Holiness: Not one size fits all

Thursday, February 8th, 2018

Have you ever noticed that things marked “one size fits all” rarely do?

“One size fits all” is simply not the way humanity works.

We’re all quite different, whether it’s the length of our arms and the girth of our waists or the extravertedness of our temperament and the sensitivity of our emotions.

We will all follow different paths, while living different vocations, to the same goal: holiness.

Thankfully, we have plenty of indications that this goal is possible despite our differences.

When the Church canonizes someone, She is reminding us that our vocation to holiness is within reach for us, thanks to the grace of God.

In all my conversations and experiences, even around the so-called Bible Belt, I don’t often run across non-Catholics who really have a problem with the saints.

They may have concerns about praying to them, but those concerns are usually answered when they see that prayer does not equal worship.

Over all, everyone can relate to the importance of honoring those who have gone before us.

We do it in secular society, when we hold up heroes who have championed causes close to our hearts.

In November last year, the Church held up Father Solanus Casey as a reminder to all of us that holiness is possible.

He is the second American priest to be beatified in 2017, following the beatification of Father Stanley Rother in September.

When you look at the lives of Father Solanus and Father Rother, you see that when it comes to holiness, we don’t believe one size fits all.

These two men may have lived the same vocation—priesthood—but that path took them in very different directions. Continue reading

Joan Watson was born and raised in Lafayette, Indiana, but college and graduate school took her to Virginia, Ohio, and Rome. After graduating from Christendom College with a B.A. in History and Franciscan University with a M.A. in Theology, she moved to Nashville, Tennessee to be part of the explosion of Catholic culture in the middle of the Bible Belt.