HOLINESS - CHOICES
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this Monday of the First Week in Lent
is, “Holiness - Choices.”
Today’s first reading from the Book of Leviticus begins, “The
Lord said to Moses, ‘Speak to the whole assembly of the children of Israel and
tell them: Be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am holy.’” [Cf. Leviticus 19:2.]
Did the person who put that in there have in mind the great
statement of Genesis: “We are made in the image likeness of God”?
So if God is Holy - we are challenged to be holy as God is holy.
In the lead Document of Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, Chapter V is entitled, “The Call of the Whole Church
to Holiness.”
So a few words about holiness in this homily.
TWO CHOICES
When it comes to holiness - there are various choices - various
understandings on what holiness is.
Let me present two choices.
There are a lot more and then some. Holiness is mentioned all through
the Bible and many times in religious talk.
Someone stands there with two fists like this and says, “Choose
one.”
FIRST CHOICE:
HOLINESS AS SEPARATION
A major understanding about Holiness is separation.
God is up there - out there - apart from us.
To be holy is to choose the sacred as opposed to the profane. [1]
To be holy is to go up there, out there, apart from others - and
enter into the presence of God.
Churches, temples, holy places have the sacred door - that separate
us from the non-holy and they take us into the sacred place and space.
Once inside there are even more sacred spaced.
There are steps, there are areas, there are doors and special
books.
There are titles: priests, deacons, popes, bishops, ministers in special robes.
Then there are Holy Days.
Then there is the Sabbath. Sunday is to be different than the
other days.
It is good to celebrate the Sabbath.
It is good to go to Church.
Jesus went into the desert to pray.
Jesus went into the garden to pray.
Jesus went into his inner room to pray - in lonely, alone
places.
Temples had the women’s section, the men’s section, the Gentiles
outer court. Temples had the Holy of Holies - where the high priest went.
Notice that this understanding of holiness has the major idea of
separation.
Some food was unholy.
Some people were holy and some people were not.
We all know the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican. Two men went to the temple
to pray. One man went up front and said for all to hear, “Thank God I am not
like the rest of people. I do this and I do that and I’m not like that guy back
there - that sinner - that unholy person. And the man back there said - with
head bowed, “Be merciful to me Lord, for I am a sinful man.” Cf. Luke 18: 9-14.]
And Jesus said that the second guy went home from the temple
that day - blessed - exalted in the eyes of God.
No wonder they killed Jesus.
No wonder they arrested and killed him outside the city - almost
naked or naked - thrown on a cross like a criminal.
And the veil in the temple that closed in the Holy of Holies was torn in
two - from top to bottom. [Cf. Matthew 27: 51.]
So that’s the first idea of holiness: separation.
It has its gifts - it has its meanings - it has its values - it
has its dangers.
SECOND CHOICE:
HOLINESS AS WHOLENESS
The other choice is to see the holiness of all the whole world.
The second choice is to see the holiness of all people.
Today’s first reading calls us to be holy - in how we see all
people - to respect, to love, to treat the whole of humanity as ourselves. It
calls for no lying, no falsehoods, no defrauding, no injustice, no dishonesty. If you see someone about to take the life of
another, reach out and try to save your neighbor. Have no hatred, no sin
against your brother or sister, no revenge, no grudges. It closes with the
second commandment - with the Golden Rule, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Today’s gospel calls us to be a sheep and not a goat - to feed the hungry, to
give drink to the thirsty, to vist the sick, the stranger, those in prison.
[Cf. Matthew 31-46.]
That’s holiness. That’s heaven. That’s the opposite to being in
the hell of selfishness, me, me, meism.
It’s the opposite of separation. It’s a stress on out there in
the temple of the world.
Listen to this quote from Tim Chester. It’s from his book: Everyday Church: Gospel Communities on
Mission: “Holiness is as much about what you do on a Monday morning on
the factory floor as it is about what you do on a Sunday morning in a church
gathering. Holiness is as much about the kind of neighbor you are as it is
about the kind of church member you are. It is as much about who you are when
you are holding a steering wheel as who you are when you are holding a
Bible.”
CONCLUSION
There’s two choices.
Choose one. Better:
Choose both. Best: Chose many ways of being holy.
Let me close with an imaginary example.
Two friends decide to go to McDonald’s.
They walk in and one guy says, “I’m treating. What do you
want?”
“Oh, okay,” the
other guy says. “I’ll take a Bic Mac, fries and a chocolate shake.”
“Grab a table, get some napkins, and I’ll bring our meal
over.”
4 minutes later the guy who was paying, brings over to
the table, a tray with 3 meals on it. Then he says, “I’ll be right back.”
He takes the 3rd meal, walks out the front
door, and crosses the street.
The other guy stands up and watches his buddy cross the
street and bring that 3rd meal to a homeless guy sitting against a
building on the street.
He comes back and says, “Let’s eat.”
They say a prayer - and the other guy says, “What was
that all about?”
The gift giver says, “I see that guy there at times and I
get him a meal. No big deal.”
Now a return to my question about holiness. Which is the greater sacrament? Being at Mass, breaking bread, eating the Eucharist,
with a church filled with people or breaking bread with a homeless man on the
street.
[P.S. Sometime during the Mass, it hit me heavy a
question: “Why didn’t I put in my imaginary story about holiness - that the guy
invited the homeless man into McDonald’s - to have lunch with a threesome?”]
