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For many, the term “sanctification” sounds like unattainable piety or strict morality.

Virtus Dei interprets sanctification in a completely different way: it is not a moral climb, but a receiving.

Virtus Dei interprets the sanctification of everyday life in a completely different way: it is not a moral climb, but a receiving. Sanctification does not begin with what we achieve, but with the moment we feel: I am simply allowed to receive.

It is not about a moral high flight, but about letting the very ordinary, often gray or stressful everyday life be touched by a deeper power. The ordinary is transformed by the presence and strength of God. No one has to morally surpass themselves. It is enough to open the often gray and hectic day to God’s proximity. Where His strength arrives, even the most difficult things lose their desolation. Let us forget the pressure to be perfect.

How you become holy

You do not become holy through even more discipline or through the busy completion of religious duties.

You become holy by finally stopping the attempt to justify yourself through your own performance and instead accepting the encounters, the struggles, the failures, the existential fragmentation, and the quiet moments of your life as the place where God wants to be near you.

There are those days when you fail even at your morning coffee, have no strength for others, and only feel your own helplessness. Precisely that is what you do not have to hide from God. He is not waiting for you to finally have your life under control. In the midst of your listlessness, your doubts, and your arduous daily routine is the place where He very quietly holds out His hand to you.

In the various conditions and duties of life, the one holiness is fully developed by those who are led by the Spirit of God. – Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, 40

The Inner Altar

The sanctification of everyday life means removing the traditional and inherited dividing line between sacred space—such as the place of silent prayer or the church building—and a supposedly profane life.

When we consciously accept ordinary work, hours of waiting, the small struggles of daily life, and even deep pain, something amazing happens: our entire life is transformed into an altar. Right there, in the middle of the day’s hustle and bustle, we may lay down our burdens and hold them out to God. And He accepts them—not by suddenly wiping away all problems magically or changing external circumstances, but by changing something in us: He gives us a new, broad perspective on our own life.

Be holy, because I am holy.

1 Peter 1:16

God gives us prevenient grace and works sanctification through His Holy Spirit. But He never forces us. It requires human freedom and the conscious decision to accept this gift and to cooperate in everyday life.

Sometimes it is just the daily pressure—like a student at a desk whose head throbs with exhaustion as the exam approaches and worries about the future tighten their throat. Outwardly, the mountain of study material remains the same, but in prayer, in the offering, the burden is transformed into a path that is sustained.

But sometimes it is much deeper: the leaden weight of a loss or the stinging pain of a disappointment that takes our breath away. A person looks at the empty room of a loved one or feels an existential void after a shattered life plan. The world outside continues to turn mercilessly, while inside time seems to stand still. In this moment of being as it is, he places his pain of powerlessness and his tears on the inner altar and hands them over to the Lord. Outwardly, the painful absence remains—the world does not change. But inside, the transformation occurs: the pain is not taken away, but it loses its power to harden the heart and becomes a path that is sustained.

The Sanctified Everyday Life: In Three Steps

1. Remember

You are not starting from scratch. Because God is holy, your whole life has long been touched by His radiance. We have simply lost sight of it in the daily struggle for survival.

2. Do Not Sugarcoat Anything

Bring your helplessness, your mistakes, your frustration, and the days when you would most like to pull the covers over your head. God is not waiting for the tidy version of you. He is there in the midst of your weakness.

3. Let Him Work

Sanctification does not mean suddenly becoming a different person. Sanctification of everyday life is not a moral climb, but the gift of being allowed to stand there with empty hands, to feel: He has long been carrying me through this very normal, gray day.

Sanctification does not happen through human perfection, but by doing everyday tasks in the power and presence of God and giving them back to Him.

Sanctification is not an escape into a quiet chamber, but the courage for real life. Every arduous task, every endurance in a crisis has lasting significance before God. You do not need a special place to be close to Him: the holy happens exactly where you work, doubt, suffer, and love.

Becoming Holy? Why This Is Not Perfectionism—and How It Succeeds in Everyday Life

When we hear the word “holiness,” many of us first think of unattainable perfection, of dusty altarpieces, or of people who seem miles away from our normal daily lives. I know this thought all too well: “Becoming holy? I could never achieve that in the hustle and bustle of my life.”

But the Catholic Church and its spiritual tradition understand sanctification quite differently. It is not about a moral record of achievement or climbing a steep staircase by one’s own strength. Sanctification is essentially a relationship story—a path on which we give God more space in our lives step by step.

Since the early centuries, theology has distinguished three classic relationship potentials on this path that can serve as orientation for us.

1. The First Potential: Letting Go and Tidying Up

Every deep relationship needs a stable foundation. In this first potential—often called the way of “beginners” in tradition—it is primarily about shedding baggage.

We look honestly at our lives: What separates me from God? Which habits, vanities, or worries block my view?

It is the potential of tidying up and conversion. Through the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession), prayer, and the conscious decision to let go of harmful patterns, we create the space in our hearts that God wants to fill.

2. The Second Potential: Aligning Oneself with Christ

When the heart is tidied up, the gaze is directed forward. In this second potential, it is about concrete discipleship. We begin to align our thinking, acting, and feeling more and more with Jesus Christ.

We contemplate His life in the Gospels and try to incorporate His attitude into our daily lives: more patience in stressful moments, genuine mercy toward our fellow human beings, humility, and trust. In this potential, our prayer life deepens, and we learn to recognize God’s voice and His will more clearly in daily life.

3. The Third Potential: Becoming One in Love

The deepest form of sanctification describes what mystics call the intimate union of the soul with God. Here it is no longer primarily about what we do, but about who we are in God.

The person lives out of a deep, unshakable peace and anchoring in divine love. Even trials, suffering, or dry spells can no longer easily shake this trust. Paul once put this state aptly in a nutshell: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20).

My Conclusion: Where Do You Stand Right Now?

The crucial thing about these potentials is: they are not a rigid pattern that we must stubbornly work through from 1 to 3. In real life, these phases often overlap. Sometimes we feel a deep connection with God (third potential) and the next day we have to start all over again with letting go and repenting (first potential).

Holiness begins exactly where your and my real everyday life takes place—in the quiet decisions of the day, in the loving treatment of the people around us, and in the trust that God already promised us in baptism: You are my beloved child.

Now I am interested in your perspective:

  • In which of these potentials—tidying up, learning, or resting in oneself—do you find yourself most in your current phase of life?
  • What helps you particularly in everyday life to give God space?

Please feel free to write it in the comments below—I look forward to the exchange with you!