The Church is Holy.Some persons understand this to mean that individual church members are virtuous -- that you can tell which group most truly embodies the church by noting which group has the fewest members who are or ought to be in trouble with the police. This understanding implies that holiness is something that we confer upon the Church -- that by working hard to improve our own personal scores on the Virtue chart we boost the team average.
But the older idea is that Holiness is something that the Church confers upon us -- that Our Lord Jesus Christ is Holy, and that He has called us to holiness in Him, and that He brings us into fellowship with Him through the community of believers, by the Sacraments, by the preaching of the Gospel message, by the mutual love and fellowship of the community, by experience of praying and being prayed for, of learning and teaching, of forgiving and being forgiven.
We ought therefore to ask ourselves:
- Am I opening myself to God's grace as He makes it available to me through the Chrisian community?
- Instead of concentrating on my dissatisfaction with those persons in the Church who appear to be unsatisfactory channels of grace, am I looking for, and taking advantage of, whatever spiritual nourishment is available?
- Am I, in my turn, being open to being used by God as a channel of grace to others?
- Am I making it easier for them to grow in Christian faith and love?
- Am I ready to forgive, and ready fo seek forgiveness of others?
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