A Reflection for Wednesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
Find today’s readings here.
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, generosity,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal 5: 22-23).
Holiness is a concept that’s easy to put on a pedestal of abstraction. Something you can’t quite put your finger on it, but you know a holy person when you see one.
But St. Paul gives a good definition of holiness today—or at least the attributes that flow from it: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” Someone who is in touch with the Holy Spirit exhibits these fruits, which I think all add up to that je ne sais quoi vibe of “holiness.”
One of the side-effects of Catholic devotion to the saints is that we often freeze our saints in spiritual amber, thinking that all of them were sinlessly giving off all of the fruits of the Spirit throughout their entire lives. That holiness is a one-time state of being that some are gifted by God.
The truth is, sometimes I am holy. And much of the time, I am not. Sometimes I am joyful or patient or generous. And much of the time I am selfish, anxious, frustrated, cynical, careless and rash. But by recognizing the moments where we have been holy, it’s easier to trust that we can strive for holiness on a daily basis.
Those who give off the “holiness” vibe usually have a type. They are joyful, patient, gentle, kind and able to laugh at themselves. (I don’t think St. Paul would object to adding that last attribute to his letter to the Galatians.) For me, the best example of someone who radiates with the fruits of the spirit is my grandfather. The people lucky enough to have grown up with or met my grandfather can have a hard time putting their finger on the one thing that makes him good: Dan, he’s such a great guy. I think they mean that he is holy. I have seen my grandfather cultivate a habit of selflessness over his lifetime, day by day, hour by hour. But I have also encountered teachers, friends and even some priests and bishops who radiate with the fruits of the spirit that Paul describes.
Because holiness, like virtue, is a habit cultivated in the small decisions we make all the days of our lives. As C.S. Lewis writes in Mere Christianity:
Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of. An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible.
There is a temptation to think that getting life’s “big” decisions right is the silver bullet to holiness: Do I marry her? Should I take that job or this one? Do I continue with treatment or not? The answers to these big questions have ramifications for the situations in which we will find ourselves, but no matter what we decide, we will still have to try and live in a way where “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” are present.
One of Pope Francis’ more under-appreciated writings is on the subject of everyday holiness in the apostolic exhortation “Gaudete et Exsultate.” In it, he gives some concrete examples of what holiness looks like:
This holiness to which the Lord calls you will grow through small gestures. Here is an example: a woman goes shopping, she meets a neighbour and they begin to speak, and the gossip starts. But she says in her heart: “No, I will not speak badly of anyone”. This is a step forward in holiness. Later, at home, one of her children wants to talk to her about his hopes and dreams, and even though she is tired, she sits down and listens with patience and love. That is another sacrifice that brings holiness. Later she experiences some anxiety, but recalling the love of the Virgin Mary, she takes her rosary and prays with faith. Yet another path of holiness. Later still, she goes out onto the street, encounters a poor person and stops to say a kind word to him. One more step (No. 16).
This is the promise: that whatever our lot in this life or this particular season, if we are in touch with the Holy Spirit we can radiate with a joy and love that will spread beyond ourselves. And if we are not, well, there is always another chance and another choice waiting just ahead.
