Formation 2003-2004 - Holiness and Mission

 

Issue 8 – Holiness and the Pro Sanctity 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 8:  To put life and fervor into the Pro Sanctity Mission Statement as shown above and encourage members to pray about, and act upon, the many ways its three dimensions (addressing the needs of the mind, heart, and hands) can influence their interactions with others.

 

 

The Ultimate Goal of Holiness

“The reason one desires the gift of holiness is not only for the salvation of the soul and the avoidance of hell.... The more positive reasoning for this desire, as presented by the Pro Sanctity Movement, is that one desire[s] to save his soul, to become holy, in the image and likeness of Christ, to love to the maximum as he did, in order to be one with the Father (John 17: 22-23)....  As expressed by Bishop Giaquinta, the Church is the place of salvation and holiness; the sacraments are the instruments by which we become holy....  Only in the Church is the fullness of the gifts of God present.  It is the ecclesiology of Pro Sanctity.

Rev. Michael F. Murphy – Dialectic of the Maximum – p 41

 

Diversity and the Call to Holiness

“For just as in one body we have many members, yet all the members have not the same function, so we the many, are one body in Christ, but severally members, one of another.” (Romans 12: 4-5)  In the Church some are called to be teachers, ministers of the sacraments, and pastors of souls, others to serve as laymen and women, but all are equally charged with building up the Body of Christ.  Though everyone follows his/her own special calling – all are called to holiness.

Documents of Vatican II

Adapted from Lumen Gentium – Chapter IV - #  32

 

 

 

 

We Are to Grow into Fruitful Trees

“Christ left us on the earth to be lights that enlighten, teachers who teach.  He wants us as Christians to be leaven among our brothers, to act as angels do, to be adult and mature with the weak, to be spiritual among carnal men; to be as seeds that grow into fruitful trees.”

St. John Chrysostom

Pro Sanctity National Resources

Nov 1st Binder – Chapter 11 – p 1

 

Announce the Call to Holiness With Your Own Lives

“The Movement’s apostolic effectiveness and credibility will be measured by the conviction by which Pro Sanctity members ‘announce’ the message with their lives.  If they should not believe in or strive for, the very message they announce, sooner or later, people will recognize the poverty and the void of the messengers; they will perceive his/her limitations.  It is, therefore, fundamental, paramount that the Pro Sanctity apostolate be represented by members who are really, individually and personally, involved with their own call to holiness.”

Bishop Giaquinta – The Spirituality of the Pro Sanctity Movement – §5-p1

 

Love One Another

“I give you a new commandment: love one another.  As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.  This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

John 13: 34-35

 

Six Spiritual Needs for Contemporary Americans

  1. The need to believe that life is meaningful and has a purpose
  2. The need for a sense of community and deeper relationship
  3. The need to be appreciated and respected
  4. The need to be listened to – to be heard
  5. The need to feel that one is growing in faith
  6. The need for practical help in developing a mature faith
George Gallup Princeton Religion Research

Reprinted in A Presentation on Bishop Giaquinta presented at

PS First Midwest Regional Convention, July 26, 1998 – Omaha, NE

 

 

To Pray Is To Walk in the Presence of God

“To pray is to walk in the presence of God: A presence leading us to conversion, calling us to compare our daily life with the Lord’s wishes and encouraging us to be fully receptive and docile to the action of the Holy Spirit.”

Bishop Giaquinta – Pro Sanctity Inspirations: Prayer 

 

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For Reflection:

 

  1. Bishop Giaquinta is very clear in pointing out that the Pro Sanctity Movement’s credibility is measured by the degree to which Pro Sanctity members announce the call to holiness with their own lives.  Do my efforts to help others achieve sanctity through the Pro Sanctity Movement ever make me forgetful about the primary need to seek my personal sanctification? 

 

  1. Do I appreciate the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit in my life?  Am I open to the Holy Spirit? 

 

  1. Do I know my limitations?  Do I accept them?  Do I become frustrated or discouraged by them?  Am I aware that everything that happens in my life presents an opportunity to grow in holiness?

 

  1. Do I find membership in the Pro Sanctity Movement helps me on my own journey to holiness? How?  In my endeavors to walk with others on their journey to holiness?  How?