Maintaining holiness in a secular world

Without question, I am a borrower. I listen to radio broadcasts, read articles and editorials, and consume information from books. Twenty-five years ago, I came across a booklet in which one sentence has captivated me for a quarter century. The sentence read: “Rather than saying the Church has a mission, it would be appropriate to say that Jesus’ mission has a Church, for the mission of the Church is to carry on the mission of Jesus” (“Teaching Ecclesiology,” 1993).

How often do we confuse this simple, yet pivotal-to-our-faith statement?

In borrowing from great people who have spent time contemplating deep, compelling thoughts and mysteries, I have found life presents me with many options and choices, not all equal. At the center of all this reading and pondering, it is clear that every one of these authors, scholars and philosophers is encouraging me to choose the holy life and to maintain the holiness required of us as Christians in an increasingly secular world.

I heard a speaker on Relevant Radio this spring describe holiness as being different from the culture. To be holy, the speaker explained, is to be different in ways that set us apart from the culture, which has been true of Christians from the beginning.

This is no small challenge to people who consume copious amounts of social media at a constant pace, so much so that we may wonder if we do our own thinking or if our newsfeeds do our thinking for us. Jesus did not call us to be complacent and follow the crowd. That is not what he did, and as his disciples, we are called to imitate his actions, not the commands and demands of an ever-insistent culture.

This is much like a bee that has been smoked, or a frog that has fallen into tepid water. The smoke interferes with the bee’s sense of smell and it cannot detect danger. A frog will go to sleep in tepid water, when it would have jumped out of a boiling pot.

Paul Pedersen, a sociologist and psychological researcher of the past century, contends that culture is like time: Human beings will never live outside of either of these. So, what will it be for us, the followers of Jesus? Will we work to understand his mission and do all we can to fulfill it in our own lives, with the gifts we have been given? Or will we capitulate to the cultural demands and surrender our greatest asset: our spiritual and moral freedom to live according to our conscience?

What can you do this summer to challenge our culture and live according to your Catholic Christian values? Will you learn more about Jesus’ mission and do seemingly small things each day to align your life with his ideals? Will you help your family articulate one small change in your life and faithfully see it through, in spite of pressure to abandon it in favor of the dominant cultural values that encourage us to take our eyes off of Jesus?

Spend time this summer and talk about how you will live out your faith as a family, and then do all you can to create action strategies to help each family member become a living example of your stated family mission. Become a family that maintains holiness in an increasingly secular culture.

Soucheray is a licensed marriage and family therapist and a member of Guardian Angels in Oakdale. She holds a master’s degree in theology from The St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity in St. Paul and a doctorate in educational leadership from St. Mary’s University of Minnesota.