Inspiring Holiness

[TeresaBenedicta]

I'm the keynote speaker for my parish retreat next weekend. The questions I have been given to sort of "guide" my talk are these: What do you want for the parishioners at St. Rita's? What do you see that is missing, and how could things improve if all that was in place?

Unfortunately most of the retreat is pretty pathetic-- it's less of a retreat as it is a 'workshop' and it's all based off of this "Growing an Engaged Church" movement that I have major problems with. I call it a "Let's get together and feel good about ourselves and come up with better ideas than the Gospel to build [i]community[/i]" workshop. (Sorry, I'm frustrated. )

Much of what I want to talk about however is continued conversion, the call to holiness, and growing in love of Jesus.

What I'm looking for are some good quotes on the call to holiness. Preferably from JPII, but anything helps. I'm trying to find a theme quote, if you will.

Thanks!

[tinytherese]

I don't know if this will help or not, but maybe this will inspire you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGtvXXn2O6k

[Chamomile]

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[font="arial, sans-serif"][size="2"]I like this:[/size][/font]
[font="arial, sans-serif"] [/font][/size][/font][quote][font="arial, sans-serif"][size="2"]"Sanctify yourself and you will sanctify society."[/size][/font]
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[font="arial, sans-serif"][size="2"]~ St. Francis of Assisi[/size][/font][/quote]
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And that way it actually makes one responsible for growing in holiness before getting involved - [i]being before doing[/i] - Catholics sometimes seem to get this very important concept backwards.

[Cherie]

[quote name='Chamomile' timestamp='1304256060' post='2235297']
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"Sanctify yourself and you will sanctify society."

~ St. Francis of Assisi[/quote]

Love it, love it, love it. This is a great one!

Here's two more:

"Holiness grows so fast where there is kindness. The world is lost for want of sweetness and kindness. Do not forget we need each other." - Mother Teresa

"True holiness does not mean a flight from the world; rather, it lies in the effort to incarnate the Gospel in everyday life, in the family, at school and at work, and in social and political involvement." -- Bd. Pope John Paul II (aah it feels so great to write that!!)

[tinytherese]

"Holiness is a disposition of the heart that makes us humble and little in the arms of God, aware of our weakness, and confident -- in the most audacious way -- in His Fatherly goodness." St. Therese

[Rebecca2009]

[quote name='tinytherese' timestamp='1304321914' post='2235692']
"Holiness is a disposition of the heart that makes us humble and little in the arms of God, aware of our weakness, and confident -- in the most audacious way -- in His Fatherly goodness." St. Therese
[/quote]

That is beautiful.

[Guest BeGoodBeHolyLovetheLord]

"Good gold and diamonds lie far down in the depths of the earth, not within everyone’s reach.

Your task of holiness — your holiness and that of others — depends on your fervour, your cheerfulness, your everyday, obscure, normal, ordinary work."



"Holiness is attained with the help of the Holy Spirit, who comes to dwell in our souls, through grace given us by the sacraments and as a result of a constant ascetical struggle.

My son, let us not have any false illusions about this. You and I — I will never tire of repeating it — will always have to struggle, always, until the end of our lives. So we will come to love peace, and we will spread peace around us, and we will receive our everlasting reward."



"If God’s Love has chosen you out and called you to follow him, you have a duty to respond to him... and it is also your duty, an equally serious duty, to lead and to contribute to the holiness and good progress of other men, your brothers."



"Being chosen by God means, — and demand[i]s[/i]! [i]—[/i], personal holiness."



"It would not be worth giving oneself unless it were to build up a great work which is very much for God — your own holiness.

That is why the Church, when canonising saints, proclaims the heroism of their lives."

"Professional work — and working in the home is also a first-class profession — is a witness to the worth of the human creature; a chance to develop one’s own personality; a bond of union with others; a fund of resources; a way of helping in the improvement of the society we live in, and of promoting the progress of the whole human race...

—For a Christian, these grand views become even deeper and wider. Because work, which Christ took up as something both redeemed and redeeming, becomes a means, a way of holiness, a specific task which sanctifies and can be sanctified."

~Josemaria Escriva <3

[url="http://www.escrivaworks.org/book/the_way-chapter-17.htm"]http://www.escrivaworks.org/book/the_way-chapter-17.htm[/url]