Exemplifying Holiness …

Each week we let Saint Pope John Paul II share meaningful signposts to spark socio-economic resolves through justice and righteousness combined with mercy and compassion; in short, love.

               ^"26-27"Don't be intimidated. Eventually, everything is going to be out in the open, and everyone will know how things really are. So don't hesitate to go public now." (Matthew 10: 26-27 Message MSG Translation).

 
A worrying symptom of our time is that many people have lost the sense of guilt and sin. If man no longer recognizes his sinfulness, he can no longer be forgiven and receive reconciliation. The danger of our days is that man, replacing God, wants to decide for himself what is good and what is evil. 
 
                "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to be converted" (Luke 5: 31-32 New International Version NIV).
 
A great capacity for patience and perseverance is needed. With acceptance and understanding, we must dispose of our hearts to open ourselves to the action of grace. Our heart must, therefore, be ready to welcome everyone as brothers and sisters, even those whose views differ from ours or have abandoned religious practice.
 
               "Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy" (Leviticus 19: 2 NIV).
 
Each of your vocation and task is to lead the people entrusted to you towards "the new heavens and the new earth," of which the Scripture speaks (Revelation 21: 1- 3, 13 MSG). Remain steadfast in this vocation.
 

Above all, safeguard the integrity of the Word of God and Christian teaching. Due to man's erroneous views and the history imposed by dictatorships, the generations that have grown up in recent decades have moved away from the Christian tradition in thought and language, and lifestyle.
 
Many distrust the Church and its teaching. How can we fail to feel the urgency of a renewed apostolic impulse that shakes consciences and leads them to face with sincerity the essential questions that man carries in his heart? Why not hope for the possibility of a new springtime of the Christian life?
 
The words of the Lord are well known: 
 

               "Be therefore perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5: 48 NIV).
 
What the Apostle of the Gentiles wrote in Timothy applies to all:  

          
               "^11-14 Get the word out. Teach all these things. And don't let anyone put you down because you're young. Teach believers with your life: by word, by demeanor, by love, by faith, by integrity. Stay at your post reading Scripture, giving counsel, teaching. And that special gift of ministry you were given when the leaders of the Church laid hands on you and prayed—keep that dusted off and in use.

^15-16 Cultivate these things. Immerse yourself in them. The people will all see you mature right before their eyes! Keep a firm grasp on both your character and your teaching. Don't be diverted. Just keep at it. Both you and those who hear you will experience salvation." (1 Timothy 4: 11-16 MSG).

Please don’t take the image above literally. It is meant to be a parody and did not originate from the original transcript of the Papal Message cited below.

Excerpted from (translated from Italian):

VIAGGIO APOSTOLICO IN Ungheria Discorso Di Giovanni Paolo Ii 
Ai Vescovi Ungheresi; Vescovado di Gyor - Sabato, 7 settembre 1996

http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/it/speeches/1996/september/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19960907_vescovi-ungheresi.html