Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you. // Isaiah 35: 4
At a recent event, a musician shared his brand new, unreleased song. It was beautiful; my fellow Sisters and I were moved by the words. Then the last refrain came: “I guess it’s up to me to try to be holy.” In that moment I looked at the Sister next to me and mouthed, “Heresy.” You see, the believing—or thinking—that salvation is our work and holiness depends only on what we do, stems from a false teaching of Pelagius in the early Church.
Unfortunately, some of us fall prey to this mindset: “If only I did this,” or, “When I’m strong enough to give this thing up” . . . the lies are endless. There’s always something else nagging, making us think we need to strive for holiness. But the thing is, they’re lies. There isn’t anything I can do to make myself holy. Only grace makes us holy, and grace only comes from God.
Lies about having to—through only our own efforts—work or try to overcome sin, temptation, or whatever it is that holds us back from the sanctity we desire are endless, and usually leave us in a place of fear, paralysis, or despair. Thankfully, as we hear in today’s Readings, our Lord speaks His words of love, reminding us that we have nothing to fear; it is our God Who comes to save us (see Isaiah 35:4).God sets us free, gives us light to see, ears to hear, hearts to love. He promises riches of faith to those who love Him (see Psalm 146). It is for us to be still and receive His ephphatha over us, that we might open our hearts, minds, eyes, ears, souls—our very beings—to all that He has and is (see Mark 7:34).
Sister, today I invite you to open your hands and release to our Lord whatever lies are telling your heart, what you need to do to get holy on your own, and hear Him speak over you, ephphatha, as He pours His life into you, bringing you peace, rest, and confidence in His great love for you, and His desire to make you holy. He comes to save you.
Sister Maria Fatima grew up in Rhode Island and entered the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist in 2005. She holds a MA in Theology from the Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity. Sister is in her eleventh year of enlightening middle school minds and drawing hearts to Jesus while teaching religion and history. She currently resides at the motherhouse in Ann Arbor, MI, having previously taught in Texas, Florida, and Ohio. She is a contributing author to our Lent devotional All She Had.
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