How to be holy

Holiness is a word that refers to what humans experience as sacred, special and unique about God, that makes God worthy of awe and reverence, which above all calls for worship and obedience from those who become aware of it. Isaiah's vision of God's presence in the temple (Is 6:1-8) well describes this experience. Remarkably the Jewish Torah makes it clear that human beings are regarded by God has capable of possessing the same qualities. "Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy." (Lev 19:2) It follows from God's declaration about human nature in the first Genesis creation story "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness." The potential for holiness is in each person, to be realised.

The notion of holiness described by an experience offers no guidance about how to become a holy person, however. The Jewish Torah is very clear about this. Holiness belongs to those who live genuinely by God's Law and Commandments. What this requires is obedience to the values of morality and justice embodied in the laws that give the Torah its name. These were summed up by Jesus in the saying that captures the essence of a huge code of social and religious regulations; 'You shall love God ... and your neighbour as yourself.' (Mark 12:30-31) Paul speaks about love being 'the fulfilment of the law'. (Rom 13:10)

In Matthew's Gospel, Jesus uses the image of separating sheep from goats in his parable about the last judgement, when all people must account for their lives. (Matt 25:31-46). He doesn't speak about the Law or laws as such, but gives concrete practical instances of what loving God and neighbour means, and what the consequences of action or inaction will be. It gives an everyday example of love in action, and from that can be gained an idea of how to recognise true holiness.

"Anything you did for the least of my brothers you did for me" says the Lord in the parable. 

Loving service of others can thus be an expression of worship and devotion to God. It is the good example which Jesus set in the way he lived from start to finish, of obedience to God's law in letter and spirit i.e. in practical essentials and right intentions. He distinguishes between trivial elaborations generated by false piety, and core moral and spiritual values. 

"For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished." (Matt 5:18)

Matthew's Gospel especially presents Jesus as the New Moses, who fulfils the law by his obedience even to death on the cross. His sacrifice reveals the true difference between the trivial and the essential in what God requires of his children.

Longing for God is inseparable from striving to follow wholeheartedly the path of obedience to God's way of holiness. Thus the Psalmist writes, and we can pray

          'I long for your salvation Lord, and your law gives me delight.
          Let me live that I may praise you, and may your laws sustain me.
          I have strayed like a lost sheep, Seek your servant,
          for I have not forgotten your commandments.'  (Ps 119:174-176)

         'Lord, may my ways be steadfast,  in doing your will'  (Ps 119:5)

   

In the wilderness on the Lord's Day

Only a few days into Lent comes the first respite from abstinence and fasting. The Lord's day celebrates the resurrection and is not intended to be a day of renunciation but affirmation. Yet, on the first Sunday of Lent the story is told of the sojourn of Jesus in the wilderness for forty days. The symbolic number of a sufficient and complete period of time has traditionally determined the length of the celebration of the seasons of incarnation and resurrection, as well as the season of penitence.

Jesus seeks solitude, and hunger to determine his own fitness and readiness for demanding years of ministry to come.  He is rendered vulnerable by extreme hardship. The story uses graphic images, depicting Jesus in dialogue with the devil (the original Greek word meaning 'one who divides'), probing his motives with three distinct challenges.

Jesus imagines what he is capable of if he truly is God's son. He could work miracles to benefit others. He could impress a great audience convincingly of his divine status. He could use his understanding of humanity to wield total power over the world's nations. But what would any of this ultimately achieve? Would these truly be the given means to realise God's rule on earth? He responds to the impulse to exploit his gifts even in a beneficial way, by recalling verses of scripture, that keep God the Father firmly in charge of his destiny.

'One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God' (Matt 4:4)

Amidst all the desperate calls for aid from a needy world, the response is not driven by need. First comes trust in God's promises. Only from this trust emerge right responses to the cries of the needy.

Scripture is, however capable of ambiguity in its interpretation. The devil can also quote scripture, and uses cherished verses from Psalm 91:11-12 to suggest a ridiculous measure of immunity in risk-taking, as a means to prove who he is. There can be no good reason for impressing others by putting oneself in danger.

'It is written: do not put the Lord your God to the test' (Matt 4:7) is Jesus' response citing Deut 6:16.

