Holiness is not just a good idea or an optional extra. God commands each of us to be holy because He is holy (see Lv 11:44-45, 19:2, 20:7, 20:26). To be in union with Him, something must change in us. When Moses asks to see the Lord, God responds that “man shall not see me and live” (Ex 33:20). If we receive God in our current human condition, we might die. Jesus is the one who gives us the hope of one day seeing God’s face and living forever.

The New Testament also calls us to holiness: “As he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct” (1 Pt 1:15). Holiness is our whole lives: eating, drinking, sleeping, and marrying. St. Augustine told the Lord, “Command what you will, and give what you command.” The Lord would not command us to be holy in all we do unless He was prepared to take our hand and walk with us on the journey through healing, conversion, and growth—the process of gaining the same heart that God Himself has.

If we want to be with God, we must be like Him. We must be in harmony with Him and have both our soul and body transformed, even if it only happens imperfectly here on earth. We need our bodies to be put together again in a new way in the resurrection, so we can handle the glory of God and participate in risen life. It’s a very precious gift.

The Lord says, “Don’t cast your pearl before swine” (Mt 7:6), but sometimes we are like those swine. Sometimes we forget what a tremendous treasure and unfathomable gift Jesus is. Let’s not be swine; let’s be sheep. We want the Lord to say to us, “Enter into the joy of your master” (Mt 25:23). Receiving Holy Communion and staying close to the Lord in other ways can help us become—little by little, in some mysterious, amazing way—worthy of the pearl and transformed by it.

Priests and parishes must be devoted to patiently and consistently helping lay people grow in their understanding of what it means to be a Catholic. It’s not just customs, culture, piety, or going to Mass on Sunday. It’s about becoming somebody totally surrendered to Jesus Christ, with a life open to his guidance and the gifts He wants to give to strengthen the Church.

Baptism contains the call to holiness and mission. It sets before us the radical nature of the Sermon on the Mount to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect (Mt 5:48). The Lord wants to lead us to the point where we’re wholly possessed by the Divine Beloved and guided by the Holy Spirit (see Rom 8). We must always be attentive and in conversation with the Lord, looking for wisdom and insight from Him that can help other people we encounter throughout our days. The Father wants us to rest within his heart with confidence and security, knowing we’re not orphans. This is a tremendous source of stability and peace for our lives.

We are now the sons and daughters of God, but the fullness of what we will become at the resurrection of the dead has not yet been fully disclosed to us. When that happens, we will know and love as we are known and loved. To be with God, we must undertake the process of purification on earth. Some doctors of the church have revealed to us four principles about how to progress on the spiritual journey toward the beatific union:

1. 1. The spiritual journey depends completely on God’s grace. We can’t make ourselves holy. I find that great news, because I’ve tried to make myself holy, and I’m only making limited progress. As I learn to trust the Lord more and more, and to ask Him for the grace I need to take the next steps, He helps me.
   2. The spiritual journey is totally dependent on God’s grace, but our effort is also necessary. We must put our loaves and fishes—our own effort—in the game.
   3. There are painful dimensions to the process of purification. St. John of the Cross speaks about dark nights, which are times when you can’t see what’s going on and you aren’t experiencing consolation. At these times, you wonder where God is. There are painful purifications because sin wounds us all. It causes us to turn into ourselves and to become fearful, angry, suspicious, hurt, numb, and untrusting. It causes us to give in to our selfish desires and think that we must look out for Number One—that nobody’s going to care for us if we don’t care for ourselves. In these moments, we act as though we don’t know the Father’s love.
   4. It’s possible to reach a habitual union with God that brings about tremendous spiritual fruitfulness. The most useful thing we can do for ourselves or anybody we care about is to make progress in the spiritual life and draw closer to the Lord. As we draw closer to the Lord, we become more capable of understanding our mission and seeing what people need. We become more capable of receiving wisdom that comes from God, as well as other virtues.

The universal call to holiness recaptures the biblical reality of what it means to become a disciple of Jesus. Everyone is meant to be a part of it. Many Catholic lay people can feel like the call to holiness is far beyond their reach—but that misses the point. This journey originates in God. It’s his plan and purpose, and He will provide for everything. We simply need to say, “Save me, Lord. Make me holy.” That is God’s desire. He knows our weaknesses. We must believe in his purposes for us.

Each of us has been given spiritual gifts to build up the body of Christ. For most baptized Catholics, these gifts lie dormant their whole life. The Church isn’t functioning as fruitfully, dynamically, and powerfully as it could because many of the baptized are not fully engaging the call to holiness and radical union with God, which is where fruitfulness comes from. We are each given a mission and have gifts the Lord wants us to contribute to build up the body.

We must share our fears with the Lord and keep cooperating with Him every day. This will make a profound difference in people’s lives and in the life of the Church. Start by praying, “Lord, I want to love You more, but I don’t feel like I have it in me. Help me love you more.” Over time, we will see that prayer answered.

This article originally appeared in Renewal Ministries’ May newsletter. It is condensed from a talk Ralph gave in Uganda that was shared on The Choices We Face.