Holiness

Holiness consists not in doing uncommon things, but in doing all common things with an uncommon fervour.  A saint is one who  makes  goodness attractive. The serene  beauty  of a holy life is the most powerful influence in the world next to power of God. The creed of the true saint is to make the most of life, and to make the best of it. Sanctity is made up of little things, little virtues and actions. Buddha says just as candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life. The spirit dwells in all men; but not all men are aware of this. Happy is the life of him who knows this, and unhappy his life who does not know it. 

A martyr, a saint, is always made by the design of God, for his love of men, to warn them, to bring them back to his ways. A martyrdom  is never the design of man; for the true martyr is he who has become the instrument of God, who has lost his will in the will of God. A saint is someone who makes it easier to believe in God. A saint is someone who lets the light shine through. Spiritual power is the force which history clearly teaches has been the greatest force in the development of man.  Material things do not bring happiness, and are of little use in making people creative and powerful. A saintly person lives with radiance because his spirit is rooted in God’s spirit. A saint is a person who has quit worrying about himself because his life is centred on God. With Jakob  Bohme  he says, “Though my head and my hand be at labour, yet doth my heart dwell in God.” A saint feel that every person-- regardless of colour, race, creed, or nation—is a person in whom lie the possibilities of becoming a saint. With Robert Southwell he says,  “Not where I breathe but where I love, I  live.”He desires to use the results of prayer and devotion to better the world. The beauty of holiness has done more, and will do more, to regenerate the world and bring in everlasting righteousness than all other agencies put together.

Napolieon 1 was passing by a statue of Saint Francis of Assisi paid respect to the saint by taking off his hat reverently. One of the Gererals, who boasted of being a free-thinker, asked why  he  paid such respect to a monk. The emperor replied, “Becaues that ‘monk’ subdued an army larger than mine and, without guns or cannon, ruled an empire far greater than mine.”

Sr(Dr) Lilly Thokknattu SJL