Formation 2003-2004 - Holiness and Mission

 

 

Pro Sanctity Mission Statement

The Pro Sanctity Movement is a Catholic-based organization dedicated to promoting the universal call to holiness.  It seeks to address the mind with theology, the heart with spirituality, and the hands with ministry.  It is open to all; especially those who wish to deepen their commitment to God and share with others the message of holiness.

 

 

Objective of Issue 5: Learn from St. Francis of Assisi, who described going out in mission by the holiness of your example in these simple words: “Let us preach kindness at all times.  When necessary, use words.”

 

Radiating Christ

“Dear Jesus, help me to spread your fragrance wherever I go.  Flood me with your Spirit and life.  Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that all my life may only be a radiance of yours.  Shine through me, and so in me, that every soul I come in contact with may feel your presence in my soul.  Let them look up and see no longer me, but only Jesus!  Stay with me.  And then I shall begin to shine as you shine; so to shine as to be a light to others; the light, oh, Jesus, will be all from you, none of it will be mine. It will be you, shining on others through me.  Let me thus praise you in the way you love best, by shining on those around me.  Let me preach you without preaching, not by words, but by my example, by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what I do, the evident fullness of the love my heart bears for you.  Amen.”

A Prayer by Cardinal Newman 

 

Lord Grant Us Saints

“Lord, grant us saints.  Grant us people of God - people for whom God is everything.

Grant us people filled with love for You;

people who don’t look without seeing You or listen without hearing You.

Grant us people able to rescue the world from its materialism

by impressing it with the evidence of your salvation.

 

Lord, we need saints. You are the author and the apex of sanctity; raise saints everywhere:

among the poor and among the wealthy, among the untutored and among the learned, among the people of the world and among those consecrated – for the sanctification of the world through the witness and proclamation of your transcendence. 

Help people understand that holiness is both a gift and a conquest;

Help them understand that to be a Christian is to be a saint; for a Christian is a person conformed to God: a whole, integrated person.

Evoke in people the desire to become what You have meant them to be, by walking in integrity as on a journey toward the dawn, progressing into the perfect day.

 

Lord, we need saints because we need salvation. Lord, grant us saints.”

Bishop Giaquinta – Prayers – p 75-76

 

 

If I Wash Your Feet...You Should Also Do

“So when he had washed their feet and put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them. ‘Do you realize what I have done for you? ... If I, therefore, the master and teacher have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.’”

John 13: 12, 14-15

 

The Lesson to Follow Christ Must Become a Lifestyle

(A Meditation on John 13: 12, 14-15 - above)

“The Apostles must learn a three-fold lesson: to follow the Master, to imitate him in his service as a slave, and to have an interior attitude of humility and deep love. This lesson, however, cannot be learned like other lessons taught by the Master.  Rather it must become a life-style, constantly practiced day by day. It should become as natural as breathing.”

Bishop Giaquinta – The Cenacle – p. 112

 

We Must Declare the Gospel with Our Lives

As St. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 13: 15, “I will most gladly spend and be utterly spent for your sakes,” our lives are not to be lived for ourselves, but for others.  We must be the selfless  voice, loving heart, and helping hands of God in this world. For we never know the enormous consequences of the words and actions we offer to others in compassionate response to their needs.

Adapted from Renato Perino, S.S. P.

Call to Holiness: New Frontiers in Holiness for Today’s Religious –  p52

 

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For Reflection:

 

1. What actions must I take to ‘step out of myself’ and become a clean, clear window through which the light of God may shine?

 

2. Call to mind any story about slavery.  Can I learn how to put myself in the place of a slave in order to imitate Jesus in his service as a slave?

 

3. Meditate quietly on the prayer, Lord Grant Us Saints, focusing on how closely I follow the model of what it means to be a saint.

 

4. Bishop Giaquinta tells us that today people are alienated, frustrated and deluded. They need words of certainty, hope and love.  Let us be hopeful, certain and loving in relation to one another.  Let us sow goodness and holiness and we will see barren fields bloom.