Light of the Nations

I was reading a Vatican II document for one of my classes and came across a wonderful passage that I wanted to share.

The document is called The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, but it is more commonly known as Lumen Gentium, which is Latin for “Light of the Nations.” (You can read the full text HERE if you’d like.)

The section is “The Call to Holiness” and talks about how we, as People of God are holy because Christ himself is holy. It explains what it means to be holy, and how we are to live that out. It also talks about the gifts we receive from the Holy Spirit to help us answer this call to holiness…which is what leads into the paragraph I loved - #42.

…the first and most necessary gift [from the Holy Spirit] is charity, by which we love God above all things and our neighbor because of him. But if charity is to grow and fructify in the soul like a good seed, each of the faithful must willingly hear the word of God and carry out his will with deeds, with the help of his grace; he must frequently partake of the sacraments, chiefly the Eucharist, and take part in the liturgy; he must constantly apply himself to prayer, self-denial, actively brotherly service and the practice of all virtues.

Let’s break this down.

…the first and most necessary gift [from the Holy Spirit] is charity, by which we love God above all things and our neighbor because of him.

The gift we need for the base for all other gifts is charity. Not simply giving charity to our local non-profit, but being charitable…being kind, compassionate, and caring to both God and to everyone around us. How hard is it sometimes to start with that mindset when we have people around us who see things differently or make us angry or aren’t charitable to us?

But if charity is to grow and fructify in the soul like a good seed, each of the faithful must willingly hear the word of God and carry out his will with deeds,

So, our ability to be charitable doesn’t work as well as it should without faith, without hearing the word of God. Sure, people can be kind, compassionate, and caring, but for us to really be charitable to the extent that God made us to be, we must immerse ourselves in his word and study and learn it. And it isn’t just the hearing of the word and the faith that makes the difference, but it is the act of being charitable, the deed that allows us to carry out his will. (Yes, faith and works!)

with the help of his grace;

Grace is my favorite thing in the whole world. I feel like those people who are so calm and collected and peaceful have so much grace. And since I’m SOO not like that, I long for grace to enter into my life more fully. It helps me to know that God’s grace is there to help me in this call to holiness.

he [the faithful] must frequently partake of the sacraments, chiefly the Eucharist, and take part in the liturgy;

So, a few months ago, the lady in front of me at church was reading her bulletin through the ENTIRE mass. Not just during the collection of gifts when she didn’t want to sing the song, but during the Our Father and the consecration! She was even reading every single ad on the back. Then, she put it in her purse to take home…not sure why since she had already read every word! Anyway, I’m fairly certain that is NOT taking part in the liturgy.

And what does “frequent” mean? W e all know that the Sunday liturgy is required, and if we miss that we should actually go to confession before receiving the Eucharist again (do we all know that??). But, is that “frequent”? Maybe one other attempt during the week to go to Mass could help all of us in this desire for charity, this call to holiness. But what about other sacraments we can partake of “frequently”? How frequently do you go to confession? I know that I’m way overdue for a good unloading of my many sins.

he must constantly apply himself to prayer, self-denial, actively brotherly service and the practice of all virtues.

Raise your hand if you constantly apply yourself to prayer. (In case you can’t see, neither of my hands is raised…) It is such a challenge in the busy-ness of everyday life to find time to pray. I’ve been trying to work it in more, and at times in my life when I have felt more devoted to prayer, I can definitely feel the grace working more in my life. Self-denial, brotherly service, practice of all virtues…man all this seems so hard! Do I really have to do all this to be holy?!

This call to holiness, this requirement to properly use the gift of charity that we receive from the Holy Spirit, is such a demand on our lives. But for what cause? Is it worth it? How much has God given us in our lives? Doesn’t an extra trip to mass or 5 minutes in prayer or a trip to confession after many days, months, or years seem so small in comparison to the life and the world and the love that God has given to us? Only through all of these things can we receive the grace to truly use our gift of charity and answer the call to holiness that God so gently and lovingly offers out to us.