The sanctity of the saints is primarily an inner beauty created by the Inflowing of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is God's Beauty, not the saint's, although the saint shares in it. It is a full participation by one's will in the Charity of God, even though minor faults, flaws, imperfections, and venial sins remain in the residue of concupiscense in the outer man. As St Teresa has reminded us, one must always exercise one's freedom, even though one be a saint, to avoid sin in this life. Although the saint has his spiritual house in order, and properly mortified, there is never a guarantee in this life, for him, or anyone, against a serious fall.

This Divine Spirit transforms the natural house of man from within, although the effects are not always visible from without. In some of the saints, their outer aspect belies the holiness within. For natural character flaws are not always totally removed, although they are usually under control, most of the time in the lives of the saints. Sometimes, and not as a normal part of their character, the saints show their human weakness and their flaws stand out for everyone to see. Sometimes God withdraws his blessings so the saint may remember the truth about their own weakness without God's grace. Sometimes they get sick and give in to impatience or imperfections as a result. It is then that everyone jumps up to quickly condemn them for displaying impatience, anger, weariness, disgust, or any of a wide variety of human flaws not amounting to mortal sin. They see the flaw while overlooking the tremendous works of Charity not possible to the natural man, alone.

People then say, So and so could not have been a saint because she was far from perfect, as demonstrated the time she questioned why a good God would put her through such trials and suffering. They say the same thing about the Church. They say there could be no holiness within a Church that shows flaws in some of her clergy, religious, and laity. Worldly people, some of whom rejoice at the flaws of saints, as well as the Church, refuse to believe, or fail to understand, that a holy Church, just like holy saints, could have outer flaws while retaining the inner beauty of the Holy Spirit. Currently they are having a field day with the abysmal failures and crimes of some of the clergy. And some are busily condemning that great modern saint, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, because she had a human dimension which sometimes felt the strain under the weight of the Cross. And when she went through the "dark nights," she even complained to God, Who sometimes seemed to abandon her. So members of the press jump on that while totally forgetting the miracle of the rest of her life.

With their blind recriminations, worldly people manage to completely overlook how a simple little nobody from Albania could win the Nobel Peace Prize and become a world-class force for good, while challenging the modern world's abortion practices, and predilection with a "culture of death." Why, they say, remember the time she got angry with God, or bishop so and so, for the things he was putting her through? A saint would never do that. Saints are always perfectly under control and obedient at all times and in all circumstances. Aren't they? Or remember when she made statements that were contrary to the fullness of Church doctrine? A saint would not make such mistakes. Or remember when she got sick and lost her temper. Boy, some saint! The saints are perfect and never show character weaknesses or venial sins. Right? No! Not right. Saints are not always perfect in all ways, and have been known to contradict each other on matters of theology not already defined by the Church. God moves mountains through saints like Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II, but their fleshly dimension is occasionally exercised under the weight of responsibility and the huge Cross they carry sometimes almost crushes them.

So holiness, in this life, is sometimes hidden in the outer man, and limited to the inner man, who is the new, spiritual man in Jesus Christ. In like manner, holiness is sometimes hidden within the bosom of the Church, and all the world sees is the human failures and imperfections. At other times it is visible in the Church, and in the outer man of the saint, as the interior light spills over into the flesh giving it an obvious radiance and power.

It was possible for Jesus' relatives to be constantly in his company, and not to realize his Divinity, as it was normally masked by his humanity. And many of those who knew His mother probably thought, "She an unusually nice person, but I don't see anything extraordinary about her." And there are many cases where the human flaws demonstrated by the lesser saints of the Church, born under the influence of Original Sin, hid their sanctity from those with whom they lived and worked.

St Jerome had an ogoing problem with anger and losing his temper. Although he struggled against it, it remained a problem. When people looked at John of Ruysbroeck, they saw an ordinary man, who was not particularly impressive, and certianly did not look holy, even though he had experienced the "Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage."

