A good guideline to attain holiness

[blaskoman]

• Seek ye first the Kingdom of God
• Love thy neighbor as thyself
• Find, embrace and persist in the one true faith, the Catholic faith
• Draw near to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Mother
• Make frequent use of the Sacrament of Confession
• Freely forgive those who have in any way sinned against you
• Enter deeply into the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
• Receive the Most Holy Eucharist worthily
• Live a “sacrificial” life
• Live a profoundly prayer life

 

[Googler]

Superb!

I might add study apologetics from the worlds most popular Catholic website after the Vatican, Catholic Answers.

An excerpt of the Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium:

Each must share frequently in the sacraments, the Eucharist especially, and in liturgical rites. Each must apply himself constantly to prayer, self-denial, active brotherly service, and the exercise of all virtues. For charity, as the bond of perfection and the fulfillment of the law (cf. Col. 3:14; Rom. 13:10), rules over all the means of attaining holiness, gives life to them, and makes them work. [paragraph 42]

 

[Miserissima]

• Seek ye first the Kingdom of God
• Love thy neighbor as thyself
• Find, embrace and persist in the one true faith, the Catholic faith
• Draw near to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Mother
• Make frequent use of the Sacrament of Confession
• Freely forgive those who have in any way sinned against you
• Enter deeply into the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
• Receive the Most Holy Eucharist worthily
• Live a “sacrificial” life
• Live a profoundly

[sic]* prayer life*

These are noble guidelines. How to apply them in daily life, or “practical application” is key. That’s a pretty broad and yet subjective question.

Based on one’s charism, vocation, and personality, you’re painting with a very broad brush.

I’m reminded of the latter half of the verse of Matthew 6:34, “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof,” or, “Sufficient for a day is its own evil,” and even a reflection on today’s Gospel:

Luke 13: 1-9: One day some persons told Jesus what had occurred in the Temple: Pilate had Galileans killed and their blood mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. Jesus replied, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this? I tell you: no.

But unless you change your ways, you will all perish as they did. And those eighteen persons in Siloah who were crushed when the tower fell, do you think they were more guilty than all the others in Jerusalem? I tell you: no. But unless you change your ways, you will all perish as they did."

And Jesus continued with this story:] “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard and he came looking for fruit on it, but found none. Then he said to the gardener: ‘Look here, for three years now I have been looking for figs on this tree and I have found none. Cut it down, why should it use up the ground?’ The gardener replied: 'Leave it one more year, so that I may dig around it and add some fertilizer; and perhaps it will bear fruit from now on. But if it doesn’t, you can cut it down.”

If one can learn to offer up what befalls him (or even the consequences of his actions) with charity and grace, then I think a person can attain, or even is, holy. We have Christ, the spotless and final Paschal victim, the gardener in the parable, interceding for us.

I think your list is a comprehensive set of high-level ideals , but I’d revise it based on priority. I’d also like to add, “Dealing with adversity with appropriate humility relative to one’s station.”

We are the fig trees in the parable, and we’ve been given the chance to bear fruit in the cycle of another whole season (thankfully). To be holy does not require that we do anything heroic above and beyond what we are supposed to do. Now, if we are capable of going above and beyond, we should at least try. But for now, I’m God’s little fig tree, and I have little fruit, if any. I’m no less “holy” than any tree that has been producing large fruit for years.

 

[ProVobis]

• Seek ye first the Kingdom of God
• Love thy neighbor as thyself
• Find, embrace and persist in the one true faith, the Catholic faith
• Draw near to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Mother
• Make frequent use of the Sacrament of Confession
• Freely forgive those who have in any way sinned against you
• Enter deeply into the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
• Receive the Most Holy Eucharist worthily
• Live a “sacrificial” life
• Live a profoundly prayer life

And use an abundance of holy water.

 

[littlestsouls2]

I have to share this quote - it is possibly my favourite description of holiness:

“That man is perfect whose heart is entirely detached from the things of the earth and united to God, and who seeks and desires God with all his soul night and day.” (St. Margaret of Cortona believed that these words were addressed to her by an Angel)

 

[OraLabora]

