Meghan Clark writes:

There is a deep simplicity at the heart of Pope Francis’ new exhortation: We are called to become more fully who we are, the people of God. The call to holiness is at once personal and communal—pushing us to actively build the kingdom of God…

My college students are rarely relativists seeking to simply create their own truth. Instead, they are seeking authenticity. They recognize a pull inside of them toward a vision of the true and good, and they see right through the fake.

This universal call to holiness requires a relationship with God; it is a lifelong discernment process. Francis is clear that in accepting God’s grace, we cooperate with God and are more fully transformed over time…

We hear the personal call to holiness in the seemingly mundane reality of our everyday lives, and it is in the simple witness of those everyday relationships, of our “next door neighbors,” in which one is confirmed and strengthened on one’s path (No. 7)…

But if the call to holiness is deeply personal, it is not individual. We are called together. This is the central thrust of salvation history; God enters into relationship with the people.

This is the radical communitarianism and intimacy of Jesus’s prayer in John 17:21 “that they be one as we are one.” It is a call to participate in the unity of the Trinity. Pope Francis reminds that “we are never completely ourselves unless we belong to a people. That is why no one is saved alone, as an isolated individual.”