As I compose this article this week, I think about all the twists and turns it has taken since I began it. It began with thought on the initiative that our Synod of Bishop devised called Vibrant Parishes. It quickly turned into the sharing of my thoughts on how we can know if we are a vibrant parish. Then it morphed into a series of my thoughts about how to know if our parish is vibrant. It is my contention that a parish is vibrant when the whole community and its individual members understand that God is calling us to be holy people. Thus the title, Called to Holiness. I have attempted to share the idea that I   believe, and I think this is also the belief of Eastern Christianity, that personal holiness can only be acquired through personal transformation (i.e., metanoia). That seems to have been Jesus’ major teaching and it was also the teaching of John the Baptizer. Hopefully my readers have gleaned this message from my ramblings.

Personal Transformation encompasses many different things. It means discovering our true selves, that is the persons that God intended when He created us. It involves integrating the attitudes of Jesus into our lives. It means attempting to imitate the behaviors of Jesus. Holiness, in my estimation, means having some sense of the meaning and purpose of life and attempting to change your life, to the best of your ability, to sufficiently make your life like Jesus. It means growing in your likeness of God as manifest in the Person of Jesus.

I believe growing in holiness is a life-long process which we never totally achieve but in which we are totally engaged during this lifetime. If a person is engaged in Theosis, then a person is responding to the call to holiness. Why? Because Theosis is working, with the help of God, to grow in our likeness of Jesus. It means learning how to unconditionally love others, to genuinely forgive others and not to judge others!