John of the Cross did not have a particularly imposing or holy-looking demeanor. He looked like an insignificant nobody of small stature, with nothing special going on in his life. Yet look what was really going on inside his soul as he reported in the "Spiritual Canticle," and "Living Flame of Love." Thomas Merton commented on the appearance of St John of the Cross: "The original and authentic portrait of the saint shows him to have an innocent and rather expressionless face. He does not look in any way ascetic. In fact you would think you were looking at the portrait of a Madrid shop-keeper or of a cook."

Some of the people, and professional religious, who encountered St Catherine of Siena thought she was just an egotistical, attention getting, name dropper and social climber. And yet there was a power in her that raised her up to advise the Pope, and who gave her spiritual wisdom, called "The Dialogues," which has been a benefit to the whole Church. By her spiritual teaching she has been named a doctor of the Church. And, of course, we can see this inner power working in the well-known, and amazing life of the teen-age maid of Orleans, Joan of Arc. However, her sanctity was not necessarily visible to those who judged her and condemned her to death. To some of them, she appeard to be an evil person under the spell of witchcraft.

In like manner, worldly people, and enemies, see the Catholic Church from the same perspective. The inner holiness of God within the Church is frequently obscured by the outer shell of humanity. However, the inner power of God working in the Church, and all these saints, ordinary humans with weaknesses in their exterior selves, transforms them from "within," into world-class mountain-movers who change the course of history. St Paul was sometimes not very impressive in person. Those who met him were not always able to correlate his powerful verbal messages, and writings, with the humble, self-effacing presence he often showed in person.

Gerard Reed, in discussing Thomas Merton, reminds us of the proper understanding of sanctity, or perfection:

"Whenever, then, we speak of Christian perfection, we must understand it as limited, finite, flawed. Only in heaven will we find absolute perfection, where "our love will always actually and totally be directed to God." In this life, however, we can live free from mortal sin and all "impediments to true love." By refraining from deliberate sin, by loving God and man in authentic ways, we can be "perfect." Yet those who are "perfect" or holy are still plagued by imperfection, infirmities, and failures. They still do wrong. They still commit venial sins. But such imperfections do not nullify holiness so long as love indwells and motivates one's heart."

"Central to Merton's concept of sanctification abides this truth: we are holy by virtue of a holy God residing and presiding within us. Thus "perfection is not a moral embellishment which we acquire outside of Christ, in order to qualify for union with Him. Perfection is the full life of charity perfected by the gifts of the Holy Ghost." Consequently, "the true saint is not one who has become convinced that he himself is holy, but one who is overwhelmed by the realization that God, and God, alone, is holy." Holiness comes to us as a gift from a gracious God, for "if holiness is beyond our natural power to achieve (which it certainly is), then it follows that God Himself must give us the light, the strength, and the courage to fulfill the task He requires of us." (Gerard Reed)

Let's see what the contemplative prophet, David, had to say about holiness, and a life lived in union with the Most High God.

Psalm 97

1: The LORD reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof.
2: Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.
3: A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.
4: His lightnings enlightened the world: the earth saw, and trembled.
5: The hills melted like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
6: The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory.
7: Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols: worship him, all ye gods.
8: Zion heard, and was glad; and the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of thy judgments, O LORD.
9: For thou, LORD, art high above all the earth: thou art exalted far above all gods.
10: Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.
11: Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.
12: Rejoice in the LORD, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.

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It is well for believers to remember that faith is a Gift. Those who do not have faith, need our prayers, so they may gain true vision. When they look at the saints, or the Church, through natural, and sometimes very worldly, eyes, they often see the human weakness, alone. When they see a weakness in Mother Teresa of Calcutta, or in St Joan of Arc, they think the whole business of sanctity and holiness in the Church is a sham. When a few priests or bishops fail, they can understand that. That's what they thought the Church was about all along.

We must always remember that God moves in mysterious ways, using unlikely vessels through which to do His Will. Remember how John the Baptist lived, foraging an existence in the wilderness. Then, there was St Benedict Joseph Labre, who lived as a tramp and a beggar, visiting the religious sites throughout Europe. The people who saw him, saw just a "tramp." To them, and to some of us today, he seemed like a crazy-man. However, the power of God filled this strange vessel with the fullness of perfection and Charity.

