The Pro Sanctity Movement finds its origins in the Universal Call to Holiness. In the teachings of our Founder, Bishop Giaquinta, and in the documents of the Church, such as Chapter 5 of Lumen Gentium, we deepen our understanding of this intimate call. While we recognize our unique relationship with God, we also acknowledge that we are brothers and sisters in the Lord. This two-fold relationship, with God and with one another, sustains us as we respond to our common call.
Of course, the dynamic relationship of love between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is the ultimate source of holiness. Although God is totally "Other", He loved us so much that He chose to communicate this holiness to us through His Son, the Word made Flesh. Jesus, by His preaching and example, teaches us that our proper response to God's self-communication is love. Our pursuit of holiness is closely bound to our capacity to love.
When Jesus summed up the commandments, He said that the greatest commandment is to love God. Love requires a relationship, and so we can love God more as we enter more deeply into a relationship with Him. The Scriptures are the Word of God, and so by reading, learning and loving the passages of the Bible, we open our minds and hearts to a greater experience of God's presence in our lives. Since Jesus is the Word made Flesh, every time we encounter Him in the Sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist, our relationship with the Lord grows.
As disciples, we are bound to one another in our journey toward holiness. Our love relationship with God overflows into our relationships with our brothers and sisters, and corresponds to the second commandment Jesus taught us: love your neighbor as yourself. This establishes a "holy communion" - communion with God, and communion with one another. Even "Holy Communion", the Eucharist, represents this dual reality - we receive the Body of Christ, and we become more fully the Body of Christ by receiving It.
Holiness, our love relationship with God, and communion, our love relationship with one another, are integral parts of the Pro Sanctity Movement. In this coming year, we will experience more deeply the mystery of Holiness and Communion. May our prayer and reflection help all of us to make further steps in our journey of responding to the Universal Call, a call that makes all of us more authentic followers of the Lord.
Father John Costello,
National Spiritual Advisor of the Pro Sanctity Movement
by Teresa Monaghen
Every year the Pro Sanctity Movement celebrates the Universal Call to Holiness -- a celebration which originated in Rome in 1957 and has since spread throughout Europe and other parts of the world. This celebration is connected with the Solemnity of All Saints, for the Universal Call to Holiness is at the basis of the Movement's spirituality and apostolate.
All Saint's Day celebrates every-day saints, and is an everyday occasion. It can and must be celebrated in our homes, schools, places of work and play, everyday! In this article I will share a few ideas that might help.
HOW DID THE FEAST BEGIN
When Pope Boniface IV consecrated the Pantheon in Rome for Christian worship, he had "eight and twenty carts" laden with the bones of martyrs brought from the Catacombs to be placed there. He declared that day, May 13, in the year 609, to be the Feast of All Saints.
For over a century, the observance of All Saint's Day remained unchanged. Pope Gregory III (who died in 791), changed the date to November 1st when he dedicated a chapel in the Basilica of St. Peter's to "all the saints." The date for the feast was thus permanently set.
THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS
Who does the feast of All Saints honor? Obviously, it honors Peter and the other apostles who were personally chosen by Jesus. It certainly includes the martyrs, for example Stephen and Cecilia, who gave their lives for their belief in Jesus.
It honors the mystics, the contemplatives and the hermits who have prayed with and for the followers of Jesus down through the ages. It definitely celebrates people like Francis and Clare of Assisi who left a former way of life to more closely follow in the footsteps of Jesus and at the same time it honors Monica, a mother, and Maria Goretti, a young woman.
In our own times, there have been (and are) many people we might call saints; among them Pope John XXIII, Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa of Calcutta and her Sisters.
In the body of Christ there are many members, and every member has a potential for holiness. All the people we have named were (and are) real human beings who have been recognized by the church and their communities as exemplary followers of Jesus. They did not live on pedestals like plaster statues, even though after their deaths we have sometimes given them statue-like qualities.
Though we talk a great deal about holiness and sanctity, we have yet to break through our plaster images to discover the real people whose life-stories can inspire us and help us to respond to our personal call to holiness.
HOLINESS AND COMMUNION
This year, Pro Sanctity will spend much time pondering our call to holiness and our communion and union with God and with others. Holiness and Communion is our theme for the year; it invites us to enter mind, heart, and action into the great truth of our union with God and our call to reflect His holiness. We are one in the heart of God, created out of love, for love and to be love for others. Our holiness is a gift! We did not earn it, but we do have to use it! Fullness of life and of love comes through living. We may not feel worthy, or, because of sin, may feel separated from God and others, but it is important to remember that though the saints yearned for the fullness of life in Christ, they, too, like us, were sinners, fragile, and in need of God--and they knew it.
In spite of struggles, they ultimately surrendered to God's love generously, by imitating the total surrender of Jesus. The saints remind us that we, too, can witness God's holiness to others. We, too, can receive God's gifts with open and loving hearts, with generosity, joy, peace and trust in God's guidance. In our role as members of the Body of Christ, we have many opportunities to help others discover the holy people of the Church, the Saints, and at the same time discover their own call to holiness. The Pro Sanctity mission - as the mission of all the baptized - is to help each other live the fullness meant for us by God.
PERSONAL PREPARATION FOR "OUR" FEAST DAY, ALL SAINTS DAY
What must we do to celebrate everyday All Saints Day and to make everyday an occasion to live holy lives in communion with our brothers and sisters? Here are a few suggestions.
- Make full use of the sacrament of reconciliation. It is the sacrament that purifies our hearts, strengthens our resolve and reunites us with Christ and our brothers and sisters.
- Eat good food and grow strong. Receive the Eucharist as often as possible and spend time with the Lord whenever you have a moment. A relationship with Jesus needs time and presence to develop.
- Evaluate your personal prayer life. Give God priority time, according to your state in life, and He will in turn give the insight and the interior strength to embrace fully your call to holiness.
- Take up and read a good spiritual book such as the life of a saint, or a classic in Christian literature, because, as St. Gregory the Great said, "Spiritual reading is the fuel that keeps the fire burning."
- Charity is the litmus test of how we are living our call. The way we treat one another and ourselves, sheds light on our love for God, "Whoever loves his brother and sister, remains in the light" (l John 2:10).