When Christ completed His mission for our salvation He sanctified us, making us holy that we might live full lives in God. He instituted the Church to carry on His work on earth, He made the Church His bride, sanctifying her making her a sacrament, Holy as He Himself is Holy, setting her aside from the worldly influences (hagiosyne) for the work of God (hosiotes). Therefore participation in the sacraments, the mass etc. are holy acts because they separate us from the world for and by God. Regardless if the participant is worthy or not, the participation itself is holy. The guidance that the Church gives is also holy, rooted in Sacred Tradition as well as Scripture. We cannot ignore or be selective about the parts we choose to listen too, as this guidance helps us in both our own call to holiness and that of the whole Body of Christ of which we are members.

When I said I didn't know this, the Bishop said "shame on you". He said that "It's part and parcel of being a Latin Rite Catholic to at least know the Our Father".

In our parish there is no Latin ever. That's because the opinions of our Bishop are largely irrelevant here. If I want to experience things that are "part and parcel of being a Latin Rite Catholic" I have to go on YouTube...

Isn't technology wonderful.

I hope you will enjoy this optical illusion...

They are both the same picture, but one of them appears to be tilted more than the other.

[source: Richard Wiseman]

Is it only the baptised Christians who can take up this call of holiness? Gregory of Nyssa states “An image is not truly an image if it does not possess all the characteristics of the pattern” If God is holiness and if man was created in the image of God, the image of that holiness, then he is set aside from the world (hagiosyne) for God's work (hosiotes), therefore all humanity is called to holiness.

When Christ died for the salvation of humanity, He died that all might be saved, we see this in action at Christ's crucifixion when Jesus assures the thief a place in paradise, even though he had not been baptised. Jesus clearly states that Baptism is necessary for salvation, this applies to those who have heard the Good News and therefore could not refuse themselves this sacrament.

There are many people who are ignorant of the Gospels but who strive to search for the truth. Gaudium et Spes talks of how God created us in love, inscribing on our hearts a law, the way that brings us to Him. It discusses how man chooses to observe this law that he will be judged. Those who have not heard the Good News, and therefore are not baptised, may still be saved if they truly search for truth and follow the path God calls them on; they may unknowingly become partakers in the Baptism of desire. If one can obtain salvation without having received baptism then as Paul informed the Hebrews without holiness no one will see the Lord We can only conclude that all mankind has been called to holiness because we are all called by God to Himself, which requires all of us to separate ourselves from this world in search of the truth that is God (hagiosyne), in love/desire for Him (hosiotes) whether we are aware that our love is for Him or not.

It is important to remember that it is not only those who are baptised Christians whom God has chosen to do His work (it is the Pagan King Cyrus who is chosen to re-build the Temple in Jerusalem). James states faith without works is dead and John states “everybody who does wrong hates the light and avoids it […] the man who lives by the truth comes out into the light […] that what he does is done in God”. Therefore those who do “good works”, who follow those laws God has inscribed on his heart are striving to find the truth that is God.

This may mean that even though a baptised Christian may have a fuller understanding of the call to holiness, because “All of us who are human beings are in the image of God, but to be in his likeness belongs only to those who by great love have attached their freedom to God”, that is to say through our baptism the Holy Spirit fulfils this natural call to holiness with a sacramental sign of our separation from the world and dedication to God. There are some who may be ignorant of God's message who still manage to achieve part of that call to holiness without necessarily realising it!

Because “we are God's work of art, created in Christ Jesus to live the good life as from the beginning he had meant us to live it”, it is therefore imperative that those who are baptised Christians take up the call to evangelization and being witnesses of the faith seriously, as we understand more fully the call to holiness which encompasses the whole of humanity. It is our duty as part of the covenant we have undertaken that we make sure our family, friends, work colleagues and strangers on the street are aware of the holiness we are all called to.

Marie Stopes herself was in to eugenics and in favor of "sterilisation of those totally unfit for parenthood [to] be made an immediate possibility, indeed made compulsory" and when her son married a woman with myopia she cut him out of her will.

The folks at Marie Stopes continue this glorious tradition to this day. On their website they have a poll asking "Should abortion be legal in Ireland?" and above that poll they write...

Woman travelling overseas for abortion, include pregnant teenagers, women who have been raped or in a violent relationship, women whose life would be at risk if they continued with their pregnancy or women whose pregnancy has a foetal abnormality.