"His unremitting and ruthless self-denial, his unaffected humility, unhesitating obedience and perfect spirit of union with God in prayer disarmed suspicion not unnaturally aroused as to the genuineness of a Divine call to so extraordinary a way of existence."(Catholic Encyclopedia, "St Benedict Joseph Labre," Joseph DeLaney)

God's presence in the lives of the saints, and in the Church, may be hidden from the worldly and superficial observer. However, it is powerfully present to those with the capacity "to see," and who look below the surface. The saints, themselves, are well aware that, by themselves, they are just broken vessels, and, at the same time, they know that God moves powerfully within their spirits, and, through them, in the world. There are characteristic marks of sanctity always there within the broken and scarred vessels, who comprise his Church, and who carry His Spirit in this world.

SANCTITY OF THE CHURCH
Marks of Sanctity

"The Term "sanctity" is employed in somewhat different senses in relation to God, to individual men, and to a corporate body. As applied to God it denotes that absolute moral perfection which is His by nature. In regard to men it signifies a close union with God, together with the moral perfection resulting from this union. Hence holiness is said to belong to God by essence, and to creatures only by participation. Whatever sanctity they possess comes to them as a Divine gift. As used of a society, the term means that this society aims at producing holiness in its members, and is possessed of means capable of securing that result, and that the lives of its members correspond, at least in some measure, with the purpose of the society, and display a real, not a merely nominal holiness.

"The Church has ever claimed that she, as a society, is holy in a transcendent degree. She teaches that this is one of the four "notes", viz., unity, catholicity, apostolicity, and sanctity, by which the society founded by Christ can be readily distinguished from all human institutions. It is in virtue of her relation to the Person and work of Christ that this attribute belongs to the Church. She is (1) the fruit of the Passion -- the kingdom of the redeemed. Those who remain outside her are the "world" which knows not God (I John, iii, 1). The object of the Passion was the redemption and sanctification of the Church: "Christ also loved the church, and delivered Himself up for it: that he might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the word of life" (Eph., v, 25, 26).

"Again the Church is the body of Christ. He is the head of the mystical body: and supernatural life -- the life of Christ Himself -- is communicated through the sacraments to all His members. Just as the Holy Ghost dwelt in the human body of Christ, so He now dwells in the Church: and His presence is so intimate and so efficacious that the Apostle can even speak of Him as the soul of the mystical body: "One body and one Spirit" (Eph., iv, 4). Thus it follows as a necessary consequence from the nature of the Church and her relation to Christ, that as a society she must possess means capable of producing holiness: that her members must be characterized by holiness: and that this endowment of sanctity will afford a ready means of distinguishing her from the world.

"It is further manifest that the Church's holiness must be of an entirely supernatural character -- something altogether beyond the power of unassisted human nature. And such is in fact the type of sanctity which Christ and His Apostles require on the part of members of the Church. (1) The virtues which in the Christian ideal are the most fundamental of all, lie altogether outside the scope of the highest pagan ethics. Christian charity, humility, and chastity are instances in point. The charity which Christ sets forth in the Sermon on the Mount and in the parable of the Good Samaritan -- a charity which knows no limits and which embraces enemies as well as friends -- exceeds all that moralists had deemed possible for men. And this charity Christ requires not of a chosen few, but of all His followers.

"Humility, which in the Christian scheme is the necessary groundwork of all sanctity (Matt., xviii, 3), was previously to His teaching an unknown virtue. The sense of personal unworthiness in which it consists, is repugnant to all the impulses of unregenerate nature. Moreover, the humility which Christ demands, supposes as its foundation a clear knowledge of the guilt of sin, and of the mercy of God. Without these it cannot exist. And these doctrines are sought in vain in other religions than the Christian. In regard to chastity Christ not merely warned His followers that to violate this virtue even by a thought, was a grievous sin. He went yet further. He exhorted those of His followers to whom the grace should be given, to live the life of virginity that thereby they might draw nearer to God (Matt, xix, 12).

