PATHS TO HOLINESS

 

 

 

FIVE PATHS TO HOLINESS

1.      Learn to pray

2.      Learn to dialogue

3.      Be nourished by the word of God.

4.      Give to the poor.

5.      Choose a holy married couple as your guides

Learn to pray

You have to find someone who can help you to pray. Go to the ends of the earth if necessary to find a true school of prayer. Don’t get married if you have not learned how to pray. There are many storms in our lives and only through prayer can we rescue our love in difficult moments.

Learn to dialogue

Even if your love for each other is great it always remains fragile. It is necessary to renew your love every day. If you learn to nourish yourselves with the word of God, you will learn to tell each other the truth and you will lean on God in every trial that is beyond your strength. Your word is a lamp to my path”, says the psalmist and, together with him, every Christian. The word of God has a strength that is similar to that of the Eucharist.

Give to the poor

Go out to the poor, because to love, you need an open heart and the poor help us to make a gift of ourselves. “Carry each other’s burdens” says St. Paul. Do some voluntary work together, grow in charity and practice charity within your own home.

Choose a holy married couple as your guides

Nowadays a priest is not enough. You need the help to saintly couples in whom we can confide and who can be our guides in our daily battles. Look for other families and communities that will stimulate you to a more generous Christian life. Do not live as a lonely couple, find other Christian couples and befriend them. The twenty-first century is not the time for Christians to live in isolation. The couple that lives without the support of others will find it difficult to resist the pressures of the world.

If you chance to meet young people who have made a vow of celibacy, then ensure that you keep contact with them. The example of those who have given their lives to God in an exclusive way can give you strength in difficult moments. Christians everywhere need to see young people who give up the years of their youth to serve Christ in perfect chastity.

Sport and lots of it. Sport is very useful in keeping the body in shape and the spirits high. Don’t be afraid to dream, it is also necessary to have high hopes and dreams, to strive for things that sometimes seem beyond us. If a young couple do not dream of great things during their engagement, then they never will. Couples that belong to groups that help stimulate one’s dreams are especially fortunate, because they are encouraged to engage in helping in poor, in evangelizing, in social action. Remember always that the dreams we have, supported with humble prayers, will sooner or later be granted by God. Couples who dare to dream will run less risk of being trapped in selfish plans for the future. Learn to live in joy and happiness, because real authentic Christianity brings us pure unadulterated and generous joy in which selfishness does not exist. Prepare yourselves to teach your children that to been a Christian is a greatest joy we can have in this life. If you do not pass this fact on to them, you will not be able to bring them up as Christians. Mother Teresa said: “if you want to change the world, smile more often.” This is my final for you and your families.