Love the key to holiness, says convention speaker

Martha Fernandez-Sardina speaks at the Eucharistic Convention.

by ROWENA OREJANA
AUCKLAND — Sainthood is not just for popes. Holiness is a gift
given to us by God.
This was one of the points stressed by new evangelist Martha Fernandez- Sardina at the 21st Eucharistic Convention held at the Westlake Boys Auditorium in Forrest Hill from April 25
to 27.
“Holiness is mandatory. Holiness is possible. Holiness is rewarding,” said Ms Fernandez-Sardina.

Martha Fernandez-Sardina speaks at the Eucharistic Convention.


She said we can become saints because, as God’s children, he has
gifted us the gift of holiness at baptism. “That is why we can accept with gratitude, with love and commitment the universal
gift of holiness,” Ms Fernandez-Sardina said.
She said Pope John Paul II reminded us that the call to holiness is the essential aspect of the teaching of the Church.
She said, though, that once the gift is accepted, it becomes a task. “We must use it,” she said. “Scripture says ‘Be holy as the Lord your God is holy’. That is the call to this day to the very end. We must quash any temptation, any feeling, thought or action that
would make us doubt who we are. We are precious in God’s eyes and
he loves us,” said Ms Fernandez-Sardina.
The hardship, she said, is putting God first before ourselves. “We
don’t love well. We love ourselves before we love God. We don’t want to set aside our way of thinking to take on the mind of Christ,” she explained.
She said God will make us holy “if we don’t get in the way”.
“The key to holiness is the perfection of God. God is love. So, if we are to be perfect as our heavenly father, if we are to be holy as our heavenly father, if we are to look like our heavenly father,
we have to be loved,” she said. “Be filled to the brim with love.”
Ms Fernandez-Sardina launched a new evangelisation last year called
“Remember, you are loved”.
She said she has launched this evangelisation because so many
people do not know the basic truth of God’s love.
“They will not enjoy the blessings of holiness if they don’t know the basic truth, that they are loved through and through the way God
loves you,” she said. “It’s the call of the Holy Father: to go out into the deep and bring the message of God’s love.”

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