A. What Being Holy Means
1. What is holiness?
At its heart, it means loving deeply: «A person is as holy as the degree of their charity». It is a living union with God that expands until it permeates every dimension of human existence. It does not consist in performing extraordinary feats—mystical visions, ecstasies, or spectacular public penances—but in genuinely loving God and our fellow human beings.
2. Isn't holiness reserved for priests, nuns, and professional mystics?
No. The Second Vatican Council proclaimed this with crystal clarity: «All the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity». The married and the single, the nurse and the taxi driver, the university student and the grandmother: each person right where they are, without altering their earthly state.
3. Since when am I called to become a saint?
From the moment of Baptism, which made us children of God and configured us to Jesus Christ (divine filiation). Holiness is not an optional extra for particularly zealous souls: it is the natural, organic development of what we already are through sanctifying grace, just as a majestic oak is the natural fruition of an acorn.
B. Sanctifying Ordinary Life
4. Can one truly become holy in the middle of the world, raising a family and working?
Yes; in fact, that is the providential path for the vast majority of mankind. The supreme model is Jesus Himself: of His thirty-three earthly years, about thirty were spent quietly working in Nazareth, and not a single one of those days was lost time for our redemption (Incarnation). Professional work, family duties, and daily social obligations are the raw material of holiness, not an unfortunate obstacle that must be tolerated until one can find time to pray.
5. How do we «sanctify» our everyday activities?
By doing them exceptionally well, out of love for God and as selfless service to others. In practice:
- working with diligence and competence, avoiding sloppy shortcuts, and offering that work to God.
- performing household chores with loving care, even when unnoticed by others.
- fulfilling small duties: punctuality, neatness, and a cheerful smile when feeling least like it.
- transforming all these duties into continuous prayer, lived in the presence of God.
6. Does becoming holy mean ceasing to be normal, cheerful, or approachable?
Quite the opposite: holiness does not warp human nature; it perfects it. A saint is more human, not less: more joyful, more compassionate, a more dependable friend, and a better professional. If someone becomes eccentric, irritating, or perpetually gloomy, that is not holiness; it is something else entirely.
C. The Daily Path
7. What means help us grow in holiness?
The timeless means: daily mental prayer, frequent reception of the sacraments—above all the Holy Eucharist and sacramental Confession—the personal struggle for human and Christian virtues, and generous service to our neighbor. Holiness is built through small, repeated fidelities, just as a great cathedral is raised stone upon stone, rather than through isolated, grand gestures.
8. What if I fall into sin time and time again?
Holiness does not consist in never falling, but in always getting back up. The saints were not people without defects: Saint Peter denied Christ three times, yet ended his life crucified for Him. Their secret was trusting unreservedly in the infinite mercy of God and beginning anew as many times as necessary.
9. What is the purpose and role of the saints?
They serve as inspiring examples and powerful intercessors: they prove that heroic sanctity is attainable in every era and circumstance—there have been saintly kings and saintly beggars, learned scholars and illiterate peasants, fourteen-year-olds and nonagenarians—and they intercede lovingly for us from heaven (communion of saints). Each with their unique personality, they encourage us to follow the same path through the concrete fabric of our own lives.