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Pope John Paul II and His Prayer Intentions for the Church Pope John Paul II's prayer intentions for November 2004 are that the faithful will respond to the call to holiness. In a statement that he gave at Vatican City last November 2, 2004, there are three points he mentioned that we can reflect on: 1. responding with generosity to the divine call; 2. progressing in holiness in our environment; 3. intimate union with Christ as the source of an efificacious mission. Responding with generosity to the divine call Responding to the call to holiness involves a generous gift of self to God through our baptismal consecration, our state of life and our personal vocation. In Luke 10:25-28, we find this passage: "There was a lawyer who, to disconcert him (Jesus), stood up and said to him, 'Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' He said to him, 'What is written in the law? What do you read there?' He replied, 'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself'. 'You have answered right,' said Jesus 'do this and life is yours.'" This passage clearly shows us that to begin the journey to holiness, we start by giving our entire self to God without reservations. It is a difficult decision but it is done wholeheartedly and generously. And it must not be forgotten that it is not a once and for all decision made only in a wedding ceremony or an ordination. Rather, it involves a decision that we renew daily in all the decisions we will make until the end of our earthly life. And moreover, what gives these decisions to respond to the divine call a quality of holiness is the vital element of generosity. If we reflect more on this, we can ask ourselves, 'how generous am I in my response to God's call?' Perhaps in this first point which the Holy Father brings up in his prayer intentions for November 2004, we can reflect and meditate deeply in much prayer and contemplation how we live up to the call to generously follow Christ. Progressing in holiness in our environment When we respond to the divine call generously in every human situation we find ourselves in our environment, then the progression towards holiness will inevitably follow. However, this is not what we really experience in everyday life. In reality, sometimes we refuse to even respond to be good, if not half-heartedly in our actions of kindness and generosity. And when we experience such and commit sins, we miss the mark and fall short of that initial decision we made to give ourselves entirely to God. But progressing in holiness is possible. It is possible not by our own strength but by the grace of God and the help of other people. When we fall from God's grace because of sin, that does not bring us back to 'step one', so to speak. We simply regress a few steps backward. For we have already made that initial decision and need only to retrace our steps to the level from which we fell from. This of course needs much mercy, healing, reconciliation and restoration. And the best way to merit the grace to retrace our steps back from whence we fell is through the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation. Once we are restored back to our loving relationship with God, then we can deepen and strengthen our relationship with Him all the more and continue progressing in our journey to holiness. Intimate union with Christ as the source of efficacious mission In our experience of struggle against sin, we suffer with Christ, we share in His dying, and are reborn again in Him through a new life of grace. By going through our experiences in life as a sharing in Christ's life through our following of Him in our life commitments and receiving Him through the sacraments, all the work we do shall bear much fruit. And the quality of this produce or fruitfulness depends on how intimately we have shared in Christ's life. Intimate union with Christ involves sharing in His ministry, His passion, death and resurrection. It is an arduous process and involves a lot of adversity. But if we cling to Christ as branches closely connected to Him in much prayer and contemplation, our mission to proclaim the Gospel by our simple witness shall indeed bear fruit in abundance. Our response to the call to holiness The call to holiness is a gift given to all baptized Catholics. Our response is personal and thus involves our self but also within the context of a Christian community - the Catholic Church. We cannot respond, progress, and bear fruit in holiness without the Church. Christ gave us the gift of the Catholic Church that we may follow Him through the leadership of His Church. Let us thus thank the Lord for the gift of the Church who continually shepherds all the faithful in a community journey to holiness in Christ's name. Dennis-Emmanuel Cabrera
Catholic Webauthor November 6, 2004 |
