Lay Life in a Year

52 Reflections on JPII's vision for the Laity

Week 3: Real Holiness

For thirty years, Jesus grew up in Nazareth living a quiet, ordinary life. But it was an ordinary life of extreme holiness. He learned a trade, helped around the house, and spent time growing in wisdom and favor with God and man (Lk. 2:52).

Jesus didn’t limit holiness to extraordinary things like bilocation, floating, or visions. Instead, He brought holiness into the simple moments of daily life in family and community. He loved in the small, hard things that make up our days.

Our everyday, ordinary lives are filled with invitations to heroic love and extreme sacrifice of charity.

Where is He inviting you? Is it to clean the dishes for your spouse with pure love? Is it to put away the podcasts, TV, and videos, so your heart can be freed from the distractions that keep His voice out? Is it to actually believe that you can be a saint?

Your life does not need to be spectacular for Him to call you to the heights of holiness. You only need the willingness to encounter Jesus every day in mental prayer; the courage to let Him transform your brokenness; and the effort to do His will in your life.

This is real holiness.

Lay Life in a Year Overview

Read the original: Introduction, No. 3
Last week: You Too are Called To Holiness
This week: Real Holiness
Next week: Why Do You Stand Here Idle?

Week 37- A Response to Busyness

Oct 13, 2024

In a meeting with my pastor about our parish, he said: “If we don’t fix things, the bishop will close this parish. We have to get more young families engaged.” Caught off guard and growing in concern, I asked him what activities the parish was currently doing....

Week 36 – An Unexpected Discovery from 1979

Oct 6, 2024

When I was a kid, my dad was obsessed with one particular VHS tape—it was like some secret treasure from the past. He held it out with a grin and said, “Now I’ll show you what basketball is supposed to look like.” It was the 1979 NCAA championship game—Larry Bird vs....

Week 35: Answering God’s Call—Even in the Small Things

Sep 27, 2024

It was a regular Wednesday—sun shining, birds chirping—and there I was: 15 years old, grumbling as I stood over the lawnmower. Mom had asked me to mow the lawn, and like most teenagers, I dragged my feet. The job seemed pointless and hot, and honestly, I’d rather be...