Being holy?

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belange

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For a long time, I thought being holy meant living a perfect life. I’m beginning to think that that isn’t what is meant by a “holy life” at all. So just what does it mean to be holy or to live a holy life?
Thank you!
 
God is all holy. So to be “holy” is being more Christ-like. Perfection is the top of the holiness “level” but everytime someone does something for Christ or obeys Him, they are being holy (in that thing) or becoming holier.
EDIT: at least, that’s my opinion. I’m not one to be instructing, but I think some saints or popes or holy peoples have said that.
 
Read the Bible daily.
Attend mass or divine Liturgy on Sundays and Holy days.
Adhere to the precepts and teachings of the Church, as best you can.
Treat others as you would have them treat you.
Go to confession regularly.
Give to the needy.
Live with a clear hear and mind with the Holy Spirit as your guide.
 
Since Christ is completely self giving, I think “holy living” means to live for others. To put yourself last at all times. To work hard and be more concerned with others happiness then yourself. Going to church and living according to the churches teachings is part of that.
 
belange said:
For a long time, I thought being holy meant living a perfect life. I’m beginning to think that that isn’t what is meant by a “holy life” at all. So just what does it mean to be holy or to live a holy life?
Thank you!
Click to expand...
All human beings are holy, we are imbued with a spiritual soul by our Creator God. I think most of us don’t appreciate or respect that in ourselves. One of our jobs is to protect and nurture that holiness, and increase it. To show forth the face of God and be transformed into the image of Christ.

I do not think going to church a lot makes you holier. I do think that what some people get from going to Mass often results in an increase in holiness. I think praying necessarily increases holiness, if done not solely as required ritual. Yearning for closeness to God is, IMO, a sign of holiness, as is a compassionate heart and charitable action.
 
belange said:
For a long time, I thought being holy meant living a perfect life. I’m beginning to think that that isn’t what is meant by a “holy life” at all. So just what does it mean to be holy or to live a holy life?
Thank you!
Click to expand...
Hi Belange.
It is wonderful and truly mysterious that you are at a catholic website though you are protestant. I personally believe our Lord is leading you to consider being a catholic! There are in the church presently and in the past, many former protestants ministers/laypersons like Scott Hahn and Cardinal H Newman who followed Christ’s lead and unafraid searched for the truth and it brought them to the Catholic Church. I will remember you and yours in my prayers and in your quest.

From my own search into my Faith, I’ve learned of these…
  1. Jesus the revelation of who GOD is. the perfect image of the invisible God. When He came to earth, He came to redeem Man and invite him to belong to His Family, the Church.
  2. If Jesus is truly God, then what He says is the utmost importance for man. What is the use of becoming man and giving us the message of eternal life if we no longer know what He says… as there are at least 40,000 intrepretation of Jesus’s message in Protestant denominations/Orthodox Catholics and Roman Catholicism…?
    As catholics, we believe that is only one Faith, one Lord and one Baptism as St Paul tells us in one of his epistles…In the office of the Pope , God has established the means of ensuring that the totality of the message is handed down from one generation to the next. the gates of hell will not prevail against his church…in that error in faith and morals will not enter the official teachings of the Church until the end of time…
  3. When a catholic or protestant brother, is baptised with water baptism in the name of the Father and the Son and the holy Spirit, original sin is remitted from his soul and SANCTIFYING GRACE IS INFUSED INTO HIS SOUL. He becomes a new creation and A CHILD OF GOD. He becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit. There is a perculiar shine in his soul. IF he does not commit serious sin but strives to grow in the knowledge and love of Jesus and neighbour, HE GROWS IN HOLINESS THROUGH THIS INFUSION OF SANCTIFYING GRACE. He can grow and grow until his death where his degree of holiness will stop for all eternity. It is this degrees of holiness which will enable him to SEE GOD AS HE REALLY IS TO THE MEASURE OF his own love that he has attained n earth. EVERY PERSON WILL HAVE A DIFFERENT DEGREE.
    4)One of the greatest gift of the Church which I feel you must examine is the gift of Jesus as the Bread of LIfe, the Holy Eucharist. It is around the table of the Lords supper which we grow in holiness of life most as we receive GOD HIMSELF.
  4. We all must work out our salvation with fear and trembling. We may falter but in our failures and weaknesses, we learn to go to Jesus who is my Rock, my Fortress, my Saviour. My God is the Rock where I take refuge, My Shield, My Mighty Help, My Stronghold.(Psalm). Jesus truly becomes our personal Saviour as holiness is an on going process of the revelation of Jesus…helping us answer the question “Who do you say I am?”.
  5. Im sure you do know a lot of this already. Just to confirm what you already know and maybe to assist you to see where you may be going.
    God Bless.
    Kentcara2003(sscc 3rd order):)🙂
 
Holy is a state of being within your soul that is manifested by the behavior of your will and body.

