Cover Story

(Bishop Joseph Charron is a member of the Kansas City Province of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood. Ordained a priest in 1967, he was a professor of moral theology for many years, with a specialty in medical ethics. He also served as provincial director of the Kansas City Province. Ordained a bishop in 1990, he ministered in the Twin Cities then led the diocese of Des Moines until health issues forced his retirement in 2007. He continues to lead people to Christ through his retreats, presentations and spiritual direction. This is an excerpt of a presentation he gave to the Companions, or lay associates, of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood this fall.)

Our Call to Holiness
Growing Closer to God Every Day

By Bishop Joseph Charron, C.PP.S.

All of God’s people are called to be holy. I like to recall the story of the barren fig tree from the Gospel of Luke. When the tree didn’t produce for three years, its owner said, “Let’s just cut it down, it’s useless.” But the gardener’s reply was, “Let’s give it another chance. Let’s see if we can bring it back to life.”

Many times in our life—especially in our spiritual life—we feel like that barren fig tree. But I believe that even if we start to give up on ourselves, the Lord never gives up on us. Like the fig tree that sprouts new life, we are always invited to greater holiness.

We need to allow ourselves to be made perfect by God. As we remember and renew our call to holiness, first and foremost we must remember that God is at work in us. If we allow that work to be fruitful, it will be fruitful.

As Paul wrote to the Church in Ephesus, “live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love . . . And he gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers, to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Eph 4: 1-2, 11–12).

And so we pray, “Father of all gifts and calls, help us to grow in your love toward the perfection you desire for us. Stir up in our hearts the fire of the desire of your presence for us. Thus may we whom you have chosen grow ever closer to you.”

Obstacles on the Path to Holiness

Throughout our lives we struggle to follow this call to holiness that God has placed in each of us. We all have periods of spiritual dryness. We all have ups and downs in our relationships. We all have failures in our lives. Dealing with failure is not the problem. The only failure in life that is devastating is the failure to be a saint, to fail to answer God’s call to live in his light.

There are obstacles in the path. One obstacle is a negative self-image. Maybe we do this subconsciously to get off the hook a little bit. If we can convince ourselves that we are not good enough, then we don’t have to work so hard to live up to God’s promise. We’ve all heard people joke about going up to heaven and finding a different route inside. We might hear someone say, “I hope that St. Peter leaves the back door open so that I can sneak in.” If we’re talking about a merciful God, that is a positive image. But if we’re talking about who I am, my worthiness to claim my place near God, that’s a very bad image. Every one of us was created in the image and likeness of God. Every one of us is redeemed in the Precious Blood of Christ, and we have a dignity that calls us to meet God face to face in the front door of heaven.

That’s the dignity and the call that is placed within us. That is who we are. In God’s sight, we are children of God and every one of us is called to live that out in dignity.

Another obstacle I see is a comfort with being lukewarm in our faith and our beliefs. We might say, “I don’t want to be holier than thou. I don’t want to come off as a hypocrite.” We go to the sacrament of reconciliation year after year, confessing the same things, and we can’t understand why we don’t make more progress.

Remember what is written in the Book of Revelations: “Would that you were hot or cold. But because you are lukewarm I vomit you out of my mouth” (Rev 3:15–16). When we are lukewarm, we are too comfortable in where we are. It keeps us from taking another step and another step. Believe me, it is a lifelong call to come and live in the presence of God.

A third obstacle is when we say, “I’m going to live out my call to be holy, but I’m going to do it my way.” We somehow want to make ourselves holy, but it is God who calls us into holiness. Certainly we can understand the human impulse to want to be in control. It’s a frightful thing to place ourselves in the hands of the living God, to allow the Spirit to direct us in ways that perhaps we never thought we would go, and trust that the Spirit would lead us in ways that will bring us to holiness. But we can’t do it ourselves.

And finally, the most difficult obstacle: “Yes, bishop, I am going to be holy, but I am going to do it later.”

I have used this one myself. I’ve said I will work on being holy when I’m not so busy doing confirmations. I am going to be holy when I have a better place, or when I have more time. But I say to you, the time to be holy is now. If today you hear the voice of God, harden not your hearts.

Real life is right now. This is not a dress rehearsal. God gives us many, many chances but if we do not respond now there is a good chance that we will put it off and put it off until it is too late. Author John Burroughs once said, “The lure of the distant and difficult is deceptive. The great opportunity is where you are.”

Live this day with its joys and sorrows, its opportunities and disappointments. This day, try to remember sometime recently when you had a wonderful, wonderful experience with God.

Think of that time when God was very present to us. Stir up that desire.

It Is God Who Calls

It is God who calls us to be holy. God initiates the call and God continues the call. First let’s think about the story of Samuel (Samuel 3: 1–18). Samuel’s mother places him in the presence of the holy man, Eli. While living with Eli, Samuel hears his name being called in the middle of the night. He goes to Eli and asks, “Did you call me?” Eli says he did not.

This happens three times, and because Eli is a holy man, he recognizes that God is at work. He tells Samuel, “The next time you hear your name being called, say, ‘Here I am, Lord.’” The boy received the Word of God that would take him through his life as a judge and guide him, through God, to anoint David. How tremendously God brought this young boy into his work.

We see it too in the story of Andrew and his brother, Simon. Andrew met Jesus and was very taken with him, so Andrew did a wonderful thing: he brought his brother Simon to meet Jesus. Jesus meets Simon, changes his name, and changes the course of our world.

So we see that often, another is involved in the call. Eli interprets the call for Samuel. Andrew brings Simon into the presence of Jesus. How many times in our lives do we not call one another to holiness? Husbands and wives, family and friends, we call each other to holiness. How important it is that we have spiritual guides in our lives. How many times are we surprised when someone else tells us what gifts we have that we do not see? As bishop I was inspired many times by the people around me. The people I was leading were ministering to me. I believe that is true in all our lives.

Secondly, we must recognize that God’s call is by name. It’s not, hey you out there. It’s Samuel. It’s Simon. It’s Mary, it’s Joe, it’s all of us who are called by name. God has a purpose for every one of us. Our call to holiness is a personal invitation. It’s not a sign on a bulletin board. It’s a handwritten invitation that arrives in the mail that says “I want you to be holy.”

To Be Open to God

It’s so important that we remove the obstacles that keep us from responding to the gift within us. How important it is that we open ourselves up to experience God! The experience of God, like love, cannot be vicariously received. I can’t experience God for you. Someone else can’t talk to us about love and that would be love for us. We have to have love in our lives.

It’s the same with God. Each of us must find those moments to experience God. It’s not enough to talk about God, read about God. You must have God in your life. God is in the sacraments we celebrate, in the Word we hear. God is present in our assemblies. Our invitation is to find that experience of God.

Remember the story of the prophet Elijah, who found God present not in the wind, not in the earthquake or in the fire, but in the small whispering sound. The poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning captures this so well: “Earth is crammed with heaven. And every common bush afire with God. But only he who sees takes off his shoes.” Probably most of us will not experience God in earthshaking ways, although some of us, perhaps, will have powerful, strong experiences. But if we are attentive, every day in some quiet gentle way God will be present to us. If we listen, we will truly be changed in a very deep way.

St. Augustine carried on a lifelong search for God. He once said, “How late have I loved thee. You were inside and I was searching outside.” As with St. Augustine, God searches for us far more than we search for him.

Putting all our excuses aside, we are called to be holy. It is a lifelong process, a lifelong journey. In your journey I pray for you as St. Paul prayed for the Thessalonians: “May god himself who is our father make our path a straight one, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another as for all, and may God strengthen your hearts, making them holy.”