Christ’s Sacrifice
The redemption has made it possible for God to call everyone to be another Christ and to live a life of holiness. This vocation invites each person to use both human and supernatural means to pursue sanctity in his or her everyday activities, offering the circumstances and events of life as spiritual sacrifices. While living a moral life in Christ is impossible by human effort alone. God gives abundant graces to make it possible.
One of the great gifts from the Second Vatican Council was that of recovering a vision of the Church founded on communion and grasping the principle of authority and hierarchy in this perspective. This has helped us to better understand that all Christians, insofar as they have been baptized, are equal in dignity before the Lord and share in the same vocation, that is, to sainthood (cf. Lumen Gentium, nn. 39-42)
“First of all, we must bear clearly in mind that sanctity is not something we can procure for ourselves, that we can obtain by our own qualities and abilities. Sanctity is a gift, it is a gift granted to us by the Lord Jesus, when He takes us to Himself and clothes us in Himself, He makes us like Him. In his Letter to the Ephesians, the Apostle Paul states that “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her” (5:25-26). You see, sainthood truly is the most beautiful face of the Church, the most beautiful face: it is to rediscover oneself in communion with God, in the fullness of his life and of his love. Sanctity is understood, then, not as a prerogative of the few: sanctity is a gift offered to all, no one excluded, by which the distinctive character of every Christian is constituted.” [Pope Francis General Audience Address November 19, 2014].
The moral law within Christianity is grounded in the natural law God given to all people as well as in the Ten Commandments that he gave to Moses. Christ perfected the moral law in his New Law of love, which calls for conversion of heart. Christians imitate Christ by loving their neighbors the way God loves. The Beatitudes show how the human heart must be conditioned and transformed to reflect the heart of Christ (See Mt 5-7). To help us achieve holiness, God gives the infused theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity. The gifts of the Holy Spirit facilitate the practice of these virtues.
Christ has not only called the baptized to live a life of sanctity but also supplied them with all the means necessary to accomplish it. In addition, when people cooperated with God’s grace, they help others achieve sanctity because the Gospel is spread from person to person. The joy of those who arrive in heaven is magnified by those for whom one was an instrument of salvation.
There are many was to become a saint as there are people, and God gives us great freedom to choose any path. Because human beings are fallible, we inevitably experience failures and disappointments along the way. However, as long as we begin anew, keep trying to do our best to serve God’s will, final success is guaranteed as long as we remain close to God along the way through prayer, listening to his Word, and speaking to him.
We are strengthened during the different stages of life – from infancy through old age – by the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Reconciliation. Throughout our lifelong conversion process, we have the opportunity to introduce others to the friendship of Christ by word and example.
“God, Who has fatherly concern for everyone, has willed that all men should constitute one family and treat one another in a spirit of brotherhood. For having been created in the image of God, Who "from one man has created the whole human race and made them live all over the face of the earth" (Acts 17:26), all men are called to one and the same goal, namely God Himself.” [PASTORAL CONSTITUTION ON THE CHURCH IN THE MODERN WORLD, GAUDIUM ET SPES, 24]
—Deacon Gerry Flamm
“Dear children! While darkness and peace lessness rule in many hearts, you, little children, be prayer and my extended hands of love. Little children, place the Sacred Scripture in a visible place in your family and read it, so that it may be an encouragement for you to conversion and a new life; because Satan is strong and seduces hearts. Your hearts, through my maternal Heart, I desire to commend to the Heart of my Son Jesus, so that He, the Risen One, may reign in you and joy may begin to reign in you and around you. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
