‘Be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am holy.’ But how?
Credit to Author: Ricardo Saludo| Date: Sat, 22 Feb 2020 17:03:05 +0000
I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not tax collectors do the same? … So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.
— Jesus Christ in The Gospel of St. Matthew, 5:44-46, 48
For sure, we will all fail. Only God is perfect; so, the call to flawless holiness in today’s Sunday Mass readings cannot but give pause to believers taking it seriously, even as most others text, click, like and surf through from the Book of Leviticus, third in the Bible, and Responsorial Psalm 103 to St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, and our Lord’s “love-your-enemies” discourse from the Gospel of St. Matthew.
Only two human beings are believed by the Catholic faithful to have been holy and bereft of all blemish: the God incarnated Jesus Christ, Second Person of the divine Blessed Trinity, and his mother Mary, rendered sinless by the retroactive application of the graces from Christ’s redeeming sacrifice. What about us sinners?
Well, we’re supposed to follow the path to sanctification blazed by Christ: Deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow him by turning away from worldly allures and devoting ourselves to the upliftment of others in love and grace.
Commands the Book of Leviticus: “You shall not bear hatred for your brother or sister in your heart. Though you may have to reprove your fellow citizen, do not incur sin because of him. Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against any of your people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord”
St. Paul admonishes the Corinthians and all humanity to safeguard ourselves from defilement, for “you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you… for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.” And that means opposing the excesses and idolatries of this world, “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God, for it is written: God catches the wish in their own ruses.”
Which is, of course, the very opposite of the ways of the world: advancing one’s own agenda and ambitions, racing ahead of the rest instead of pulling everyone forward, and wallowing in one’s wants in defiance of what God wishes. And the most derided of all is Christ’s dictum in today’s Gospel reading, quoted above: “Love your enemies.”
A fail-sure command
Can it be done: divine holiness in human flesh? The Psalm intones the one hope of fallen humanity: “The Lord is kind and merciful.” And: “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he put our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.”
In sum, God does not demand absolute perfection, just as no father expects his infant child to immediately run straight out of the crib. Rather, He delights in our clumsy steps toward Him, loving our faltering steps, and knowing that His grace will eventually strengthen our weak limbs, so we can run and leap with Him.
Holiness isn’t being flawless, but being fearless in our trust and hope in the Lord, whose grace and Spirit shall not fail to bring us all to heavenly perfection.
Of course, the problem for many, if not most, is that they not only lose hope in God’s grace, but worse, discard His edicts as not just impossible, but unworthy of human endeavor. Rather, the world turns to itself in what its denizens must devote themselves to. Find heaven in the here and now.
The sad thing is when humanity makes this world and themselves the center of living and yearning, then ungodly forces are unleashed, with no power above them pointing out their evils and retraining their excesses.
Witness the wars we have fought, the destitution we have allowed, and the despoliation we have spawned in the world gifted to us by God.
Still, the Lord is kind and merciful, as we shall see if we but turn to him. For as he commanded, God loves His enemies. Amen.