One of the topics in health especially for the elderly is quality of life. If you=ve been at any of the institutions for the elderly you wonder whether it=s really worth the effort of medicine to keep the elderly alive because their life is far from any kind of real quality.

        We ought to apply the same concept with our life. What is the quality of life manifestation for the Christian? If we take John Paul=s letter for the Third Millennium he says it=s holiness. By holiness he doesn=t mean the effort on our part simply to overcome sin but he doesn=t neglect that either. He means that from our identity, that is, as a people of God, that we are aware we have been gathered together in the very unity of the Trinity. We=re bonded with the three Persons of the Trinity. Because of that the holiness that is God flows into us. That particular gift, grace, is also task.

        It=s interesting that the Pope says: ASome people may think that this is abstract,@ kind of far-fetched, not concrete enough. But he says: Athe choice to focus on holiness has many, many consequences.@ One of the first ones surly is the mystery that we are incorporated into Jesus and that the Holy Spirit indwells us. No one of us can really allow ourselves to live a mediocre life because we already are embodied in Jesus. We are already the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. If we don=t move toward holiness we are really resisting the action of these two persons. And, of course, also the Father. On the other hand we have reason for tremendous hope that we will possess the victory.

        The Pope has made this clear to the whole church by raising up saints so that we can=t think of sanctity as something unique to only certain people. He has raised up all kinds of people. Young, old, men and women, religious, non-religious, etc. So the ordinary Christian life is rather extraordinary. It=s the universal call to holiness with tremendous equipment to make it happen.

        One of the first things I think we need to take out time and reflect on and open our hearts to is this - each one of us here knows that God=s charity is infinite, that means, that there=s an infinite passion of love for us. It=s a passion of God for us. Why? Because we=re made in the image and likeness of God. And God pursues us. We need to take out time to let it in, that this is real. That our daily life, our journey is not something that is just happening, it=s being guided, it=s being pushed, it=s being transformed, when we allow it, to fulfill the mission.

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