Cedric Pisegna - Holiness Is for You and Me (01/22/2026)
Father Cedric teaches from 1 Peter 1 that God calls all believers to holiness, meaning to be set apart from evil and grow in virtue like mercy, kindness, humility, and compassion—reflecting God’s character. He stresses the universal call to holiness for everyone, not just clergy or canonized saints, as God, the Potter, shapes us like clay through the Holy Spirit. True holiness leads to heaven, made possible by faith in Christ’s blood, and progresses incrementally through repentance, virtue, and prayer.
Introduction and Scripture on Holiness
Welcome to «Live with Passion». I’m Father Cedric Pisegna. So glad that you tuned in. I want to talk about what God is doing in your life right now, and I want to talk about holiness. God is trying to make us holy. Let me share with you 1 Peter chapter 1, and it says, «As God has called you to be holy, be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'» I was preaching at a church one time, and somebody came up to me and said, «Cedric Pisegna, that’s a different name. Is there a Saint Cedric»? And I laughed, and I said, «Not yet, but there’s one in the making».
And that’s exactly what God is doing in my life and in your life, too. He is making us saints. That word «saint» means a holy one. In fact, when Paul the Apostle used to write his churches, Corinth, or Ephesus, or Thessalonica, he would say, «To the saints at Corinth, » or, «The saints at Ephesus, » and that word «saints» means the holy ones. I wanted to help you to see that you are a saint. You’re not perfect, I’m not perfect, but we’re on the way. We’re in the making. Christianity is a journey. It’s a pilgrimage. We go from selfishness to selflessness, and that’s what God is doing in our life right now. You might be thinking, «What is God doing in my life? It doesn’t feel like God’s doing anything».
Well, trust me, God is the potter, and we are the clay, and he’s at work. Sometimes when I’m reading, or reflecting, or praying, I take out a little… I bought this at a store, it’s a little lump of Play-Doh. I’m too left-brained sometimes, that means real logical and black and white. And I want to try to be more balanced and get my right brain working, so I’ll just take out some Play-Doh and I’ll play with it. And I noticed something about Play-Doh, and by the way, I found out that they have adult Play-Doh now, has different scents to it, like cappuccino, some kind of barbecued meat, or some kind of flower-type scent, and I’ll take that Play-Doh, and at first when I take it out, it’s very hard, but after I play with it a little bit, and work with a little bit, it gets soft. And that’s exactly what God is doing in our life right now. He’s working, and moving, and at work in our life, trying to soften our hearts, and make us holy.
God at Work Making Us Holy
I must let you know that God is at work in you and in me to make us holy. You might be thinking, «Well, holiness, what is that»? Might have this idea of somebody in a chapel, praying for hours on end, they’re a holy person. Well yeah, they are. That word «holiness» means to be set apart. Isaiah has this vision, this grand vision of God in the temple, and he sees the Lord, and glorious, lifted up, full of light and glory. And the Angels all around the throne are saying, «Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts». If you’re Catholic, at mass we pronounce those words during the mass. «Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts». That means that God is separated from evil. At its root essence, that’s what the word «holiness» means, to be separated from evil.
So, for us to become holy, we must be separated from idols, from sin, from the seven deadly sins, anger, and lust, and envy, and gluttony, and all those type things. We remove ourselves from that, from the world, if you will, and then the positive side of holiness is virtue. Now, I’m talking about what holiness is and what our call is. And every one of us has a call to be holy. Virtue, let’s talk about that for a moment. God appears to Moses, and he said, «I am the Lord, a God gracious and merciful, slow to anger, rich in kindness». What is holiness? Mercy, graciousness, slow to anger, kindness. That’s who God is. Jesus, let’s look at him. Jesus comes on the scene, and he says, «Learn from me all you who are burdened and heavy laden, for I am meek and humble of heart, gentle, kind, compassionate».
That’s the sacred heart of Jesus. That’s exactly what and who you and I are called to be. «Be holy because I am holy, » says the Lord. «The will of God is your sanctification». That’s a theological word that means… to be sanctified means to be made holy. God’s will in your life and my life is to be made holy.
