THE CALL TO HOLINESS : Planned & unplanned.

In his apostolic letter Novo millennio ineunte, initiating the new millennium, Pope John Paul II asks: "Can holiness ever be planned?" Well might he ask--given the complexity of the idea of holiness. John Paul II, however, rarely asks questions without his reply at the ready. Yes, he answers, there exists a "genuine 'training in holiness' adapted to people's needs." God offers the gift of holiness to all, but "the gift in turn becomes a task which must shape the whole of Christian life." Today, the pastoral priority of every Catholic parish should be to prepare its members to respond to the Second Vatican Council's "universal call to holiness." A universal education in the art of prayer must be initiated, centered on all the different forms of public and private prayer such as eucharistic prayer, liturgical prayer of the hours, contemplative prayer, and personal conversational communion with Jesus as friend.

Overburdened pastors coping with the multiple activities of a busy parish may quail before this papal insistence that they reclaim the church's holy mystery and offer a training in holiness. As one good pastor puts it, his parish has to make an effort just "to reach out, to invite, to encourage people to the active practice of their faith at the most elementary level." Most registered Catholics aren't even coming to Mass every Sunday. The parish is "a diverse complex reality" forced to provide "something for everybody." The implicit message here is that mysticism for the masses is hopeless.

In such a dialogue I think the pope makes the better case. Yes, parishes do well to act as "mediating institutions" (the buzz word in political analysis used to praise voluntary associations that stand between the individual and the state). Churches do build community bonds that strengthen civil society. And those parishes which are true to Catholic social teaching will serve the needy (with or without President George W. Bush's imprimatur), while they work for structural reforms. The pope accepts all this and says that working for social justice embodies the church's "commitment to history," and demonstrates our "love for our brothers and sisters." His point is that growth in holiness and prayer will energize love of neighbor and enkindle the commitment to social justice. I agree. Furthering the transcendent spiritual life of a parish is, as Mary rather than Martha would understand, to choose the better part. For that matter, holiness always attracts crowds. Heart speaks to heart.

How many times have I heard cradle Catholics say that they left the church because they never understood that their religion was more than a formal ritual, or dutiful conformity to rules? The inner spiritual dimension of the faith was not apparent to them, only the judgments and guilt that produced the fear that cast out love. These sad testimonies always begin with the words, "I had twelve years of Catholic education, but..." Such misunderstandings fuel the "I am a recovering Catholic" movement. As a convert, I resist these stories, but over the years I've had to admit that abuses do happen.

When Catholics return to the faith, they do so because they discover the power of the Holy Spirit to heal and help them live good and happy lives. I disagree with those theological authorities (often Protestant) who proclaim that it is a deep-seated misunderstanding of religion "to presume that the purpose of religion is to produce happiness. The primary function of religion is not to generate happiness but to construct meaning" (see, Tyron Inbody, The Transforming God [Westminster John Knox]). No, dear friend, it is a far greater misunderstanding to think that a coherent belief system is enough. The pope is far truer to the gospel when he says that prayer and worship lead to "ineffable joy." As the book of Nehemiah (8:10) says: "rejoicing in the Lord must be your strength." Gospel joy leads to sacrificial love in action, but social action and meaningful constructs, sans prayer, don't lead to the abundant life.

Since "paths to holiness are personal," as the pope writes, holiness comes in many forms. Here I wish John Paul II had probed more deeply into the meaning of holiness for lay persons engaged in the world. Holiness will always consist of intense love of God and neighbor, but the specifics can present problems. Holiness is also wholeness, or an integration of all that I am--and I am many things. As a wife, mother, grandmother, writer, and lecturer, my days consist of many activities that require my full focused attention. I cannot be concentrating on reciting lauds and compline at church, or on private prayers at home, and at the same time fully attend to my granddaughter's emotional needs--or talk over some thorny bioethical question with my husband. Familial and intellectual activities conflict (the working grandmother problem), and both require a loss of self-consciousness in service of the other. (Just as sex does, I might add for the benefit of celibates and the cloistered.) The holiness quest of a person in the world has to be grounded in the realization that working well and loving well require engrossed states of emotional and mental concentration.

I tentatively conclude that prayer can be offered before and after intense, engaged activities, but not during. I would love to hear a sermon helping me become whole and holy at every level of personal consciousness, with or without self-awareness. I'm obviously seeking a spirituality that covers the out-of- control, unexamined passionate part of life. Can, for instance, holiness also be unplanned?