Word to the Wise
Wednesday, February 1, 2023 - Wednesday in the 4th Week in Ordinary Time
[Heb 12:4-7, 11-15 and Mark 6:1-6]Strive for peace with everyone, and for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one be deprived of the grace of God, that no bitter root spring up and cause trouble, through which many may become defiled. [Hebrews]
By virtue of our baptism we are all called to "holiness!" Unfortunately, many equate "holiness" with piety and multiply devotions in an effort to build up "merit!" A lady once came to me with an unusual problem. She had a stack of holy cards about two inches thick. She had counted up the "years of indulgence" on the back of the cards which promoted various devotional prayers, and she figured she had God cornered. There would be no purgatory for her! Her worry was that she did not have enough time in the day to fulfill all those devotional requirements!!!! She did not appreciate my advice that she narrow it all down to two or three.
Holiness is the quality of our relationship with God. It is a measure of "wholeness" in which interior integrity is matched by exterior action. We know from our life experience that the effort to maintain holiness is not easy because of our human nature and bad decisions based on inner or outer appetites!!! In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, after giving absolution, I sometimes say, "You are a saint now! Go in peace!" That gets me a grin and acknowledgment of the task ahead!! The Letter to the Hebrews puts it well when it says, "STRIVE for holiness!" The idea is not to glow in the dark or look like a holy card picture of a haloed character but rather to see ourselves as God sees us: loveable but always in need of conversion. Putting skin on our faith is a lifelong challenge, but it is what holiness is all about! AMEN