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 3^rd 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 3^rd 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?”]