Sanctification should be our main business

THERE should be no doubt about this. No ifs or buts.Sanctification is and should be our main business in this life, ourconstant concern all throughout. And that’s simply because at the endof the day, at the end of our life, that is what truly matters.Everything else is meant only as a means, an occasion or a reason forpursuing this ultimate goal of ours.

St. Paul said it clearly: “This is the will of God, yoursanctification.” (1 Thes 4,3) St. Peter echoed the same sentiment:“Just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, for itis written, ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’” (1 Pt 1,15-16)

Christ, of course, repeatedly told us about this. “Beperfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt 5,48) And this idealcan be attained, not only after our death, but even now, as we cruisethrough this vale of tears of ours, because Christ does it with us andfor us.          Christ has given us all the means. In fact, he has given ushis very own self, because we can only be truly holy when we becomeentirely “alter Christus” (another Christ), if not “ipse Christus”(Christ himself).          We have to realize that all the situations of our life hereon earth, including those that involve our miseries, failures and sin,can be and should be a means and occasion for sanctification if theyare referred to Christ. And that’s because Christ precisely would showus how to convert everything into a means of our sanctification.

We need to make this truth of our faith sink deep in ourconsciousness, so that however our life turns, we still would be ontrack toward our ultimate goal, and avoid getting unduly entangled andstranded in the drama of our life here on earth.

Right at the start of the day, we should already be clearabout what our main business and concern is. And from there, let’sstart to make the appropriate plans and strategies, so that all theevents of the day, the ups and downs, would work for this purpose.

To be sure, this kind of understanding of the purpose of ourlife would not take us away from our earthly responsibilities. On thecontrary, it would sharpen and purify our interest in them, knowingthat these duties and responsibilities are precisely the fulfillmentof our duty to attain our ultimate goal.

Especially these days when we see a drifting away from thismain concern of our life in the world of business and politics and inpractically all the other aspects of temporal affairs, we need tostrongly and abidingly inculcate this understanding of the realbusiness of our life in everyone. Let’s hope that we can count on agood number of persons who can spearhead this delicate task and beeffective endorsers of this cause.

Let’s remember that it was the original mandate God gave toour first parents to “subdue or dominate the world.” (cfr. Gen 1,28)And that means that we have to sanctify the world, and in so doing, wealso sanctify ourselves and others. We should not be afraid of theworld. Rather we need to conquer the world for God!

Let’s hope that at the end of each day, we can truly saythat we have been doing nothing other than sanctifying ourselves bysanctifying the things of the world.