Leviticus 19:2

The English word, holy, dates back to the eleventh century old English word, halig, which means whole or healthy or complete. In the Old Testament the word holy was associated with ‘separadness’ and had reference to the temple, priests, the Torah, and of course, Yahweh. In the Catholic Church, the word holy embraces a broad spectrum of things: God, the sacraments, holy days, places of pilgrimage, and people who respond to the Lord’s call to holiness. In today’s message, I will talk about holiness as our calling to be perfected as our heavenly father is perfect (Matthew 5:48).

To be a holy person means to do God’s will. So, it makes good sense to ask ourselves what is God’s will? How do we know when we are doing God’s will? Surely we need someone, a role model, to set the example, and show us the way. Jesus is the standard-bearer of holiness for He is God’s only Son, and He came on earth to show us the way to the Father.

Jesus is our model of holiness in regard to the bad habits we need to uproot from our lives; and in regard to the virtues we need to cultivate; and in regard to the attitudes we need to adopt.

1. As for bad habits, we are to put away “all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice.” (Ephesians 4:30) This embraces negative thoughts; negative attitudes; negative words and behavior towards other people. Just as these negative habits found no place in Jesus’ thought, discourse and conduct, so also we should make no room for them in our lives.

2. On a more positive note, Jesus is the model of holiness with regard to the virtues that we should cultivate in our lives. This includes thinking of other people, speaking about them or to them. We should cultivate the virtues of kindness, tenderness, compassion, and forgiveness. To forgive means to give up our right to get even. We forgive, not because the other deserves to be forgiven but because we need to forgive as God forgives; we need to be holy as God is holy. If you find it hard to forgive someone, as many of us do, it is probably because you do not sufficiently appreciate how totally God has forgiven you, and continues to forgive you. Forgiving others is the first requisite of holiness. It costs us nothing, except to swallow our pride and let bygones be bygones.

3. Jesus has given us eight positive beatitudes that backtrack to the condition of the human heart; that rid the heart of negative attitudes within, and enable us to follow His way of holiness. He has also given us a spiritual guide who not only enlightens us as to what to do but also gives us the spiritual power to do the right thing.

Thus we are able to imitate the holiness of God whom we cannot see by having Jesus as our role model and the Holy Spirit as our step-by-step guide in our spiritual journey through life.

Strive, therefore, to be holy as the Lord your God is holy.

Fr. Hugh Duffy