HABITS FOR HOLINESS | KAIROS GLOBAL | NOVEMBER 2023

Author: George Harris

Intro: George Harris shares three habits and encourages us to practise these in our pursuit of holiness.

A great architectural building is an amazing spectacle. But it is built using small building blocks, seemingly unnoticeable. Our interior spiritual home too is made using certain building blocks or virtuous habits that make us holy. No matter where we stand in our spiritual life, if we focus on developing virtuous habits, we will step-by-step build a holy life. It is the same principle—like repairing or enhancing a building, one block at a time. 

Instead of seeing it as difficult and unattainable, we need to see holiness as a practical, everyday lifestyle. It's about getting back on our feet as quickly as possible when we fall, as God's mercy and grace are never exhausted. The habits can be forgiveness, purity, or other virtues. When we keep practising, these habits will become ingrained in our character. As a fellow traveller in the pursuit of holiness, though I consider myself more unworthy and sinful than anyone reading this, I am sharing three habits that I have found helpful in my life. 

Faithfulness in small things 

Song of Songs 2:15-17 says, Catch us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vineyards. Spiritual strength depends on how we identify our small sins, which may be hidden. If we pay attention to the details of our lives, we may find some small sins (little foxes!) that are the root cause of our huge weaknesses. Removing those little foxes will help us make big wins in our lives. 

A real missionary starts conquering the sins within. That is where the mission begins. When we conquer the sins within ourselves, a powerful mission will naturally flow out of us, evangelising our family, society, and the world. 

Years ago in college, during a conversation, someone started saying jokes that slowly became inappropriate in language. Without paying attention, I laughed at it. Seeing this, another friend of mine, who was a Jesus Youth, corrected me. I understood that through my laughter, I was encouraging that person to use bad language. It also became a scandal for others who watched me. 

Incidents like these helped me take a closer look at my life and start working on many more things—stopping the use of pirated software on my laptop, keeping the traffic rules, forgiving quickly, and so on. I saw a gradual change in my life as I tried to become faithful to small things. 

Build on truth 

As the years passed, I found a gradual growth within me as I started identifying and resisting small sins. As we hear in James 4:7, Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. But there was always more to work on. In 2008, I got married to Josephina in India. Since she was a US citizen, we decided to get settled in the US. A few months after marriage, as part of the US visa requirement, we went to the Marriage Registrar to request a marriage certificate. But the officer asked me for a bribe of Rupees 1000 (about $20 during that time). Regardless of the consequences, I told the officer that I would not give a bribe. But something happened to his stance, and through God's work, miraculously, he gave us the certificate. 

Now comes the second test! We had to get some paperwork from the police department. Now it was the police officer asking for a 100 Rupee bribe and telling me that I wouldn't get the paperwork without giving it. Without a second thought, I told the police officer that I wouldn't give the bribe even if I lost my US visa. Again, miraculously, we got the paperwork without the bribe. We were ready to abandon the plans to settle in the US instead of giving merely about $20 or $2. These incidents strengthened my resolve to never tell even the smallest lie at all, whatever the case may be. Standing for the truth and speaking the truth is an incredibly powerful way to bring goodness to the world. 

Chaste men are Strong men 

The same applies to women too. When we stay pure, it opens a wide range of spiritual riches in our lives. For chastity, we need God's grace. In John 15:5, Jesus says, Apart from me, you can do nothing. It can be said that the most important sexual organ of a human being is the brain. It's obvious to us that we should keep our bodies pure. But how much are we keeping our thoughts and imaginations pure? If you have not tried it before, try working on your imagination and thoughts to keep them pure. You will see amazing things happen in your life. 

My life experiences say that if we constantly desire, seek, and pray for holiness, God will help us in our growth. Our thoughts depend on how we use our eyes. I started developing the habit of being very careful about what I see, even in the daily events of the day. 

Once, our family was visiting New York, and we were staying at a hotel a little away from the city. Since I was aware of the spiritual dangers in hotel rooms, I prepared the room by blessing it with holy water, and we all prayed. It turned out that it helped us uncover the spiritual danger in that room. Shortly after that, I started feeling the presence of evil. I could partially see an intensely dark being just next to me. It was an evil presence connected to lust. At the earliest possibility, we left that hotel room. There are invisible things we are unable to identify through our physical capacity. But when we keep our senses holy, God will help us to sense the presence of danger. 

When we are holy, God's power in us conquers the darkness. Wonderful things happen when we allow God to dwell in us. Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16). Josephina and I teach all our kids about purity. As the head of the household, I see my holiness as a protective cover, like a bubble over my entire family. If I allow even a small impurity in my life, I allow a hole in that bubble through which the enemy will plant evil seeds in my family, which will eventually destroy them. I cannot therefore allow a single hole in that bubble. Instead, I strengthen that spiritual bubble every day and stay guard, allowing my family to grow with spiritual enrichment. 

Holiness is an act of continuous trust in God, humbly asking for help in times of need. It’s possible in ordinary life. But sometimes there may be cases when we need to stay away from people or places that lead us into temptation. Frequent reception of the Holy Sacraments is a sure way to receive that grace. My family sustains itself because of this grace: Daily Holy Mass and frequent reception of the Sacrament of Confession. 

Do you think your interior spiritual home needs some work? Or at least an enhancement? Focus on virtuous habits, and you will experience holiness—the taste of heaven.

George Harris lives in Chicago with his wife Josephina and five children. He is a  software professional.