St. Benedict has something similar in his Rule, the 72 Instruments of Good Works

1. In the first place, to love the Lord God with the whole heart, the whole soul, the whole strength.
2. Then, one’s neighbor as oneself.
3. Then not to murder.
4. Not to commit adultery.
5. Not to steal.
6. Not to covet.
7. Not to bear false witness.
8. To honor all (1 Peter 2:17).
9. And not to do to another what one would not have done to oneself.
10. To deny oneself in order to follow Christ.
11. To chastise the body.
12. Not to become attached to pleasures.
13. To love fasting.
14. To relieve the poor.
15. To clothe the naked.
16. To visit the sick.
17. To bury the dead.
18. To help in trouble.
19. To console the sorrowing.
20. To become a stranger to the world’s ways.
21. To prefer nothing to the love of Christ.
22. Not to give way to anger.
23. Not to nurse a grudge.
24. Not to entertain deceit in one’s heart.
25. Not to give a false peace.
26. Not to forsake charity.
27. Not to swear, for fear of perjuring oneself.
28. To utter truth from heart and mouth.
29. Not to return evil for evil.
30. To do no wrong to anyone, and to bear patiently wrongs done to oneself.
31. To love one’s enemies.
32. Not to curse those who curse us, but rather to bless them.
33. To bear persecution for justice’s sake.
34. Not to be proud.
35. Not addicted to wine.
36. Not a great eater.
37. Not drowsy.
38. Not lazy.
39. Not a grumbler.
40. Not a detractor.
41. To put one’s hope in God.
42. To attribute to God, and not to self, whatever good one sees in oneself.
43. But to recognize always that the evil is one’s own doing, and to impute it to oneself.
44. To fear the Day of Judgment.
45. To be in dread of hell.
46. To desire eternal life with all the passion of the spirit.
47. To keep death daily before one’s eyes.
48. To keep constant guard over the actions of one’s life.
49. To know for certain that God sees one everywhere.
50. When evil thoughts come into one’s heart, to dash them against Christ immediately.
51. And to manifest them to one’s spiritual guardian.
52. To guard one’s tongue against evil and depraved speech.
53. Not to love much talking.
54. Not to speak useless words or words that move to laughter.
55. Not to love much or boisterous laughter.
56. To listen willingly to holy reading.
57. To devote oneself frequently to prayer.
58. Daily in one’s prayers, with tears and sighs, to confess one’s past sins to God, and to amend them for the future.
59. Not to fulfill the desires of the flesh; to hate one’s own will.
60. To obey in all things the commands of the Abbot or Abbess even though they (which God forbid) should act otherwise, mindful of the Lord’s precept, “Do what they say, but not what they do.”
61. Not to wish to be called holy before one is holy; but first to be holy, that one may be truly so called.
62. To fulfill God’s commandments daily in one’s deeds.
63. To love chastity.
64. To hate no one.
65. Not to be jealous, not to harbor envy.
66. Not to love contention.
67. To beware of haughtiness.
68. And to respect the seniors.
69. To love the juniors.
70. To pray for one’s enemies in the love of Christ.
71. To make peace with one’s adversary before the sun sets.
72. And never to despair of God’s mercy.

These, then, are the tools of the spiritual craft.
If we employ them unceasingly day and night,
and return them on the Day of Judgment,
our compensation from the Lord
will be that wage He has promised:
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9).

Now the workshop
in which we shall diligently execute all these tasks
is the enclosure of the monastery
and stability in the community.

 

[Googler]

Follow the teachings of Christ and imitate his virtues
Making reference to 1Cor 11,28, Saint John Paul II declared that he who desires to participate in Holy Communion must be about the daily work of growing in holiness of life, that is, in the practice of the virtues of faith, hope and love.

The Church recognizes the Mass as the greatest of good works
An excerpt of The Council of Trent Session XXII:
And since we must confess that no other work can be performed by the faithful that is so holy and divine as this awe-inspiring mystery,…

Frequent Confession
By it genuine self-knowledge is increased, Christian humility grows, bad habits are corrected, spiritual neglect and tepidity are resisted, the conscience is purified, the will strengthened, a salutary self-control is attained, and grace is increased in virtue of the Sacrament itself.

The crosses God sends to us
They are God’s Holy Will for us. They are visible signs of His love that He gives to each of us. These sufferings, united to Christ, are our opportunities to grow in holiness.

 

[TimothyH]

And use an abundance of holy water.

If holy water helps someone then I’m all for it but it is important not to confuse piety with holiness. For the human person, holiness is a decease in sin and an increase in virtue.

-Tim-

 

[PJM]

=blaskoman;12441310]* Seek ye first the Kingdom of God

• Love thy neighbor as thyself

• Find, embrace and persist in the one true faith, the Catholic faith

• Draw near to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Mother

• Make frequent use of the Sacrament of Confession

• Freely forgive those who have in any way sinned against you

• Enter deeply into the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

• Receive the Most Holy Eucharist worthily

• Live a “sacrificial” life

• Live a profoundly prayer life

How about a shorter version?

Pray much & :thumbsup:Love much

 

[blaskoman]

St. Benedict has something similar in his Rule, the 72 Instruments of Good Works

Thanks for that list. Love it!

 

[Lormar]

If holy water helps someone then I’m all for it but it is important not to confuse piety with holiness. For the human person, holiness is a decease in sin and an increase in virtue.

-Tim-

Maybe I’m wrong, but I think Pro Vobis was being humorous. I’m sure he isn’t confused between piety and holiness.

 

[Lormar]

How about a shorter version?

Pray much & :thumbsup:Love much

 

[ProVobis]

Maybe I’m wrong, but I think Pro Vobis was being humorous. I’m sure he isn’t confused between piety and holiness.

I was being humorous to some degree. But I guess I never considered it a act of piety, rather one of providing indulgences for myself or for someone in purgatory. Maybe no longer true, I don’t know.

 

[blaskoman]

That’s all good and well but a faithful catholic needs devotion to the Mass, rosary, bible, Eucharist etc. Your list would suffice for a Protestant

 

[Googler]

That’s all good and well but a faithful catholic needs devotion to the Mass, rosary, bible, Eucharist etc. Your list would suffice for a Protestant

My reaction to this was the same as yours.

We are all children of the same God but Protestants are in desperate need of the full truth.
They hold that the sinner must confidently hope that, in spite of his inability to avoid evil, God will finally save him through the merits of Christ.
They do not accept that habitual condition of soul which Catholic theology calls “sanctifying grace.” Hence they see no need for sacraments in the Catholic sense that would grant, restore, or increase supernatural life. Assuming that “once a sinner, always a sinner,” they hold that the merits of Christ are only attributed in an external way to a sinner, covering him as a garment does, but not changing him in the depths of his own soul.

Yet a couple of things Catholics desperately need to learn from them is to read the Bible regularly and being able to talk to others about Christ.

The grace of God by working with each person in line with his own unique, human characteristics achieves conversion and growth in holiness. For this reason no one can be converted or sanctified without the help of the Immaculate Virgin, the Mother of Divine Grace. Rather, the more a person draws close to the Stewardess of God’s gifts, the more easily he will grow in holiness, and work for his neighbors’ growth in holiness.
~Saint Maximilian Kolbe