Holiness: a summary

The Holy Trinity and Saints in Glory | Sebastiano Conca

Perhaps a few readers will find the following notes a compass by which to construct a personal rule.

All summaries are inadequate. Read above and between the lines.

1. Trust in God; keep the commandments of Christ (Saint John 14:15-17). Grace is the help God gives us to respond to our vocation of becoming his adopted sons. It introduces us into the intimacy of the Trinitarian life (CCC 2021).
2. Commit to spiritual direction. The Holy Spirit gives to certain of the faithful the gifts of wisdom, faith and discernment for the sake of this common good which is prayer (spiritual direction). Men and women so endowed are true servants of the living tradition of prayer. According to St. John of the Cross, the person wishing to advance toward perfection should "take care into whose hands he entrusts himself, for as the master is, so will the disciple be, and as the father is so will be the son." And further: "In addition to being learned and discreet a director should be experienced. . . . If the spiritual director has no experience of the spiritual life, he will be incapable of leading into it the souls whom God is calling to it, and he will not even understand them" (CCC 690).
3. Go to confession. Make a space for God in your life. Confession is an act of honesty and courage - an act of entrusting ourselves, beyond sin, to the mercy of a loving and forgiving God (Pope Saint John Paul II). A beautiful prayer included in Divine Worship that is worthy of daily recitation is the Collect for Purity: Almighty God, unto whom all hearts be open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid: cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
4. Pray the Mass, the source and summit of the Christian life (Lumen Gentium 11). The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch (CCC1324).
5. Pray the Office: savor Holy Scripture daily. The Ordinariate Office is a communal sharing in the wisdom of God, wisdom that orients the heart and mind to God and wisdom that transforms lives for good, and brings the community into harmony with the will of God. (T)he Office is the prayer of the parish. It's the prayer of the whole parish: the clergy, but also the lay faithful. And so this tradition that Morning and Evening Prayer would be prayed publicly in church is a regular feature of that parish life, and should become again a regular feature of Ordinariate life (Bishop Steven Lopes/Smith-Lopes Interview NCRegister 4NOV2020).
6. Pray the Rosary. The Rosary is a compendium of the Gospel. The soul needs grace to thrive. By immersing oneself in the mysteries of our redemption, one disposes oneself to the action of the Holy Ghost Who invites us more deeply into those same mysteries. The Rosary is a school for learning true Christian perfection (Pope Saint John XXIII).
7. Fast and give alms. Fasting subjects the body to the spirit and brings mind and body into harmony. Becoming a steward of one's resources, one can and should direct his resources to those ministries which enable others to experience the hope and healing God provides through almsgiving. St. Basil recounts how St. Lawrence distributed the treasures of the Church to the poor. Questioned by a pagan governor regarding the treasures which he had promised to transmit, Lawrence pointed to the poor, saying: They are treasures in whom is Christ, in whom is faith (Catholic Encyclopedia).
8. Work hard; rest well. Be attentive to the signs given by the Holy Ghost that are opportunities to serve God and neighbour. In work, the person exercises and fulfills in part the potential inscribed in his nature. The primordial value of labor stems from man himself, its author and its beneficiary. Work is for man, not man for work (CCC 2428). Everyone should be able to draw from work the means of providing for his life and that of his family, and of serving the human community. Work honors the Creator’s gifts and the talents received from him (CCC 2427). Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy (Exodus 20:8).
9. Think with the Church (sentire cum ecclesia). Despite the failings of its citizens, the Church is the home of truth, goodness and beautiful, and we who inhabit her precincts strive to be perfect as our Father which is in heaven is perfect (Saint Matthew 5:48). There is always room for another sinner, another hypocrite, another lover of goodness and mercy, another sinner wanting rescue to be welcomed into the Church. “Thinking” with the Church begot us at Baptism; “thinking” with the Church finds one of its filial expressions in faithfulness to the Magisterium, in communion with the Pastors and the Successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome, a visible sign of unity. Proclaiming and witnessing to the Gospel, for every Christian, are never an isolated act. This is important: for every Christian the proclamation of and witness to the Gospel are never an isolated act of an individual or a group. No evangelizer acts, as Paul vi recalled very well, “in virtue of a... personal inspiration, but in union with the mission of the Church and in her name” (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi, n. 60). And Paul VI proceeded: It is an absurd dichotomy to think of living with Christ without the Church, of following Jesus outside his Church, of loving Jesus without loving the Church (cf. ibid, n. 16). Be aware of the responsibility that you have in forming your Institutes in the sound doctrine of the Church, in love for the Church and in the ecclesial spirit (His Holiness Pope Francis, Plenary Assembly of the International Union of Superiors General 8MAY2013).
10. Keep a sense of humour. The discipline of humour is first and foremost a disposition toward the action of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost provides us with the grace to not take ourselves too seriously, while at the same time enabling us to focus on the things above. That is, reality as it is known through faith and reason illumined by grace. And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost (Acts 13:52). To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven... a time to weep, and a time to laugh (Ecclesiastes 3:4).
    
11. Be hospitable. Hospitality is a hallmark of the Ordinariate, one of the many treasures to be shared. Hospitality is being present to Christ in everyone we meet and serving Jesus in that person. We meet Jesus in every guest who visits with us after Mass, in the employee or fellow shopper we meet in the queue at the grocery store, and in the homeless beggar tucked away in the corner of a doorway. All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ, for he himself will say: I was a stranger and you welcomed me (Matt 25:35). Proper honor must be shown to all, especially to those who share our faith (Gal 6:10) and to pilgrims (Rule of Saint Benedict).
12. Love your enemies: the coworker who makes your life a living hell; the boss whose name is synonymous with 'bully'; the cantankerous sort who seems to draw satisfaction from criticizing everyone's actions but his own; the misguided Catholic who sows confusion in the Church. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you (Saint Matthew 5:44).