Maturity is not equated with holiness. Holiness is not related to the degree of human maturity. Holiness depends on the grace of God and on the free response of the person. But maturity, nevertheless, plays an important role in living out a religious vocation (Champoux, 1998).
Maturity is not the same as happiness. It is true that a mature person will often experience more joy and happiness in life, but it is also possible for some emotionally disturbed persons to be extremely happy. What characterises a mature person is the lack of preoccupation about happiness. For such a person true joy and happiness come from giving meaning to their life in the caring service of others.
Maturity is not the absence of conflicts, difficulties, or tensions. Since it is impossible to have a totally conflict-free personality or tension-free life, those who do not experience problems are probably avoiding them or repressing their own feelings about them, and thus cannot be truly considered mature. Maturity is rather the capacity to face and cope satisfactorily with the unavoidable tensions of life.