WHAT IS HOLINESS?

Today in St. Peter’s at the Vatican Pope Francis will canonize two new Saints. Two more saints. Two additional examples. One of them, a lay person, Atemide Zatti  was a Male nurse who though could not continue with his call to become a priest, devoted himself to the sick in Argentina. The other one is Giovanni Scalabrini, bishop of Piacenza who founded the Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo. He promoted devotion to the Eucharist and the Apostolate of the Catechism.  What does it mean to be a saint? From the etymology, a saint means a holy person. 

St. Atemide Zatti

Recently, I listened to a homily by His Grace Mario Delphini, the Archbishop of Milan, that he had preached during the feast of St. Josemaria Escriva, this year. I thought it was beautiful, a wonderful exposition on Sanctity, so I translated it into English for my friends who might be interested. While translating I might have omitted or added some words to make sense of the speech. 

Archbishop Delphini

"At any cost. St. Paul says: I have become all things to all men so that I may save at any cost, some. Sanctity or holiness has a cost. Holiness is an exaggeration at the cost of one's time, at the cost of cultivating one's interests, at the cost of changing the habits that have marked a life, at the cost of leaving people, places and houses to which one is fond of, at the cost of facing hardships, of travel, of toil and of suffering.  At the cost of becoming unpopular, at the cost of exposing oneself to contempt, at the cost of becoming ridiculous, at the cost of putting oneself in situations that conflict with one's tastes, to the point of appearing repugnant to us. At the cost of endangering, one's health in order to save someone at any cost. 

Holiness is an exaggeration, it is beyond common sense, it is beyond the advice of doctors, it’s beyond what is convenient and sensible. This exaggeration is not to exhibit heroism, neither a lack of a sense of limit, nor a senseless imprudence. It is an exaggeration because whoever it leads is docile to the spirit wherever it leads. It is an exaggeration due to the urgency of reaching where someone's salvation is at stake. 

At any cost: Holiness is an expropriation. The absoluteness of Jesus makes everything relative.  Following Jesus makes you free from obsession with oneself, free from turning in on oneself. One stops asking himself questions like, “I'm fine, or am I valued enough, or I have achieved my objective goals, but am I happy?” Expropriated from these questions, which come from a withdrawal on oneself, as the disciples left everything and followed him, so all the saints no longer think of themselves, they handed over theirs to the Lord and they go where they did not intend to go, but where they are called.  They do what they like and are interested in but also that which they do not like and are not interested in. Therefore, holiness is a freedom which is the handing over to the Lord who has called them, their desires and expectations. 

At any cost: Holiness is conformation. Expropriation and exaggeration of Holiness are not expressions of a conquest by which the person dominates, either he forces himself into heroic penances or engages in sensational deeds. In reality it is a question of welcoming Jesus' invitation to follow him, to become similar to Him, who is meek and humble of heart, to practice his commandment to love as he loved; to pray to the father as Jesus prayed.  Holiness is conformation, that is taking the form of Jesus, of his thinking, of his way of loving, of his relationship with His Father. We conform to Him to be the perfect man in the fullness of God.

At any cost, holiness is Normality. Holiness is not an enterprise that necessarily calls to leave a state of life. Jesus calls everyone to holiness, but he does not call everyone to be fishermen so as to become apostles. Jesus calls everyone to holiness, but he does not indicate a uniform, a dress, a profession, a place from which one is called and chosen. Holiness is living at any cost the coherence and the vocation to imitate Jesus, in every work that we do for a living, in every city or town where we live. It is from these lives that we are called and chosen. 

Holiness is about worshiping at any cost God in spirit and truth. It is expropriating the ego of its presumption of being the center of the world, overcoming the pretense of being served in order to dedicate ourselves to service, to wash each other’s feet. Holiness is the normality of the Christian life that transfigures every thought, introduction to contemplation, every word into echo of the word; every sentiment into a feeling that conforms to that of Jesus; every calculation into the freedom of trust and exultation of the canticle and of poetry. 

Holiness introduces us to the communion of saints, inhabited by the most diverse personalities, yet all are brothers and sisters. What do these saints have in common?  They are inhabited by the Holy Spirit. 

St. Josemaria Escriva taught a way of holiness that helps many to believe in their own vocation and believe in their own possibility of becoming saints, and of living their own vocation to its fulfillment. So, we are all called to this holiness, at any cost, as an exaggeration, as an expropriation, as a conformation which is the normality of every Christian life."

casmirthomas28@gmail.com