In other words, not being a perfect biological specimen should give your mother an excuse to kill you.

You can vote on the online poll here.

The “call to holiness is rooted in Baptism”, through our Baptism we are united to the Body of Christ. Baptism removes Original Sin, which ties us to the world. The removal of Original Sin separates us from the world (hagiosyne) making us adopted children of God (hosiotes); we are renewed and guided by the Holy Spirit. By accepting this covenant with God we must take up the call to holiness and act upon it, it would be ridiculous to say that you wished to be a member of God's family being set apart for His glory but then reject the call to holiness by not wishing to be set aside for Him. “It is the whole of [human] nature, extending from the beginning to the end [of history], that constitutes the one image of Him who is” though it seems we are individual members we make up the one body of Christ, it is this ontological unity which unites our attempts to achieve holiness with that of all the members, thus achieving holiness for one and all.

The Catholic Encyclopaedia states that Holiness comes from the word Sanctitas which is a translation of two distinct Greek words hagiosyne meaning separation (from the world) and hosiotes that which has received God's seal.

The hagiosyne (separation) means that a holy thing has been separated from the world and that a holy thing can be identified as being different from the things around it. This can be seen in the example of enclosed religious orders such as monks who have removed themselves from worldly influences in order to devote their lives to God or Israel, a holy nation1, a people set apart.

The hosiotes (receiving of God's seal) means being owned by God. For a thing to be holy it must not just be separated from the world but also given over to God. For example the very earth around the burning bush or land set aside for God in the building of a Church.

These two themes can be seen clearly when looking at the Church and the Sacraments demonstrating the importance and prominence of holiness.

God Himself is by definition holy and anything He chooses for Himself is made Holy. People who answer His call are made holy because He has set them aside from the world (hagiosyne) and marked them for Himself (hosiotes). In this way sancitias takes people, places and things and puts them in divine light and majesty.

In conclusion, holiness is something that has been set apart from the world for and by God.

“"This is the will of God, your sanctification" (1 Th 4:3). It is a duty which concerns not only certain Christians: "All the Christian faithful, of whatever state or rank, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity"”.

In his letter on the universal call to holiness Pope John Paul II reminds us that all Christians, what ever their position or circumstances in life are called to holiness through living their Christian lives by devoting themselves entirely for God, striving to remove themselves from worldly influences, in particular honing that fruit of the spirit charity.

The call to holiness is not something that is a personal thing, in fact it is assumed that the lay faithful play a fundamental part in “fulfilling the mission of salvation within the Church”. It is through the variety of gifts and talents that are bestowed on individual members that regardless of “rank or status [we] are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity".

This call requires us to place our focus on God, to do God's will by not being influenced by worldly demands but separating ourselves from the world (hagiosyne) by living our lives for God in the way God intended. We do this by placing our trust in Him, giving ourselves to Him (hosiotes). Through our redemption through Christ we cannot refuse this call as Mother Teresa stated "Holiness is not a luxury; it is a necessity."

In a shock move this morning (not that it suprised me very much) the Catholic Bishops Conference announced that since they have a Bishop of the Forces they might as well have a Bishop of the Schools as well.

Like the Bishop of the Forces, the Rt Rev Stannard has a diocese with no geographical boundaries but is Bishop (and indeed Pope) of anywhere that happens to be a school.

Ed Balls is thrilled.

Sort of. Maybe. Perhaps.

What I mean is that if you email Bishop Drainey a quote from Ed Balls and then email Bishop Drainey again to point out that the answer you got sort of sidestepped the subject at hand then Bishop Drainey will say something...

This is what Ed Balls said on the radio:

They must give a balanced view on abortion, they must give both sides of the argument, they must explain how to access an abortion, the same is true on contraception as well.

This is what I got from Bishop Drainey's secretary when I asked her if Bishop Drainey had anything to say on the matter:

The Bishop of Middlesbrough has no intention of allowing schools in the Diocese of Middlesbrough to teach ‘how to use contraception’ or ‘explain how to access an abortion’.

This is good news... The Bishop of Middlesbrough has no intention of allowing his schools to explain how to access an abortion.

The Bad News? Well, his secretary prefixed that with this...

Bishop Terry has asked me to forward the undermentioned, and suggests you refer directly to the CES in future as they are the main Agency concerning educational matters for the CBCEW.

So CES tell me they support the Bishops and can't speak for the Bishops, but when I speak to my Bishop he refers me back to CES!