I’m holy enough!

Pentecost has come and gone. The question begs: have I changed? Or do I still leave Sunday mass and go back to the same old way of thinking and habits of doing?

As Catholics we hear about Divine Intimacy; we are told about living the ‘rules’ of the Church;  preachers remind us of needing the Sacraments to be in a state of grace. It may be in a mass homily. Or listening to a podcast while running errands. 

And we think, “I’m holy enough!”. Comfortable with our sinful ways and attached to the comfortable lifestyle we’ve built for ourselves (both through these sinful ways and despite them), we’re not ready to change ourselves. External changes, yes. Perhaps cutting back on Internet gluttony or snacking on chips between meals, maybe cutting back from two cocktails to just one after work, we are willing to make small changes that are good and will certainly bring benefits to us. But are we willing to change interiorly, to change our way of thinking and perceiving, our attitudes and opinions ? Too often we figure we are in a state of grace—adhering to the precepts of the Church—and that’s good enough for our own salvation. “I’m holy enough”. 

Would it perhaps, then, motivate us to interior change if we knew that our transformation could help those whom we love most? What if we knew that our growth in holiness is part of God’s plan to bring all of creation into active participation in His grace? 

“The only thing that has us cut from the vine is sin. If I find myself cut off from the vine, then I go to confession and repentance and the Lord brings me back to be another living member of the vine and to bear fruit. And I think part of this too is that, as we think about this, the fruit from our life is coming from the Lord. Then that’s a relief for us because we’re not trying to make it happen. All we need to do is cling to Jesus and He’ll make it happen.” (Msgr. John Cihak, 24 min. mark)

The fruit of which Msgr. Cihak speaks comes from the Holy Spirit. Having been filled with His gifts and virtues at Baptism, sealed and enlivened further in Confirmation, and renewed in our assistance at the Pentecost mass, God has prepared our soul to be fruitful. But that doesn’t guarantee fruit. To grow in His likeness, we must cooperate with grace and allow our transformation. It is God who has chosen to save us with us. 

I come from a long line of woodworkers and carpenters. As a little girl, my grandpa would sit in a chair in the front yard, Camel cigarette hanging out of his mouth, whittling on a piece of wood. The piece of raw, unfinished wood first needed to have flaws removed as well as cut off excess wood that just wasn’t needed. Falling to the ground as he continued, the wood in his hand changed such that these cut-away pieces could never again fit into it. It seems this is similar to our first conversion, that moment our heart desires more than just avoiding Hell at life’s end. We are willing to let go of the really obvious sins and bad lifestyle choices. Those big ‘cuts’ come off in confession. 

But there comes a point in which the woodworker ceases to focus on just removing the unwanted and unnecessary, and transitions to focusing on shaping the wood. The rough force previously applied to tear out stubborn areas changes to a fine movement of shaping and molding the wood into the image it was always destined to become. Small imperfections still exist but are carefully worked out so as to not damage the adjacent beauty. This is how God works in our soul. 

It is easy to get caught up in viewing the Holy Spirit as His effects such as peace and joy, or as if He were merely God’s instrument to bring us grace. As the third person of the Trinity, He shapes and molds us through grace. In the Church teaching, this is referred to as the Divine Mission of the Holy Spirit (CCC 257-267 & 689). The Father sends the Son and the Spirit into the soul. The soul receives each Holy Person inasmuch as it is prepared in its likeness to God so as to be conformable to each.  The Divine Presence within the soul gives the gift of sanctifying grace upon the soul’s essence, and its effects extend to its faculties (our mind, appetites, emotions). As the Holy Spirit enters and gives grace, an appropriated gift of charity is given to conform the soul to Divine love (Romans 5:5). As the Son enters, an appropriated gift of wisdom is given to conform the soul to the Son of God, the Word (cf John 16:13-15). Having been given facility and capability to participate in God’s wisdom and love, through these gifts of the Persons we participate in the Trinity (Summa Theologiae I. Q. 43, a.5 particularly ad 2). 

Ultimately, this is the promise of Pentecost, the promise Jesus made to us. But for the promise to come to fruition, we must let God transform us, whittling away at our attachments, preferences, and venial sins. We must allow the Holy Spirit to shape us and, by so doing, we gain the interior freedom to love (2 Corinthians 3:17). Living more fully in His love, we then can take love out into the world so wanting of it. 

This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. (John 15:12)

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam 😊

(Image: Pentecost by Juan Bautista Mayno, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)