Session 1 Summary

9/12/2020

Introduction to the Three Paths of Holiness

All of us are called to be holy. Leon Bloy, a French spiritual writer from the last century, wrote, “The only one real sadness in life is not to be a saint.” Not to find God’s will for your lives and do it, that is the real sadness of life.

But, how do we achieve holiness? The first step is simply to “will it” or “desire it,” said Thomas Aquinas. [Of course, most of us lack even this simple first step :-) ] Beyond that. Bishop Barron’s program, “Untold Blessing: The Three Paths to Holiness,” provides a guide based on the Catholic Tradition and the teaching of the Church Fathers. 

The Greek Fathers of the Church – Origen, Gregory of Nissa, Basil the Great – taught that the entire purpose of the Christian life was to make us not just better people (or good Catholic people), but to make us divine.  

Bishop Barron breaks down the journey to holiness into three paths:

1. Finding The Center: the saints’ lives are centered unambiguously on Jesus Christ. “Saints are God’s friends,” wrote Aquinas. More than just God’s worshipper, they have real intimate relationship with God. They put their relationship with God at the center of their lives.
2. Next, to be a saint means Knowing You Are A Sinner in need of Christ’s healing.
3. Finally, to be a saint means to realize that Your Life Is Not About You. Rather, it is about God’s purposes and His mission for you. 

 

Finding the Center – Part 1

On the Harmonious Soul Centered on Christ

Father Barron uses the image of the rose window to illustrate of a well-ordered soul. (His favorite one is the north rose window of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris). A rose window is a great wheel of colors and light, and at its center typically is the depiction of Christ. All the wheels, medallions, and pictures are harmoniously connected to the center.


North rose window at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris (© 2018 Deb Nystrom).

Similarly, when Christ is unambiguously at the center of our lives, all aspects of our lives tend to fall into harmony around that center, and your soul becomes beautiful. As Matthew 6:33 said: “ Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.” 

Conversely, when something other than Christ is at the center of our lives (money, pleasure, the goods of the world, etc.), our soul becomes a cacophony (disharmonious sounds).

On the Beautiful and Radiant Soul

“Beauty occurs at the intersection of three things,” said Aquinas. “Wholeness, beauty, and radiance.”
 

• Wholeness (integritas): The beautiful soul is one. Kirkegaard said, “Saints are people whose lives are about one thing.” Their lives are centered. Everything in them relates to this great center. Do our minds, our will, and our passion belong to Christ and serve His purposes? Is Christ the undisputed lord of our lives, or is He only one among the many lords? 

• Beauty (consonancia) occurs in symphony and harmony – just like in the rose window. But in us sinners, our mind goes one way, and our will goes the other way. Our soul wants one thing, but our body wants an opposite thing. 
• Radiance (claritas): Artistically, holiness is always associated with light (think of halo). There is something radiant about the beautiful soul. It is attractive to others. When our lives are centered on Christ, we become compelling to the people around us.

 

Unum Necessarium

The demonic power is the power that divides us. “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?,” said the possessed man in Luke 6. He was one person, but he spoke in plural. It is the voice of someone without integrity. It is a soul has lost its anchor and would easily follow this and that idea.

The story of Martha and Mary (Luke 10) is another illustration. Martha was anxious about many things, while Mary had chosen the one thing necessary (unum necessarium). If Martha were to sit next to Jesus, she would probably have been still not anxious and not focused. And if Mary were to do the hospitality work, she would have been still calm and focused – because she was centered on unum necessarium.

As we go through the storms in life, we have access to the same power that the saints rely on; the power that transcends space and time and is beyond all the vagaries of life. It is the Christ within us. St. Teresa of Avila called it an “interior castle,” an inner place of safety and power. Alas, most of us have lost the key to that castle.


So, how do we recover the key to that “interior castle,” the place that is stronger than anything that the world can throw at us? That would be discussed in Finding The Center – part 2. So don’t miss the next ICC Men on Saturday, 11/7/2020 :-)

May we all grow in holiness!