Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 132 - Part IV.

YOUCAT Question n. 132 - Part IV. Why is the Church holy?

(Youcat answer - repeated) The Church is holy, not because all her members are supposedly holy, but rather because God is holy and is at work in her. All the members of the Church are sanctified by Baptism.      

 A deepening through CCC

(CCC 828) By canonizing some of the faithful, i.e., by solemnly pro claiming that they practiced heroic virtue and lived in fidelity to God's grace, the Church recognizes the power of the Spirit of holiness within her and sustains the hope of believers by proposing the saints to them as models and intercessors (Cf. LG 40; 48-51). "The saints have always been the source and origin of renewal in the most difficult moments in the Church's history" (John Paul II, CL 16, 3). Indeed, "holiness is the hidden source and infallible measure of her apostolic activity and missionary zeal" (CL 17, 3).    

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) Whenever we allow ourselves to be touched by the Triune God, we grow in love and become holy and whole. The saints are lovers—not because they are able to love so well, but because God has touched them. They pass on the love they have received from God to other people in their own, often original way. Once God takes them home, they also sanctify the Church, because they “spend their heaven” supporting us on our path to holiness.   

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 829) "But while in the most Blessed Virgin the Church has already reached that perfection whereby she exists without spot or wrinkle, the faithful still strive to conquer sin and increase in holiness. And so they turn their eyes to Mary" (LG 65; Cf. Eph 5:26-27): in her, the Church is already the "all-holy."    

(The next question is: Why is the Church called catholic?)