Catholic and Loving it!

Through our participation in the Sacraments particularly in the Eucharist, where we accept God into our very being, our holiness is honed and enriched. The more we choose to set ourselves aside from the world (hagiosyne) and dedicate ourselves to God (hosiotes), trying not to be influenced by for example, secular morality, the more we achieve this holiness. The parable of the talents makes it clear that the more we strive to do God's work the more gifts and graces He bestows on us helping us to achieve more for His glory.

We are justified in our attempts to achieve holiness through our salvation through Christ's Paschal sacrifice, which we partake in through baptism. This “Justification includes the remission of sins, sanctification and the renewal of inner man” and it is that renewal that is the honing of holiness within us. The call to holiness requires us to model our lives on Christ, who separated Himself from worldly ties and persuasions, focusing on God and the mission God had for Him. We must follow this example of separation and focus on the mission God has for us, we must "be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" and strive "to be holy in all conduct" because we have been told that, “without holiness no one will see the Lord”. God gives us gifts with which we can use to achieve this perfection for us and others but it is important to remember that what might seem like a nice gift from God is intended to be used as a tool... "This is the will of God, your sanctification".

It is also important to be aware that “The ways of holiness are many” because of the variety and skills of the laity. We do not have to achieve this holiness by struggling on our own merit, there is a call for "training in holiness", to be adapted to people's needs. The main source of this training can be obtained through deepening our prayer lives, the apostles saw this when they asked "Lord, teach us to pray!", but this is not enough on it's own the “primacy of holiness and prayer is inconceivable without a renewed listening to the word of God” which we receive in during the mass. As Christians we strive to live our Christian life in the fullest possible way and are therefore able to live our lives for the glory of God. Though this is no easy task we can strive to achieve it to the best of our abilities after all as St Gregory of Nyssa states “Christian perfection has but one limit, that of having none”.

Update: Just to clarify that this sentance was a bit confusing..."We are justified in our attempts to achieve holiness through our salvation through Christ's Paschal sacrifice, which we partake in through baptism." What I mean is through baptism our original sin is wiped away and we are saved. The salvation has been achieved for us by Christ's Paschal sacrifice therefore because Christ has saved us for His own our attempts to achieve holiness are justified. or as Gregory puts it "As Christ has justified us in baptism, our graced attempts to achieve holiness are meritorious, increasing that justification"