Examples of Holiness: Mother Teresa
This is the way God is. This is the way he wants us to be. I happened to be in Rome back in 2003, the beatification of Mother Theresa happened. Beatification is the final step before canonization. Canonization is the official term of somebody being made a saint in the Catholic church. Mother Theresa was canonized later, but I was her beatification where she was pronounced a blessing.
I was there with my mother, who is Albanian, and by the way, Mother Teresa was Albanian. I’m a quarter Albanian, half Italian, quarter Slovak, and I was there with my mother, and a half a million other people. St Peter’s Square was packed with people, all gathered because this woman, this little Albanian woman, all wrinkled and crinkled, and short, and old, this little Albanian woman reached out to the poorest of the poor. She loved everybody, and she was eventually declared a saint. That’s to me what sainthood is, the behavior toward people, kindness, mercy, love.
Universal Call to Holiness
Mother Teresa’s sainthood, and beatification, and canonization is legendary. But lest you think saints are few and far between, in our Catholic documents, Vatican Two and Pope Francis promulgated an Apostolic exhortation called «Rejoice and Be Glad About Holiness». He quoted Vatican Two which said, «There is a universal call to holiness».
By the way, that’s what catholic means, universal. A lot of people think, and they’re kind of misguided in their thoughts on this. They think that holiness is just for priests, or for sisters, or for those in religious life, or for a select few that have been canonized. Actually, in the Catholic Church, thousands of people have been canonized. Saint Francis of Assisi is my favorite, and Saint Paul of the Cross, and Saint Teresa, and Saint Catherine of Sienna. There’s so many saints. I’m sure you have your favorite saint, but there is a universal call to holiness beyond the canonized saints. Every one of us, you and me, are invited to become holy. And as I said, God is at work in us. God is the potter and we are the clay.
Personal Story: Father’s Funeral on All Saints Day
I know that I know that in my life right now, God is trying, sometimes with kicking and screaming on my part, trying to make me holy.
And again, that has to do with being separated from evil, repentance, turning away from the dark side, and growing in selflessness. Not selfishness, selflessness. You are called to holiness within your marriage. That’s where you learn forgiveness, and mercy, and kindness, compassion, love for each other. And there is also a call to the single life. I’ve talked about that in other episodes. You have a call to holiness, a universal call to holiness. Twenty years ago, my father passed away. I bear his name, I’m Cedric, Jr. He always supported me in everything that I did, whether it be playing baseball, or golf, or when I finally became a priest and started writing books. He was right there to help me all the time.
Well, when my dad passed away, I didn’t know how I was going to do it. I was so used to having my dad there as my counselor and my friend, and finally he passed away, and it was my honor and my great privilege to have his funeral, preside at his funeral and celebrate his life. And get this, it was on All Saints Day. In the Catholic Church, that’s November 1st. He had died a week before, and I actually had my dad’s funeral on All Saints Day. That’s the day in the Catholic Church where we try to remember, yes, the canonized saints, like Mother Teresa, and Saint John Paul the Second, and Saint Francis of Assisi, St. Paul of the Cross, and St. Romuald, and as I said, thousands of canonized saints.
And it’s also the day that we remember probably your mother, and your father, your grandparents who are praying for you. All these different people known to God alone, and to their friends, and to the ones that were close to them. They may not be officially canonized by the church, but they are saints.
Vision from Revelation
There’s this great vision I wanted to tell you about that comes in the Book of Revelation. It’s a vision of the throne of God. And as I said, Isaiah saw God, and said, «Holy, holy, holy». At mass, we proclaim that, as I said, but in this vision around the throne and before the throne, there are millions, millions of people. John, the angel are talking about this as John, in the Book of Revelation, sees this vision. And John sees all these people before the throne of God, and he says, «Who are these people»?
And the angel said, «They’re the ones that have come out of the great tribulation, and they’ve washed, » I want you to get this, «They’ve washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb». Oh, that’s so good. And they were innumerable, nobody could count them. So, that’s the point that I want to try to impress upon you, that holiness is universal. It’s not just for the religious people, it’s for you and for me. It’s for married people, single people, religious people, it’s a call for everybody.