You achieve this state of being for your soul by immersing yourself in the desires of GOD, i.e. study HIS Bible, believe in HIS SON, participate in Prayer and the Sacraments, defend the Faith, Evangelize as needed, emmulate saints and their practices and prayers etc. - and the longer you stay immersed and the deeper you delve into attempting to understand and pursue the desires of GOD, then you begin to reflect GOD in your will and body, which is to say your speech, attitude and behavior.

Therefore, being Holy is being a reflection of GOD to others in such a way that others notice and realize that you are truly “different” than most, i.e. kinder, gentler, more considerate and concerned.
 
belange said:
For a long time, I thought being holy meant living a perfect life. I’m beginning to think that that isn’t what is meant by a “holy life” at all. So just what does it mean to be holy or to live a holy life?
Thank you!
Click to expand...
Knowing, loving, and serving God in this world…

From CE on Holiness, which is worth reading altho very technical: St. Thomas defines holiness as that virtue by which a man’s mind applies itself and all its acts to God…
I read an article the other day (which I unfortunately have no idea where to find :o) in which the writer theorized that many young people leave the Church because they have been told that one must “be good” to attain Heaven. In fact, the author wrote, one must actually be *supernaturally *good–ie, *holy-- *not just humanly “good.” We must do good not just because it is a habit instilled in us by our parents and others around us, or because it makes us look cool, or because it makes us feel good inside–we must do good *because of our love for God and hence our love for Christ in our neighbor, *and for this, we must have God’s help. We must know God in order to love Him, and we must ask Him for and rely on His help in *everything. *

As you can see, holiness is not easy! We will fail, but we must pick ourselves up, apologize to God, and renew our commitment to asking for and relying on His help, which we receive a lot of through the sacraments.
 
Being --Holy. That is being a saint…
  1. Saint is used in different senses.
  2. Those canonized are examples of heroic sanctity
  3. All in heaven are saints …some heroic some less so.
  4. and all who are living in Christ are --saints. St. Paul referred to Christians of his day as saints…as holy…and indeed Pope Benedict reminded us of this…
"At the beginning of Christianity, the members of the Church were also called “saints”. In his First Letter to the Corinthians, St Paul addresses “those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Cor 1: 2). Indeed, Christians are already saints because Baptism unites them to Jesus and to his Paschal Mystery, but at the same time they must* become* *so *by conforming themselves every more closely to him. Sometimes, people think that holiness is a privileged condition reserved for the few elect. Actually, becoming holy is every Christian’s task, indeed, we could say, every person’s! The Apostle writes that God has always blessed us and has chosen us in Christ “that we should be holy and blameless before him… in love” (Eph 1: 3-5). All human beings are therefore called to holiness, which ultimately consists in living as children of God, in that “likeness” with him in accordance with which they were created. All human beings are children of God and all must become what they are by means of the demanding process of freedom. God invites everyone to belong to his holy people. The “Way” is Christ, the Son, the Holy One of God: “no one comes to the Father but by me [Jesus]” (cf. Jn 14: 6). " --Pope Benedict XVI

vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/angelus/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_ang_20071101_all-saints_en.html
 
Mother Angelica said that to be Holy is to do God’s Will in the present moment. Whatever that may be for us. If we’re making dinner, then we do it for Jesus (and our family).
 
belange said:
For a long time, I thought being holy meant living a perfect life. I’m beginning to think that that isn’t what is meant by a “holy life” at all. So just what does it mean to be holy or to live a holy life?
Thank you!
Click to expand...
Holiness is to be who God created us to be- no more, no less. It’s realized as we come to love Him with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbor as ourselves. In this the Law is fulfilled, justice is restored, the righteousness of God reigns in us.
 
I think to be holy means that we love God with our whole hearts. We hope in Him, and give thanks in all things. We devote our thoughts, actions and words to Him. We hate our sin. We enjoy the things God has given us without becoming attached to them. We desire His will above our own; we consider the needs of others above our own.

Man, do I have a loooooong way to go. :nope:
 
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