The universal call to holiness |
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Written by Bishop Leonard P. Blair
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Friday, 06 February 2009 01:00 |
In the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., there are many significant works of art. One of the most striking is the massive sculpture that covers the wall under the choir loft.
Titled "The Universal Call to Holiness," it is meant to illustrate an important truth expressed in the Second Vatican Council document Lumen Gentium: "All Christians in any state of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of love, and by this holiness a more human manner of life is fostered in earthly society."
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Bishop Leonard P. Blair
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In the sculpture, people are shown from various walks of life, social classes and ethnic origins, all being drawn toward the Holy Spirit. Among the nearly 50 figures are the Virgin Mary, Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
It is one thing to see the "universal call to holiness" depicted in marble. It is quite another to catch a glimpse of it in flesh and blood, as I did on Jan. 21. That evening I was present in the Basilica of the National Shrine for the annual Mass on the occasion of the "March for Life" in our nation’s capital. Several hundred members of our diocese, including many young adults, were participants with people from every part of our country.
This event is a living model of the "universal call to holiness" not because the Catholics of every age group, ethnicity and state of life who went to Washington are holier than other people (and in any case, only God knows the true state of any individual’s soul). Rather, what is striking is the public witness that is given to Christian holiness as a call to the ìperfection of loveî beyond the private sphere. It is a call that leads to "a more human manner of life ... in earthly society." It is a call to work and pray, to speak up and to stand up for our neighbor, both unborn and born, in keeping with the most fundamental truth from God about the dignity and rights of every human person.
For a very long time we Catholics in the United States were raised to keep our faith to ourselves in order to get ahead in a society marked by anti-Catholic bigotry. After the upheavals of the 1960s there was a short lull because it was thought that the church was ready to become ìmainstreamî by abandoning many of her teachings on faith and morals. Anti-Catholicism is now returning with a vengeance because the church remains steadfast regarding abortion, contraception, divorce, homosexual behavior, etc., not to mention other issues of social justice.
The drama of social change has been unfolding for a very long time. Recently I read a highly acclaimed biography of President Theodore Roosevelt, in which the author offered the following description of Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., President Roosevelt’s appointee to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1902, more than a century ago: "In his world," the author writes, "there was neither absolute good nor absolute evil — only shifting standards of positive and negative behavior, determined by the majority and subject to constant change. Morality was not defined by God; it was the code a given generation of men wanted to live by. Truth was ‘what I can’t help believing.’ Yesterday’s absolutes must give way to ‘the felt necessities of the time.’ " (Edmund Morris, "Theodore Rex," p. 130)
This worldview now reigns supreme. And there are many who argue that the call to holiness — including fundamental questions of justice based on right and wrong — has little or nothing to do with a Catholic’s daily life in the world. We should just mind our own business, they argue, and keep our beliefs on these matters to ourselves behind the closed doors of private devotion, personal virtue and religious exercises. Yet, when scoffers look back over 2,000 years to discredit the Christian faith, isn’t it precisely the historical failures of Christians both to denounce and renounce public injustices and evils in society that bolster the false claim that Christianity is either a failure or a fraud?
As I have pointed out, the Second Vatican Council clearly taught that holiness, as a call to the "perfection of love," is meant to foster ìa more human manner of life ... in earthly society." The pursuit of holiness involves not only ìthe evangelization and sanctificationî of human beings individually, but also a "transformation and perfecting of the temporal order through the spirit of the Gospel" (cf. Apostolicam Actuositatem, no. 2).
As Lent begins later this month, I offer for your reflection Our Lord’s words in the Gospel of Matthew, addressed to each of us individually and to all of us collectively as members of His church: "You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lamp-stand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father." (Mt 5:13-16)
Heeding our "universal call to holiness," may each of us strive by God’s grace to be salt and light for today’s America. Then we will have no cause for shame when we are asked to give an account of what we did, or failed to do, to light up the world with Christ and to season the world with the love of God and neighbor.
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 31 March 2009 15:12 |
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