NATIONAL VOCATIONS AWARENESS WEEK
Sunday 2 August – Sunday 9 August 2015
Sanctity: the vocation of all the baptised
Ben Smith – Director
Family & Life Office
Young children are often asked: “What
do you want to be when you grow up?”
Generally they will say something like
a fireman, a soldier, a hairdresser or a
ballet dancer.
Some may mention they want to be a
mother or a father or you may even hear
that they want to be a priest or a nun. But
what would your response be if one of your
children or grandchildren said they wanted
to be a saint?
All Christians are called to holiness
and to be saints. St Therese of Lisieux
understood this call with perfect clarity.
Her ‘little way’ sought to achieve holiness in
the ordinary course of her life, trusting in
God’s love and mercy.
Historically, this concept has not
been well understood by the laity in
the Church. However, in the document,
Lumen Gentium from Vatican II, the
Christian’s “universal call to holiness” is
clearly explained. But for most Catholics,
a holy person is someone on a holy card,
usually a priest or a nun from a
bygone age.
So how can holiness be described as
universal? How can it be considered as
achievable by more than just a few elect
with superhero-like spiritual powers?
The answer is Baptism. The Sacrament
of Baptism does more than just remove the
stains from our soul with a supernatural
NapiSan. Through Baptism, every
Christian becomes a “new creation.” We
are reborn and regenerated through grace
(Christifideles Laici, 11).
Baptism brings us back into relationship
with God the Father, as His adopted sons
and daughters and into fellowship with
Christ as our brother (CL 12). This spiritual
adoption enables us to participate in the life
of the Trinity. Through Baptism we are also
anointed by the Holy Spirit who transforms
us into spiritual temples (CL 13).
The sacraments, especially Baptism,
change us in ways that are not linear and
iterative but exponential and disruptive.
Why then don’t we feel these effects more
regularly? How come being a saint is so
hard despite the fruits of Baptism and the
other sacraments?
The answer to these questions stems from
an unholy trinity of temptations that confuse
us in our daily lives: the world, the flesh and
the devil. These three sources of temptation
correlate to Jesus’ temptation in the desert.
In terms of the world, Jesus was tempted
by the devil to jump off the temple and
be saved by His angels before He hit the
ground. This temptation represents the
human tendency for self-assertion rather
than self-surrender to God the Father.
The flesh is another source of temptation.
Jesus w