"Another characteristic of holiness according to the Christian ideal is love of suffering; not as though pleasure were evil in itself, but because suffering is the great means by which our love of God is intensified and purified. All those who have attained a high degree of holiness have learnt to rejoice in suffering, because by it their love to God was freed from every element of self-seeking, and their lives conformed to that of their Master. Those who have not grasped this principle may call themselves by the name of Christian, but they have not understood the meaning of the Cross.

"It has ever been held that holiness when it reaches a sublime degree is accompanied by miraculous powers. And Christ promised that this sign should not be lacking to His Church. The miracles, which His followers should work, would, He declared, be no whit less stupendous than those wrought by Himself during His mortal life (Mark, xvi, 17, 18; John, xiv, 12).

"Such in brief outline is the sanctity with which Christ endowed His Church, and which is to be the distinguishing mark of her children. It is, however, to be noted that He said nothing to suggest that all His followers would make use of the opportunities thus afforded them. On the contrary, He expressly taught that His flock would contain many unworthy members (Matt., xiii, 30, 48). And we may be sure that as within the Church the lights are brightest, so there too the shadows will be darkest -- corruptio optimi pessima. An unworthy Catholic will fall lower than an unworthy pagan. To show that the Church possesses the note of holiness it suffices to establish that her teaching is holy: that she is endowed with the means of producing supernatural holiness in her children: that, notwithstanding the unfaithfulness of many members, a vast number do in fact cultivate a sanctity beyond anything that can be found elsewhere: and that in certain cases this sanctity attains so high a degree that God honours it with miraculous powers.

"It is not difficult to show that the Catholic and Roman Church, and she alone, fulfils these conditions. In regard to her doctrines, it is manifest that the moral law which she proposes as of Divine obligation, is more lofty and more exacting than that which any of the sects has ventured to require. Her vindication of the indissolubility of marriage in the face of a licentious world affords the most conspicuous instance of this. She alone maintains in its integrity her Master's teaching on marriage. Every other religious body without exception has given place to the demands of human passion.

"In regard to the means of holiness, she, through her seven sacraments, applies to her members the fruits of the Atonement. She pardons the guilt of sin, and nourishes the faithful on the Body and Blood of Christ. Nor is the justice of her claims less manifest when we consider the result of her work. In the Catholic Church is found a marvellous succession of saints whose lives are as beacon-lights in the history of mankind. In sanctity the supremacy of Bernard, of Dominic, of Francis, of Ignatius, of Theresa, is as unquestioned as is that of Alexander and of Cæsar in the art of war. Outside the Catholic Church the world has nothing to show which can in any degree compare with them. Within the Church the succession never fails.

"Nor do the saints stand alone. In proportion to the practical influence of Catholic teaching, the supernatural virtues of which we have spoken above, are found also among the rest of the faithful. These virtues mark a special type of character which the Church seeks to realize in her children, and which finds little favour among other claimants to the Christian name. Outside the Catholic Church the life of virginity is contemned; love of suffering is viewed as a medieval superstition; and humility is regarded as a passive virtue ill-suited to an active and pushing age.

"Of course it is not meant that we do not find many individual instances of holiness outside the Church. God's grace is universal in its range. But it seems beyond question that the supernatural sanctity whose main features we have indicated, is recognized by all as belonging specifically to the Church, while in her alone does it reach that sublime degree which we see in the saints. In the Church too we see fulfilled Christ's promise that the gift of miracles shall not be wanting to His followers. Miracles, it is true, are not sanctity. But they are the aura in which the highest sanctity moves. And from the time of the Apostles to the nineteenth century the lives of the saints show us that the laws of nature have been suspended at their prayers. In numberless cases the evidence for these events is so ample that nothing but the exigencies of controversy can explain the refusal of anti-Catholic writers to admit their occurrence.

"The proof appears to be complete. There can be as little doubt which Church displays the note of sanctity, as there is in regard to the notes of unity, catholicity and apostolicity. The Church in communion with the See of Rome and it alone possesses that holiness which the words of Christ and His disciples demand."(G.H. JOYCE; Transcribed by Robert B. Olson, "Catholic Encyclopedia)