of God group is someone who desires holiness, who works towards holiness, who does everything within the community with a view to becoming holy. A true Christian seeks to be holy. Saint Pope John Paul II said: ‘When a catechumen is asked, “Do you wish to receive Baptism?”, what is really being asked is: “Do you wish to be holy?”’ Let us, too, resolve to be saints. This is true spiritual progress. Let us pray that God may increase within us the desire to be holy.

Henri Bayemi