It is not through wealth or pride that finds Grace, but the blood Christ shed for you:

It is not through wealth or pride that finds grace, but the blood of Christ shed for you:

The question of faith that grace appears and for the insolent that is enough until the hammer of reality comes down upon the pride and arrogance of those who have turned their backs on God.

It is too obvious when the proud souls will not find the humility that makes the Lord, God, pleased when he sees them speaking of evil while holding a blessed artifact to please men instead.  What has happened to our belief in respect of the Church and her dictates of creation and God who is the Creator?  Once upon a time a person who has been called to do God’s will by donning a habit of religious orders or a Roman collar of the priesthood no longer has any respect given since the scandals of the Church has destroyed what little faith so many can hold in esteem.

Reading about saints who have gone beyond a simple quest of finding Jesus in their journey to something so few can grasp as something the Holy Spirit places upon them; by becoming a new missionary that leaves the rest of humanity in the dust.  For them the sacrifice of themselves becomes an entity that most will not even attempt to consider.  Of course, not everyone will have the opportunity to follow this “Way” because it will require a change of courage to walk the Via Doloros that might ask for their life.  

How does one know if they are called to this new manner of living especially if their present vocation is doing what all their peers are enjoying?  I believe that God does call all of us; but so few take the invitation seriously and those who refuse are not condemned but will miss out on something that will change the world’s conception of God and his will.

Is the road to holiness an easy path since to be like Jesus one must accept suffering as a prime requirement; not as though it is a prescribed step; it is just something that saints are saddled with since the adverse marks of sainthood are common to being like God’s child that the world hates?

It isn’t an arduous vocation that seems to trap one in.  Because if you are called it isn’t like you must keep a journal of the good or strenuous events for future do’s or don’t’s.  The Holy Spirit will keep you informed by grace that isn’t a collection of points made; it is the grace that he gives that will keep you in a painful experience since most people may mock you for your obvious “Holy Joe” attitude.  But that person whom the Lord has called is one that will write the pattern of holiness on your heart, that the rest will accept since these attributes determine what the rest of humanity needs for eternal life.

This is not a check list to see if you have what it takes to find holiness; it is just a matter of recognizing the dictates of being called and answering the opportunity to try it.  Some may find this call during Lent and the essence of Holy Week that just might be for you or me.  

Ralph B. Hathaway