When I was in the seminary there were earnest messages posted on the walls meant to encourage us. One was a quote from St. Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians: “This is the will of God, your holiness.” I wondered how to get that holiness: more prayers? more time in church? more fasting? more charity? To make things even more puzzling was the Bible quote: “Be holy for I, the Lord, your God, am holy” (Leviticus 19:2). Obviously God was not holy by doing more holy things. Rather, the holiness of God comes in the divine self-gift — in creation, in redemption, in sanctification. To become holy we must get the spot light off of little old me and learn how to give of ourselves to others.
