{"id":324,"date":"2011-11-15T08:23:00","date_gmt":"2011-11-15T08:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2011\/11\/hidden-holiness\/"},"modified":"2011-11-15T08:23:00","modified_gmt":"2011-11-15T08:23:00","slug":"hidden-holiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2011\/11\/hidden-holiness.html","title":{"rendered":"Hidden Holiness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
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The problem with finding a good spiritual director is that you are looking for a holy person, and the problem with trying to find a holy person is that they are hidden. The treasure is buried in an ordinary field. The pearl of great price is in an ordinary oyster among a million other oysters at the bottom of the bay.<\/p>\n

So we go for the celebrities and mistake fame for holiness, or we are inspired by a great preacher or teacher and mistake a speaking gift for holiness, or we see someone engaged in helping the poor or being kind and mistake kindness for holiness, or we meet a person who has a naturally engaging personality and who has learned good manners and we mistake good manners for holiness. Perhaps we meet a professional religious person\u2013a priest, monk or nun and we see their religious clothes and like their caring, religious manner and think that is holiness.<\/p>\n

It may be, but then again it may not be. That holiness is hidden goes with the definition because a holy person is humble, and a humble person is not only self effacing, but their humility is really expressed in the fact that they are being themselves, and a person who is truly himself or herself does not attract much attention. They fit. They blend in. They belong. This humble, holy person does not attract much attention because they are taken for granted\u2013like a blue sky or like the grass growing.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, if you seek out the humble person and hope they are holy, and ask them for direction or guidance they will probably chuckle and tell you to move on because they really don\u2019t think they have much to offer you. They will listen to you kindly, but chances are, they will dismiss your request, and you will have to keep searching.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s more complicated. If you are looking for the holy person amongst the professional religious, and among those lay people who are so pious that they make the professional religious look like amateurs, then you are also likely to be disappointed. The holy person may be hidden there, as he or she may be hidden anywhere, but just because the person does lots of religious stuff doesn\u2019t mean they are holy. Indeed, if the holy person has taken the Lord\u2019s advice and prays in secret, and washes their face and appears joyful when fasting, then the outwardly \u2018religious\u2019 signs may be indicators otherwise.<\/p>\n

Instead, I look for secret signs. I look for the person who is contented and joyful. I spy out the person who listens more than they talk. I look for the person who has learned\u2013really learned\u2013to recognize and love the face of Christ in five ways: in the Church, in the person of the priest, in the Eucharist, in the Sacred Scriptures and in the face of the poor. I look for the person who responds to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in simple obedience and without fanfare. I look for the person who accepts suffering and knows how to turn it into something golden.<\/p>\n

If you find a person like that, then you\u2019ve found the secret treasure\u2013the hidden garden\u2013the pearl of great price.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The problem with finding a good spiritual director is that you are looking for a holy person, and the problem with trying to find a holy person is that they are hidden. The treasure is buried in an ordinary field. The pearl of great price is in an ordinary oyster among a million other oysters […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nHidden Holiness<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The problem with finding a good spiritual director is that you are looking for a holy person, and the problem with trying to find a holy person is that\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2011\/11\/hidden-holiness.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hidden Holiness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The problem with finding a good spiritual director is that you are looking for a holy person, and the problem with trying to find a holy person is that\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2011\/11\/hidden-holiness.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fr. 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