Are you holy?

(Lv 19: 1-2; 1 Cor 3:16-23,  Mt. 5:38-48)

          Are you holy?  Most of us chuckle when we’re asked such a question, for we view holiness as a mark we often fall short of as we go about daily living.  So, we chuckle.  All three readings for today claim, however, that being holy is not only possible, but also our calling and our destiny.  How could it be otherwise?  Since God himself is holy and we are made in the image and likeness of God, we are holy from the start. 

         The idea that we are holy from the start motivates St. Paul to remind us in his letter to the Corinthians that we are holy temples of God, and thus our destiny is to remain holy for all time (1 Cor 3:16-23).  In this letter, Paul calls attention to one way we can understand what it means to be holy—being set apart for the service of God.  In fact, this is how we usually think of holiness—set apart and dedicated to the service of God.  This church and this altar are holy because they are set apart for service to God.  In the same way, we too are holy because of our baptism.  

          We can speak of holiness in another sense, however, as mystery.  Holiness is mystery not in the sense of being unknowable, but in the sense of being in an indescribable relationship with God.  This indescribable character of such a relationship is what motivates Isaiah at the beginning of his prophetic mission to describe God with the words of the angels, “holy, holy, holy is the Lord” (6:3).  Isaiah quotes the angels because he has no words of his own to describe his relationship with God. St. Paul likewise hints at this mysterious relationship when he says, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).  Elsewhere, Paul describes this mysterious relationship with God in terms of our lives being “hidden with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3), and thus we have been “seated with God in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:6).

          Passages like these convey the mysterious, yet utterly real fact that, by virtue of our union with Jesus, we participate in the life of God: He dwells in us, and we dwell in him. For this reason, we can say that, in Christ, God's holiness is our holiness. In Christ, we are already holy (“Holy to the Core,” Scandrett, Christianity Today, May 2007, p39). 

          We can speak of holiness in yet a third way, in the sense of remaining faithful.  In this sense, holiness is a term that applies not only to God, but also to Jesus, to the saints of old, to ordinary Christians, and even to God’s creation.  In fact, it would not be out of place to say that dogs are holy, trees are holy, the weather is holy, and so forth.  This is exactly how St. Francis saw things.  For Francis, being holy for all things is a matter of being conformed to the holiness of God.  Thus, the key to his understanding begins with the holiness of God.   

           To say that God is holy is to say that God is always true to himself.  That is, God is always and never anything but God, and all that God does is always and completely consistent with who God is.  I AM who I AM, God tells Moses (Ex 3:14). God always tells the truth, always loves, always does good, always creates beauty, always hopes for the best for us, is always joyful and faithful because God is love, God is truth, God is beauty, God is unity, God is good, God is perfect, God is Holy.  Putting this in human terms, we would say that God is a person of integrity.

         The same can be said about Jesus.  Jesus came to do the father’s will, and he never deviated from that purpose.  He was perfect in his resolve and in carrying out the will of the father as Jesus understood that will.  He prayed to know the Father’s will and he applied that understanding to the best of his ability, even to the point of dying because of his loyalty to God.  Jesus was always true to himself and true to what God called him to be.  Clearly, Jesus likewise was a person of integrity.

         Therefore, Jesus is our model for what it means to be holy in the sense of being faithful.  Being holy means being true to ourselves as God has fashioned us to be, and true to the loving God.  This is just how the saints of old lived their lives. They listened to and responded to the Word of God.  They applied their understanding of that Word in their lives as best they could.  They allowed the Word of God to transform and motivate how they lived.  They show us that a holy life is one that expresses God’s love for others and for creation.  Like Jesus, the saints of old were people of integrity.

       Living a life of integrity is the message Paul delivers in his letter to the Romans when he says: “Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect” (Rom 12:2).  In other words, find out what God wants and do it. This is how we can speak of the holiness of God, of Jesus, of the saints, of creation, and of our own holiness and mean the same thing.  Being holy means being and doing what God wants us to be and do.