Sanctity for Daily Life

Sanctity for Daily Life

“Holiness involves friendship with God. God’s love for us and ours for Him grows like any relationship with other people….we can become holy in any situation or circumstances. It is not where we are or what we do that matters; it is who we are and what we become.”(Cardinal Basil Hume)

Cardinal Basil Hume in His book To be a Pilgrim gives the following suggestions as practical steps to foster a strong relationship with God.

1. Start the day with a morning prayer. Call to mind the different things that you have to do. Ask God to bless all of them and make them acts of love.(Jesus lived the ordinary life of a Carpenter.)

2. If you know that there are going to be difficult moments or times when you will suffer, then accept them as crosses. Say “thy will be done, dear Lord, not mine. Let all these things bring me closer to Thee.”

3. Set aside at least five minutes in the day in addition to morning and night prayers, just to be alone with God.

4. During the day, things go wrong. We may be unjustly or fairly criticized, misunderstood, insulted or ignored. These are golden opportunities to grow in holiness. Bite your lips and say “ Thanks be to God.”

5. You will meet all kinds of people today. Some you like, others not. Try to see Christ in every one you meet. Behave towards others as you expect them to behave towards you.

6. The most powerful means of growing in holiness is the reception of the sacraments. Sunday mass should become the high point of your week.

7. Do not neglect the sacrament of reconciliation.

8. Holiness is not a private or personal affair. One has to get involved in serving the community. Most of us can visit an old or a sick person once in a while. Great social problems are resolved when ordinary people become concerned and do what they can to find solutions.

9. Acts of penance? We might deprive ourselves of an hour of TV once in a while and do some spiritual reading. We might go to see a sick or old person instead of doing something we would enjoy doing. The key is to be able to say “No” to ourselves in order to say “ Yes “ to God.

10. Remain a little person. It means that I have to remain small in my own estimate of myself, to be unimportant whatever be the position I hold or the talents I have. Smile at yourself, at your failures…Have a sense of humor. It doesn’t matter if others do not take seriously; God will.