Be Holy

Yesterday's Mass reading from 1 Peter concluded with the line: "Be holy, for I (God) am holy."

What I heard in that is not an invitation to fruitless and impossible striving after perfection issued by a God who isn't satisfied with us and wants us to do better. Or the echoing of an arrogant mind that makes projects of self-improvement, calling it "pursuit of holiness." Or some confused and shame-infused realization that I should be better, and I'll have to try, now that it's Lent.

What I heard is God at creation. He has an intent in His heart, and he makes it reality by speaking it forth: Let there be light, and there was light.

What I heard is Jesus with the leper who has approached Him in faith: I do will it; be made clean. 

What I heard is Ananias, sent on a mission of healing to Saul who is in the midst of the conversion of his life: Brother Saul, receive your sight.

Faith, hope, charity. Hmm, do they fit? Creation itself receives its substance from God. The leper cupped his heart upward to Jesus to receive from Him, requesting with hope of receiving. Ananias went to Saul animated not by his own understanding, feeling, motivation or decision, but by the word and call that Ananias was able to receive because he was in a communion of love with God. That love brought Saul healing.

There's definitely human agency involved with the command of God Peter records, but it isn't a case where God makes his expectation known and the human then consults his merely human efforts and fulfills God's demand. Rather, this command of God calls forth what it commands. As St. Teresa of Jesus explains (in Chapter 25 of her Life, as well as other places), "When the Lord speaks, the words are accompanied by effects," and "he appears to wish (the soul) to realize His power and the efficacy of his words."

So hearing this Scripture proclaimed, "Be holy, for I am holy," I hear it as a command to receive from God. Receive this grace, be open to what He is doing, allow it free course, and cooperate with what it is pursuing within me. Wisdom! Be attentive! God is inviting you to an encounter with Him. 

To Teresa, prayer is an intimate sharing between friends. "It means taking time frequently to be alone with the One whom we know loves us." So the command to be holy is one to be received in this context of being wholly, intimately, and personally loved. It is a willingness to have called forth from us that which makes greater potential for this way of love. To be holy, we have to go to what is intimate to us interiorly, what makes for our integration, what involves our whole person. 

For me, writing is an integrating, personal, and intimate experience. So I shall write this Lent, to stand under this word: Be holy. There's usually some poking at fears, pain, shame, etc involved with receiving grace and allowing it free course, not to mention human stupidity and whatnot. That's all fine. I'm not going to try to produce but to respond. So, here we go.