Washed in the Blood of the Lamb
And by the way, while I’m still on the subject of all these people being before the throne of God, the reason they were able to be before the throne of God, as the angel said, they washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. When I talk about becoming holy, and being virtuous, and separated from evil, that is God’s will for us, but that is not what saves us. What saves us or brings us before the throne of God as right with God is Jesus’s death for us on the cross.
We are made holy, if you will, we are made right before God by the blood of the Lamb. If we truly believe, we will allow God’s power to work in us, and that power is the Holy Spirit. Notice who it is. The Holy Spirit, the one separated from evil. The Spirit that has the Spirit of God, that has the virtue, such as knowledge, and understanding, and wisdom, fortitude, piety, the fear of the Lord, love, peace, and joy, the fruit of the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit comes to work in us, to mold us and shape us. God is the potter, and we’re the clay, so that when we finally do die, we will be ready.
Holiness in Everyday Life
Well, this glorious vision, and we read that on All Saints Day.
I have this funeral for my dad on All Saints Day, and I don’t think it was a coincidence that I had the funeral for my dad on All Saints Day in the Catholic Church. It was a week after he had passed, and it was the right time to have it, but it wasn’t a coincidence, because Dad may not have been canonized by the church, and there probably wasn’t a whole lot of people that thought he was a saint, simply because they didn’t know him, but I knew my dad. He was married for 54 years to my mom, always faithful, and he lived a simple life as a carpenter, raised three of us children, I have two older sisters. I said he was a carpenter, he built the house, the very house that we lived in.
To me, being faithful, providing for your family, working hard, being determined, trying to help others, I know he was a very generous person to me and to others, that’s the stuff of holiness. Holiness is not out there somewhere that you can’t grasp it, it’s living your vocation well. This series is called «Be Your Best». You cannot be who God created you to be without becoming holy. I want you to be your best. I want you to strive for holiness. I want you to become all that you can be, and it means realizing your potential on a professional level, but it also means becoming all that you can be when it comes to being like Christ.
Holiness as Progression
«Be holy, for I am holy, » God says. We’ll talk more about holiness here. As I said, in the Book of Revelation, we’re told that the saved are standing before the throne of God, the holy ones, because they’re washed in the blood of the Lamb.
Now, at Vatican Two, we were told that there’s a universal call to holiness. Holiness is for you and me, it’s for everybody, and I want you to understand that whatever state you’re in, whatever your vocation is, you are invited to be holy. Most of you are married, some of you are single, and some of you are religious. What is holiness? At its root definition, as I said, it means to be separated from evil. Is there anything in your life that you’re clinging to that you know you need to get separated from? That’s why when Isaiah saw God, has said, «Holy, holy, holy». God is separated from anything dark or evil, but also, he was marveling at God’s virtue and God’s character. That’s what holiness is, as I’ve tried to demonstrate. And holiness is a movement in our life.
I want you to understand that change is incremental. I tell people all the time, it’s not perfection, it’s progression. It’s not all at once, it’s not immediate, it’s incremental, its eventual, if you keep at it. You can’t just say, «God, make me holy, » and God’s zaps it into you, and all of sudden, you’re holy. It takes time. It’s kind of like a fine wine, you become. I have this saying in my ministry that I really love. Who you are is God’s gift to you, but who you become is your gift to God. And I talk about becoming in many different levels. You become in your relationship to God. You become in your professional life, striving for your potential. But you also become when it comes to holiness and departing from evil, becoming as virtuous as you can be.
Kindness and the Beatitudes
We had an election recently in the United States, and there was a lot of anger, we had a pandemic, and there was a lot of frustration, a lot of fear, people are frazzled, and upset, and going through hard times. And I heard this saying that I really like. Someone once said be kind to everyone you meet, because everyone you meet is going through a hard battle. It’s so true. Kindness, gentleness, compassion, generosity, your behavior toward others, your behaviors towards yourself, that’s what God is after in our life. That’s what holiness is all about. And why should we become holy? First of all, because that’s the way God is. That’s the way Jesus is. And if we are to be his children, we must be like God. We must become like God, like Jesus. That is our lifelong call. I’ve already demonstrated to you that right from the Scriptures, holiness is the will of God for us.
