Gaudete et Exsultate
On the Call to Holiness in Today’s World
Gaudete et Exsultate
On the Call to Holiness in Today’s World
Apostolic Exhortation
Pope Francis
Our
Sunday
Visitor
Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division
Our Sunday Visitor, Inc.
Huntington, Indiana 46750
Copyright © 2018 Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Vatican City
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ISBN: 978-1-68192-329-1 (Inventory No. T1999)
eISBN: 978-1-68192-330-7
LCCN: 2018940689
Cover design: Tyler Ottinger
Cover art: Restored Traditions
Interior design: Amanda Falk
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Contents
•••
•••
Two Subtle Enemies of Holiness
•••
Going Against the Flow
The Great Criterion
Signs of Holiness in Today’s World
Perseverance, Patience and Meekness
Joy and a Sense of Humor
Boldness and Passion
In Community
In Constant Prayer
•••
Spiritual Combat, Vigilance and Discernment
Combat and Vigilance
Discernment
•••
1. “Rejoice and be glad” (Mt 5:12), Jesus tells those persecuted or humiliated for his sake. The Lord asks everything of us, and in return he offers us true life, the happiness for which we were created. He wants us to be saints and not to settle for a bland and mediocre existence. The call to holiness is present in various ways from the very first pages of the Bible. We see it expressed in the Lord’s words to Abraham: “Walk before me, and be blameless” (Gen 17:1).
2. What follows is not meant to be a treatise on holiness, containing definitions and distinctions helpful for understanding this important subject, or a discussion of the various means of sanctification. My modest goal is to re-propose the call to holiness in a practical way for our own time, with all its risks, challenges and opportunities. For the Lord has chosen each one of us “to be holy and blameless before him in love” (Eph 1:4).
Chapter One
• • •
The Call to Holiness
The saints who encourage and accompany us
3. The Letter to the Hebrews presents a number of testimonies that encourage us to “run with perseverance the race that is set before us” (12:1). It speaks of Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Gideon and others (cf. 11:1—12:3). Above all, it invites us to realize that “a great cloud of witnesses” (12:1) impels us to advance constantly towards the goal. These witnesses may include our own mothers, grandmothers or other loved ones (cf. 2 Tim 1:5). Their lives may not always have been perfect, yet even amid their faults and failings they kept moving forward and proved pleasing to the Lord.
4. The saints now in God’s presence preserve their bonds of love and communion with us. The Book of Revelation attests to this when it speaks of the intercession of the martyrs: “I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne; they cried out with a loud voice, ‘O sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long will it be before you judge?’” (6:9–10). Each of us can say: “Surrounded, led and guided by the friends of God … I do not have to carry alone what, in truth, I could never carry alone. All the saints of God are there to protect