Holiness
Catholics live and experience the Bible differently than Protestants.
Rather than always studying the Bible by chapter and verse
Catholics immerse themselves in the Bible by the way they pray,
Especially the Mass.
The Mass is filled with passages from the Bible,
From the sign of the cross at the beginning of Mass,
to communion when we pray, “Lord I am not worthy.”
Another example is when we say at every Mass,
Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God of Hosts. Is. 6:2
It comes from Isaiah’s vision of angels.
Who cry out night and day that God is Holy.
And when Isaiah saw the vision of angels crying out about the holiness of God,
He cried out Woe is me.
For he realized he was not Holy like God. Is. 6:3-8
When Jesus called Peter to follow Him,
Peter cried out,
“Depart from me, for I am a sinful Man. Lk. 5:8
These were prophets and saints saying how sinful they were.
What does it say about us?
Why is it that the closer a person draws to God,
The more one realize one’s own sinfulness?
Bishop Sheen explains it like this.
When we take a painting and hold it up to a candle.
It can look rather nice.
But when we take that same picture outside and hold it up to the noon day sun,
We can see every flaw and mistake.
The closer one draws to the Light of God the more one sees one’s own sins
And how different one is from God.
To be Holy means to be like God.
For God is Holy.
Do we strive to be Holy,
Or do we settle for just “being good”
Or being like everyone else?
No athlete settles for being average
No scientist settles for knowing what everyone else knows.
And no saint settles for just “being good.”
When they can be Holy as our Heavenly Father is Holy!
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