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Holiness is a state of the soul which satisfies the plan of God for its Salvation. There are no human standards to qualify the holiness of someone. But we have been given the guides to holiness by Our Lord Himself [Matthew 5:1-12].
He gave the ten commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai, so that people could be sanctified by obedience. However we all have proved to be disobedient and that imprisons our souls in such a way that only the Mercy of God can save us [Romans 11:32].
Jesus Christ the Son of God came into the world to undo the curse placed upon all humanity in the Garden of Eden [Genesis 3:19]. He took upon Himself the punishment due for our sins to make reparation and to save us from eternal damnation, so that we could live forever instead [Galatians 3:13].
We are saved by Grace, not by any works that we can do but rather by what God can do in us if we submit ourselves to His Holy Will [Ephesians 2:8].
To be Holy is to live according to the Plan of God. The First Commandment is the hardest to keep since the Lord requests that we love Him with all our hearts, with all our minds, with all our souls and with all our strength [Deuteronomy 6:5-6].
No one has kept the commandments except Mary the Mother of Jesus. Of course Jesus kept the commandments as man, but He is also God the Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity, the Word of God who became flesh.
Therefore, justification is found only through Faith in the Son of God, who is our Saviour and Lord [Romans 5:1]. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one can come to the Father except through Him [John 14:6]. He is the Gate of Heaven and He is also the Good Shepherd who takes care of His sheep [John 10:9-11].
To be holy we must be as meek as lambs, that is, to accept the commands of our Shepherd [Matthew 10:16].
He came to teach us to be holy through His Word and to give us life through His Blood. He founded His own Church on Peter the Apostle [Matthew 16:18] and He made Him a Shepherd when He asked Him to feed His sheep [John 21:17].
We must be faithful to Peter, the Shepherd after Our Lord, who has commissioned shepherds in all the Pontiffs of the Catholic Church, who at the same time have the power to anoint men as Priests who by the authority of Our Lord celebrate the Holy Mass which is an enactment of the Sacrifice of Jesus in Calvary that provides us with the true Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the food of our souls in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. [1 Corinthians 11:23-29]
We can only become holy when we are clothed with the white robes of Salvation [Apocalypse 3:5] , obtainable only through the purification by the Blood of the Lamb of God who takes the sins of the world [John 1:29]
In order to receive the Precious Blood of Jesus we must be purified by repentance and contrition [Isaiah 66:2], furthermore we must confess our sins as commanded by the Lord:
Jn 20:21-23
21 He said therefore to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also
send you.
22 When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy
Ghost.
23 Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain,
they are retained.
These are not human made commandments but the commandments of Our Lord Jesus Christ. For those who are not Catholics, the way is a little harder because once they receive this Wisdom from God they must do something about it and convert to Catholicism. For Catholics this is also a problem if they do not come to the fountain of life, because it is more sinful to be indifferent to Emmanuel, God with us, Jesus in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, since we know Him, than to avoid Him for lack of knowledge. [Hosea 4:6]
Divine Mercy is the greatest attribute of God. It is the perfection of Love.
God's Mercy is unfathomable and incomprehensible: the more we sin the more we provoke the anger of God and yet the more we are entitled to His Mercy. In Justice He condemns us but in Mercy He saves us. When we offend God, we commit grave sin not so much because we hurt Him, but because we dishonour His dignity. Our transgressions have offended God so much, that no man could pay his debt, so in His Mercy He has sent His only begotten Son to the world , so that by His death on the cross our sins have been forgiven.
Jesus is our Salvation, and He wants us to be merciful as the Heavenly Father is merciful. We must acknowledge the merciful love of Jesus.
Psalm 103:8-14
8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful: longsuffering and
plenteous in mercy.
9 He will not always be angry: nor will he threaten for ever.
10 He hath not dealt with us according to our sins: nor rewarded us according to our
iniquities.
11 For according to the height of the heaven above the earth: he hath strengthened his
mercy towards them that fear him.
12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our iniquities from us.
13 As a father hath compassion on his children, so hath the Lord compassion on them that
fear him:
14 for he knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we are dust:
Psalm 130:3
If thou, O Lord, wilt mark iniquities: Lord, who shall stand it.
Matthew 5:7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Parable of the Prodigal Son [Luke 15:11-32]
11 And he said: A certain man had two sons:
12 And the younger of them said to his father: Father, give me the portion of
substance that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his substance.
13 And not many days after, the younger son, gathering all together, went abroad
into a far country: and there wasted his substance, living riotously.
14 And after he had spent all, there came a mighty famine in that country; and he
began to be in want.
15 And he went and cleaved to one of the citizens of that country. And he sent him
into his farm to feed swine.
16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks the swine did eat; and no
man gave unto him.
17 And returning to himself, he said: How many hired servants in my father's house
abound with bread, and I here perish with hunger?
18 I will arise, and will go to my father, and say to him: Father, I have sinned
against heaven, and before thee:
19 I am not worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
20 And rising up he came to his father. And when he was yet a great way off, his
father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and running to him fell upon his neck, and
kissed him.
21 And the son said to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, I
am not now worthy to be called thy son.
22 And the father said to his servants: Bring forth quickly the first robe, and put
it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and make merry:
24 Because this my son was dead, and is come to life again: was lost, and is found.
And they began to be merry.
25 Now his elder son was in the field, and when he came and drew nigh to the house,
he heard music and dancing:
26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.
27 And he said to him: Thy brother is come, and thy father hath killed the fatted
calf, because he hath received him safe.
28 And he was angry, and would not go in. His father therefore coming out began to
entreat him.
29 And he answering, said to his father: Behold, for so many years do I serve thee,
and I have never transgressed thy commandment, and yet thou hast never given me a kid to
make merry with my friends:
30 But as soon as this thy son is come, who hath devoured his substance with
harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
31 But he said to him: Son, thou art always with me, and all I have is thine.
32 But it was fit that we should make merry and be glad, for this thy brother was
dead and is come to life again; he was lost, and is found.
When we pray for God's Mercy, His Merciful Love flows to the world. We are living in the times of the great Mercy of God as revealed to Sister Maria Faustina Kowalska from Poland.
Meditated prayers on Divine Mercy >>>
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