Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord (Hebrew 12:14). We are called to strive for peace and holiness, and without holiness, we will not see God, which means, without holiness, we cannot enter heaven or be with God for eternity.

As St Newman, in his sermons, vol. I: Holiness Necessary for Future Blessedness, has stated that someone may ask, “Why is it that holiness is a necessary qualification for our being received into heaven? Why is it that the Bible enjoins upon us so strictly to love, fear, and obey God, to be just, honest, meek, pure in heart, forgiving, heavenly-minded, self-denying, humble, and submissive? St Newman, in his sermon, goes on to explain that we seek and arrive at a place where our heart is set and prepared. For instance, a person wanting to enter into an engineering profession would go to an engineering college, study engineering, be qualified to be an engineer, and then enter the engineering profession. Similarly, it is for any other stream, such as medicine or teaching or agriculture. In this world, our minds and our hearts seek for things that we desire, such as earning a living, entertaining, socialising, and so on. We pursue and achieve what we want. Likewise, to enter heaven we must receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, we must learn and train for things that make us eligible for heaven, which is our sanctification. Holiness is mandatory to attain heaven. For this is the will of God, your sanctification (1 Thessalonians 4:3a).

In this world, everything is passing, and whatever we purse in this temporal life, is also passing. Therefore, the church encourages us to pursue eternal things. St Pope Paul VI, in the dogmatic constitution of the church, Lumen Gentium, devoted chapter V to the Universal Call to Holiness in the Church. The Lord Jesus, the divine Teacher and Model of all perfection, preached holiness of life to each and every one of His disciples of every condition. He, Himself, stands as the Author and Consummator of this holiness of life. He sent the Holy Spirit upon all men, that He might move them inwardly to love God with their whole heart and their whole soul, with all their mind and all their strength, and that they might love each other as Christ loves them. The followers of Christ are called by God, not because of their works, but according to His own purpose and grace. They are justified in the Lord Jesus, because in the baptism of faith they truly become sons of God and sharers in the divine nature. In this way they are really made holy. Then too, by God’s gift, they must hold on to and complete in their lives this holiness they have received. They are warned by the Apostle to live as saints, and to put on “as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, patience”, and to possess the fruit of the Spirit in holiness (Lumen Gentium, n. 40).

Some pursue the things of this world, others pursue the things of God, while there are others that aim to pursue both. Jesus clearly warns us, stating, we cannot pursue both God and the things of this world, we can only pursue one. Most people seem to wrestle between the two most of their lives. The call to holiness, helps us to be set apart and focus only on God. It prepares us for heaven, and this call of holiness is for everyone. “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts” (Hebrews 3:15).

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