I posted this just last year, but I think it needs to be repeated. During my annual retreat this year, the priest leading it reflected that all of the crises in the world today – sexual immorality, attacks on human life, etc… – are a crisis of sanctity. Of people living for themselves and not God, even choosing darkness when presented with the light. And so I think that it’s important for those of us who really want to help change the world to keep in mind our own personal call to holiness and make sure we make time to cultivate that relationship with Christ which is what makes us holy. As I say below, it is easy to get so swept up into activism that we forget this vital element of the apostolate.

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Sanctity, Prayer and Activism (originally posted 11/1/09)

The Solemnity of All Saints is a day to remember all those souls who lived lives of holiness and are now enjoying the Beatific Vision in heaven – whether they’re recognized by the Church or not. But it’s also a good day to reflect on the universal call to holiness – the call of each one of us to strive for sanctity in our own lives.

Because of some problems I’ve been having recently balancing time spent in prayer and time focused on the pro-life work that I (try to) do, my spiritual director had to again remind me that “without regular time for prayer you risk becoming ‘just an activist’ – we should want to be saints first.”

It is easy to get so swept up into activism (esp. when the stakes are so high!) that the time we spend concentrating on our own interior life can begin to deteriorate. But, if evangelization is our goal, as it should be, the only way to achieve real, lasting change is by taking our own conversion seriously first. When we seek first for ourselves the interior peace of the Gospels then we can more effectively communicate that peace to others.

[O]nly this peace of heart truly liberates us from ourselves, increases our sensitivity to others and renders us available to our fellow man…Acquiring and maintaining interior peace, which is impossible without prayer, should consequently be considered a priority for everybody, above all for those who claim to want to do good for their neighbor. Otherwise, more often than not they would simply be communicating their own restlessness and distress. (Fr. Jaques Philippe, Searching for and Maintaining Peace, p. 7, 8 )

This doesn’t mean we have to wait until we are totally purified to raise our voices in defense of the truth, but we must be careful not to let our activism draw us away from a life of prayer and peace in our own hearts. Even the greatest saints who performed the greatest acts of charity and had the greatest influence in their time were only able to do so by the grace of God because they had a firm commitment to their own personal sanctity, which was cultivated by regular time spent alone in conversation and love with the Almighty.

“Acquire interior peace and a multitude will find its salvation through you” -St. Seraphim of Sarov