NEVER A PERFECT HOLINESS (II)

Holiness is centered in Christ, and not in ourselves.  We should not pursue the quest for an absolute and pure holiness, to be actually achieved here and now.  This is an impossible ideal and a dangerous illusion.  It is also another fertile breeding-ground for spiritual pride and complacency if one imagines that one has attained the ideal, and for needless and harmful anxiety if one realizes that one has not.

Pure holiness belongs to the heavenly Church, not the one on earth!  Only in heaven can we reach pure perfection.  "Only  in the glory of heaven will the Church ... be consummated, when there will come the time for establishing all (Acts 3:21), and when man and the entire universe, which is bound up with man and attains its goal through him, will be perfectly united in Christ."  (Cf Eph 1:10, Col 1:20) (C.C. 48)

How clear and how true is the advice of Christ: "Do not lay up treasure for yourselves on earth, where there is moth and rust to consume it, where there are thieves to break in and steal it; lay up treasure for yourselves in heaven, where there is no moth or rust to consume it, no thieves to break in and steal.  Where your treasure house is, there your heart is too ... Make it your first care to find the kingdom of God and his approval, and all these things shall be yours for the asking "(Mt 6:19ff).