How can we be holy? What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘holy’? When you hear someone described as ‘a holy person?’ We are all called to be ‘saints’, people who live a ‘holy life’. St. Irenaeus wrote: ‘The glory of God is the human person fully alive; and to be fully alive is to behold the vision of God.’ To be ‘fully alive’, we need the nourishment of the grace of God that is freely and abundantly given in Jesus Christ. We need to care for We need to care for our physical life our spiritual life

How can we be holy? Jesus taught, ‘I came that [you] may have life, and have it abundantly.’ —John 10:10 In Baptism we are reborn into the abundant life of God in Christ. Our life, both physical and spiritual, is God’s gift to us. In the Eucharist and other Sacraments we receive the graces to become more and more alive. The more we become fully alive and grow in holiness, the more we glorify God. Jesus is the Model and Way of how we are to live our lives.

Holiness of life and fullness of life Piety, or reverence, is one of the seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit. Piety urges and enables us to express our love and respect for God and for everything connected with God. Holiness is ‘a state of goodness in which a person—with the help of God’s grace, the action of the Holy Spirit, and a life of prayer—is freed from sin and evil’ (United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, 514). Welcoming the Holy Spirit and cooperating with the graces of the Holy Spirit is the source of holiness and wholeness of life. The Lord Jesus… preached holiness of life, which he both initiates and brings to perfection, to each and every one of his disciples no matter what their condition of life. —Vatican II, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, no. 40

Holiness of life and fullness of life All Christians by Baptism receive the gift of sanctifying grace and are made sharers in the holiness of God. The Holy Spirit, whom we receive at Baptism, teaches and strengthens us to live the ‘way’ of Jesus. Living the ‘way’ of Jesus requires us to: be compassionate to people in need; be honest and truthful in all our personal dealings; work for justice and freedom for all; care not only for our own wellbeing but also for the common good of others—with no limit to who may be our neighbor.

Holy Mary, Mother of God Mary is panagia, all-holy. She is full of grace. God has blessed Mary with unique graces that manifest her unique holiness. These graces flow from her unique ‘connection’ with her Son. God also blessed Mary with the unique grace of freedom from all sin, from the moment of her conception and during her entire life on earth. When her life was finished she was taken soul and body into heavenly glory.

A holy Church of saints and sinners While the members of the Church may sin, the Church on earth is, and always will be, holy. St. Paul often addressed the members of the early Church as ‘saints’. The ‘saints’ were all those members of the Church who were striving to live holy lives. The Church is both a divine and a human institution. When members of the Body of Christ sin, the Church is still the Body of Christ, the Holy One of God who is her head. The Holy Spirit builds, animates and sanctifies the Church.

The Communion of Saints The Church celebrates All Saints Day on November 1. On this holy day of obligation the Church honors all the ‘saints’ who have lived among us. The bond we have with all the faithful, living and dead, through Baptism, is never broken, not even by death. Just as we can ask a living person to pray for us, we can ask a saint to pray for us, and we can pray for the souls in Purgatory. First and foremost among the saints is the Blessed Mother, the Mother of the Church.

The canonization process The canonization process begins with people who knew the candidate and were inspired by the person’s holiness of life. They propose the person to the local bishop for review. The bishop makes an investigation into the person’s life. If there is good evidence of a holy life, the bishop sends the results of the investigation on to Rome for further review by the Congregation for the Cause of Saints. If the Congregation approves, the candidate is declared ‘Venerable’. The next step is the investigation and verification of at least one miracle—the restoration of someone to good health attributed to a person’s intercession before God. The candidate is declared ‘Blessed’ and another miracle is identified and authenticated. Finally, the Pope formally declares the person to be a saint.

St. Teresa de Los Andes (1900-1920) Born Juanita Fernandez Solar, St. Teresa de Los Andes was the first native of Chile to be canonized a saint. During her high school years she read Story of a Soul, the autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, who lived her life by a simple spirituality that involved doing the ‘little things’ well and with love. At the age of nineteen Juanita joined the Carmelite community in Los Andes and took the name Teresa in honor of St. Thérèse. Three months before her twentieth birthday she contracted typhus and died. Pope John Paul II canonized Teresa on March 21, 1993, calling her ‘a shining witness of a life which proclaims . . . that it is in loving, adoring and serving God that the human creature finds greatness and joy, freedom and fulifillment’.