Gaudete et Exsultate - Rejoice and be Glad!

9th April, 2018: Holy Father Pope Francis' Third Apostolic Exhortation

Gaudete et Exsultate... Rejoice and Be Glad in the call that you have received from the Lord and live that call to the full, the call to belong to God and to live that belongingness to the full - that we call holiness. This in short is the message of the Holy Father in the just released Apostolic Exhortation.

Rejoice! - this call from the Holy Father follows his two preceding Exhortations - the Joy of the Gospel and the Joy of Love. In fact, some expected that the Holy Father would clarify some of the controversies created by certain quarters after his previous Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia. But the Holy Father as a true pastor has stayed clear of all polemics and spoken his heart out to his children, calling their attention to the all important and the original call of human persons: to resemble our Creator, because we are made in God's image and likeness. The Holy Father reminds us that it is not merely a wish of the Lord, but an expressed invitation to holiness - the Lord had been calling humanity right from Abraham to 'walk with God and be blameless'!

The Exhortation reckons itself further attractive because it is not too long - just 177 paragraphs and all of them short and precise. The language is simple and straight forward, making the document clear and understandable to everyone who intends to read it. A detailed elaboration and discussion of the document will surely begin in no time, but here, I intend to share just a clue as to what to look out for, as one may begin to read this reflection from the Holy Father.

1. A Reminder to our Original Call

The Call to Holiness is as old as humanity, says the Word of God. Right in our creation we were created with the potential to be holy, to grow holy and remain holy. The Lord has reminded us time and again. This Exhortation is another reminder from the Chief Shepherd to keep to our original path!

2. Beware of the Distractions

As we pursue this call, we can easily be distracted, either getting fixed to one way of thinking or a certain way of doing things in life. The Exhortation invites us to avoid absolutising anything or relativising anything - the call is to stay attentive to the way you are called to live your holiness. Neither a frenetic activity devoid of God nor a psuedo piety devoid of 'the other', can take us all the way. I was tempted to read those lines in Indian terms - we would do good to resist the temptation to absolutise either gnana marg or karma marg in itself, it would not take us anywhere close to God.

3. Learn from the Master

Jesus' life and teaching while on earth, has been a great model set for us. He was someone who chose to be against the flow - when they thought in terms of law and duty, he spoke of love and its beauty; when they feared breaking commandments, he was giving them new ones! It is not in the amount of things you do or accomplish, not in the number of sacrifices you offer to the Lord that you are saved, but in the measure you are able to unite yourself in heart, mind and soul to the Creator and translate the Creator's Will into your daily life: that is holiness!

4. There are already Signs all over

Holiness, as we often think, is not a far cry! It is all around us. There have been people living before us and with us, who have beheld this spark of the divine within them and our call is to follow suit. As we read these lines we can almost hear the voice of Pope Francis yelling into our ears - come on Christian! Pull up! Stay firm! Get up! and Keep Walking towards that holiness you are called to. Perseverance, patience, meekness, joy, humour, courage, sense of belonging to each other and a personal relationship with the Lord - these are the perfect correctives that the Holy Father proposes to the times now.

5. Keep fighting with a Smile

The Holy Father also observes the need to be vigilant against the tendencies that can make us lose our vision...yes, our vision has to be strengthened by our recourse to discernment - knowing what is happening around, understanding all the implications and choosing with calmness and serenity, things that are difficult but meaningful, tough but just, demanding but life-giving. Let our choice be for God and God's will, we shall be well on our way towards holiness.

Holiness is not merely a crown to be expected at the end of our race, but it is the way we conduct ourselves at every step of it. God bless our Holy Father!