The Call to Holiness
After Second or third grade I went away to summer camp. I don’t remember much about the camp, I remember swimming, I remember mosquitoes and sleeping in a sleeping bag, but not much more. Like I said I am not even sure if it was after second or third grade.
I do remember one of the counselors though, a young man probably a college student. I remember his kindness to me. I remember him taking me swimming, talking to me when I missed my mom and dad, simply being a friend to me. He dropped me off at my house at the end of the week of camp and I remember as I introduced him to my mom and dad I said, “He’s going to make it into the New Testament.” As I said I was only 8 years old but I had this notion that the Old Testament was about dead people and the New Testament was about people alive today. People who continue to live the Gospel message, who share their faith with others. Like I said, I don’t remember his name, nor anything much about him, but what I do remember was his holiness. I don’t know if I saw him praying, or doing some kind of penance. What I remember was that he was nice to me. I remember that this snot nosed 8 year old missed his mom and dad and he was nice to me. As we say, out of the mouths of babes, “I knew he was holy.”
He protested, no the New Testament was all written, it was finished 2000 years ago. The people in it were all long dead. But what I recognized in him was that he was holy. Not in some kind of supernatural halo on his head wings and long white robe kind of way, but in his goodness, his kindness. He was answering the call, the call to holiness.
In the 13 years that I have been coming to St. Anne’s I have seen a lot of holiness. I have seen holiness in your priests and sisters. I have seen holiness in husbands and wives. I have seen holiness in moms and dads and in sons and daughters. I remember one year there were two Chinese boys who served all of the morning and afternoon novenas. One spoke Mandarin and the other spoke Cantonese. They weren’t even Christian but they were faithful, kind and respectful. They were on the way to holiness. I have seen many examples of what I would call every day holiness, but I have also seen examples of heroic holiness. The lives of so many migrants, who have sacrificed so much to come here to make a better life not just for themselves but for the children and family. I even know of a parishioner who has spent time in a concentration camp because of her faith in Jesus. Truly heroic holiness. I remember a teenage boy helping his mom up to communion because of her handicap, a woman who visited her husband every day even though he had Alzheimer's and didn’t know her.
Couples who have been married for 40 50 or more years heroic holiness. People who have taken care of a loved one who is sick. True holiness. Father Dan going out to answer a sick call at 2:00 in the morning. Deep holiness.
But the truth be told most of the holiness I’ve seen is the common every day holiness. Someone sharing their novena booklet with another person at Church. People carry a plate of food to a person who uses crutches, openning the door. Telling someone that their lights are on in the car. Volunteers as ushers, lectors, Eucharistic ministers, music ministers. Alll examples of holiness. Perfection? No, but a lot of us who are taking those small steps on the way to holiness.
My phone number is 612-810-5987. I almost always have my phone with me. When it rings I always look at the number. If there aren’t in my caller ID I usually don’t answer my phone. I figure it is a robocall or some telamarketer. If it is a real call they will leave a message. I don’t know how they do it but a lot of these fake calls start out with my exact number, 612-810 ****. In the old days I used to answer these calls, “It must be someone I know.” I thought.”The number is just like mine.” Well, they don’t fool me any more. When I see those numbers I just ignore it. I don’t pick up. Other times I will look at a call and I think, I know who that is, I don’t want to answer because I don’t want to talk to them right now. They will talk to long, or they might ask for money. It is too late, or I am too tired. I think that I will call them in the morning.
You might have a good reason for not taking a call, but there is one call that I don’t want you to miss. Pope Francis doesn’t want you to miss it either. It is a call from Jesus, and he is calling you to holiness. The truth is Jesus has your number. I will confess I am the one who gave it to him. The next time he calls just pick up. He’s calling you to holiness.
You know that there are two important movements when we come to Church, the movement in and the movement out. Today in a very special way we will move out, we will move out together, together as a Christian community, together with Jesus who is present in the Blessed Sacrament. I don’t want to focus on that moving out part, today I want to focus on the moving in part. We come into this Church moving towards Jesus. We believe that Jesus is present in the Blessed Sacrament and he is calling us here. It is the call to holiness, a call to be close to Jesus. And today more than ever we have to answer that call. In the world in which we live it is too easy to ignore the call, all too often we miss the call. But Jesus is calling us today, in this city when homelessness is on the rise with more and more people living on the street and less and less people able to afford housing. In this world where gun violence is all too prevalent, where the earth is getting warmer and warmer and folks are suffering more and more.
Thursday morning when we began this Novena, I said to myself, Patrick you are in the right place at the right time. As I looked out on this congregation and I saw so many people, from all over the world, worshipping One God in One place. I thought this is where God is calling us to Holiness. In a world where immigrants are told they don’t have a place and where whole stadiums of people can shout racists chants of, “Send them back.” We need to answer the call to holiness.
There are things that pull us out, but Jesus keeps pulling us back. Jesus keeps calling. When we make time at the end of a busy day to listen to folks we live with, we are answering the call. When a mother puts food on the table, she is answering the call. When a father or mother goes to work in the morning, they are answering the call. When Children work hard in school, they are answering the call. When families make time for one another, they are answering the call. When you great the neighbor on the street, you are answering the call, offer a seat to someone tired or elderly on the street car, you are answering the call. When you come to Church on Saturday morning, you are answering the call. Singing in the choir, reading at mass, offfering communion, volunteering at a reception. You are answering the call. When you give a homeless person a dollar you are answering the call. When you pick up trash, go to vote, write your congressman you are answering the call.
The road to holiness is long and hard but it is taken in small steps in small ways. Pope Francis says the road to holiness is paying attention to the little things. If we pay attention to the small things we are answering the call. Holiness is a long and difficult journey, but it is a journey towards who it is that we truly are. God is calling, when you hear his call don’t let the message go into voice mail. Pick up that call and continue the journey. The journey to Holiness.
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