In the Church each member has a vocation to lead a life of holiness.

When God created man, He gave him the gifts of supernatural life, of divine sonship. Man was alive with the very life of God, but by sin, he lost this gift of divine life. Left to himself, man was incapable of winning back the divine life. But God, in His infinite mercy, conceived the wonderful plan of the Redemption and sent His only-begotten Son, Jesus, into the world to save mankind.

Christ became man and took man’s sinfulness upon Himself. He stood in the place of all men before His Father. By accepting His death on Calvary, He paid the penalty for all men’s sins. Since He was God’s Son, the bonds of death could not hold Him. He rose to life. With Him all mankind passed from death to life, returned to the Father’s sonship, and again enjoyed the intimacy of His love.

In Christ we have already died to sin and risen to new life. He infuses into our souls that very life of divine sonship which filled Him at His own Resurrection. He does this through the sacraments which He instituted for the Church. Christ wills to carry on His life within us for the glory of the Father. This life of Christ within us is that state of holiness to which we are all called by God.

This Christ-life means that we can open our minds to Him by faith so that we may have the same outlook that He had. We open our hearts to Him so that He may live in us His own life of love and self-surrender to the Father. We strive to imitate His life so that in all things we become like Him. St. Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).