The will of God is our sanctification, that’s 1 Thessalonians 4:3. And then we must be holy, because holiness leads to life in heaven. That’s why we become holy, so that we can live forever in heaven. And I told you it’s because of the blood of Christ. It’s because he died for us on the cross, and our faith in him, that we are able to stand before God at the end of time. But if we truly believe, we will allow the power of the Holy Spirit to work in us, to mold us, and shape us, and get us ready for that great beatific vision. If you remember Jesus’s teaching, he taught a lot about holiness, and I remember the Sermon on the Mount, he taught about the beatitudes, it is the gospel that we proclaim on All Saints Day. And you’ll hear Jesus say things like this.
«Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth». Notice, he talks about humility and meekness. And these are the people who will inherit the earth, the new earth, heaven itself. Jesus said, «Blessed are you who hunger for God, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for you will obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for you will see God. And blessed are the peacemakers, for you will be called the sons and daughters of God». And what I love about the beatitudes is Jesus said, «Rejoice and be glad. Your reward will be great in heaven».
Heaven as the Wedding Feast
So, he’s inviting us to be peacemakers. He’s inviting us to be merciful. He’s inviting us to be meek and to hunger for God, because the result of that will be this amazing beatific vision, and heaven itself. In the Scriptures, it talks about what heaven will be like, and it calls heaven the wedding feast of the Lamb. Now, as a Catholic priest, I have presided at some weddings. Most recently, I had a wedding for my cousin, a joyous occasion. We were in Boston for that, right on the harbor, Boston Harbor. Had the wedding at Boston College, and the reception was at the harbor there, at a big hotel. And I mean, there were all these people there, and there was all this feasting, and the best music, and joy, and happiness.
That’s why the Apostolic exhortation that Pope Francis had was called «Rejoice and Be Glad». And that’s exactly what Jesus said here in the beatitudes. Rejoice and be glad, because heaven will be this great wedding feast of the Lamb, and what does that mean? There will be, first of all, the reunion with the ones that we love. There will be celebrating, feasting, the finest choice wines. Every tear will be wiped away, and death will be no more.
The Role of the Holy Spirit
«Be holy, for I am holy». Now, we’ve all met holy people in our life, and they have helped us to be motivated, to strive for holiness even more. And I know that I know that religious life is sanctifying me, or making me holy. Your vocation, whatever it is, God is working in you.
I talked a little bit about the Holy Spirit, and I want to go to that very quickly. Notice, when we talk about God’s Spirit, we say the Holy Spirit, separated from evil. And the great ministry of the Holy Spirit, the great work of the Holy Spirit in you and me is to make us holy. Sometimes I’ll be driving too fast, and I’ll hear, «Cedric, slow down». Yeah, it’s my conscience, but is it just my conscience? Or I’ll be eating too much, and I’ll hear, «Cedric, stop». Is that just me, or is that the Holy Spirit in me?
Somebody will have hurt me and I don’t want to forgive them, and I’ll hear, «Cedric, you can forgive them». The Holy Spirit comes to work in us, and I pray that as you’re watching this program right now, you will sense the voice of the Spirit identifying in your life what areas you need to get away from, and what you need to do to become holy. And one of the great areas of holiness I’ve found out from the Holy Spirit is developing our relationship with God in prayer. That’s that whole pious scene. Piety is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It simply means having a right relationship with God, that’s what holiness is. You become one with God. You allow God to take over your will, your mind, your body, your emotions. You give yourself to God. God is the potter and we are the clay.
Holiness is the great work of God in you and in me. There is a universal call to holiness. It’s not just for sisters, or priests, or nuns, or for the Pope, it’s for people in prison, it’s for you and me. And I’m praying for all of you who have watched this program that you will become saints. You allow the Holy Spirit to work in the Play-Doh of your heart, to mold you, to shape you, to make you soft, and to make you like Christ. May Almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.