The devil promises him all the kingdoms of the world, if Jesus will but worship him. To do this would give 'divide and rule' an illusion of unity. God alone is one. In God all humankind, all nations are one, no matter what any may think about their own distinctiveness. Jesus dismisses the Accuser with a phrase appearing several times in the Torah. 

'Worship the Lord your God and serve only him.' (Deut 13:4)

Other texts equate reverence and fear with worship, but all make it clear where sovereignty lies. It's not with powers that divide but with the unique power that unites all creation, all people. All human powers and the responsibility of exercising them are the creator's gift to us. Our use of these gifts in any role we occupy poses to us the question; whose interests will be served here? Is this about our need or the need of others?

Some passages of scripture may seem irrelevant and so obscure as to be of no use to readers today. Even so, many key phrases of scripture are vital for Christian discipleship and the life of prayer. All point to the centrality of worshipping God and doing his will. Their relevance is made known to us as prayer life grows within us on our journey of faith. 

'Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path' (Psalm 119:105)

  

Reaching out

The Psalms carry images of longing in the face of deprivation, whether voluntary or forced. These point beyond themselves to the Giver of life.

'O God you are my God, for you I long. For you my soul is thirsting, like a dry weary land where no water is.' (Psalm 63:1) 

'I am afflicted and needy; Hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, do not delay.' (Psalm 70:5)

'You are my God, have mercy on me Lord, for I cry to you all the day long. Give joy to your servant O Lord, for to you I lift up my soul. O Lord you are good and forgiving, full of love to all who call. Give heed to my prayer, and attend to the sound of my voice.' (Ps 85:2-3)

Thinking about phrases like these, adapting them into words for our own frequent use, is a way to train heart and mind in simplicity and directness of approach to God. 

God promises deliverance from affliction to all who reform their lives, and strive to live in a way that leads to the good life God himself has taught and shown us.

Sometimes we may not see clearly God's way to follow, because of interior confusion or the pressures we feel are laid on us to conform to expectation, or please others.

'Show me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.' (Ps 86:11) 

It's an appeal that may help to give us the direction we need and the strength to follow it.

'Jesus noticed a tax collector' (Luke 5:27-32)

To be a tax collector, Levi would have had to turn his back on religion, culture and family. Levites assist priests in temple worship, and even if few were professional clerics, the clan name distinguished them as guardians of Hebrew religious tradition. His work would leave him isolated and lonely, hated by compatriates as a traitor for collaborating with the Roman colonisers, and despised by the Romans for being a Jewish turncoat. 

The call of Jesus is an invitation to make a radical change to his life. He seizes it decisively, and quits his job, regardless of the consequences. Then we seem him socialising with Jesus and fellow outcasts. Is this his farewell meal for his colleagues? Hereafter, his place will be among the followers of Jesus, sharing their adventure in giving to others, not taking from them.

'What can I offer the Lord for all he has done for me?' (Psalm 116:12)

The cry of a grateful heart to God.

Fasting and Abstinence

The Christian way of prayer recommends simplicity and economy in words, words that are considered, emerging from inner stillness and emptiness attained by suitable preparation of mind, heart. All kinds of meditative technique may be used beneficially to this end, yet the scriptures have little to say directly about them. It does, on the other hand, have a great deal to say about preparation of the body. 

Fasting is the voluntary limitation of food intake, going without meals, with various degrees of severity. It is not required of the young, the aged or the infirm, but on those whose lives are charged with activity for whatever reason. Abstinence is the selective renunciation of certain kinds of food, (mainly meat, fish, eggs, cheese), luxuries or even activities like parties or sexual intercourse. Both exercise discipline over desire and appetites. A moral effort is made to reduce dependency upon comforting pleasure, as this can be a way of avoiding the need to face things that are not right about our lives. 
   

Fasting and abstinence are associated with intense seriousness by all religions in relation to prayer. The intention is to free space within the self where God can be encountered without distraction from relatively trivial needs, feelings and activities. In Jewish tradition fasting has been practised with prayer since ancient times, in preparation for some great festivity, and as an expression of penitential sorrow and grief for sin committed. Even so, this kind of extra self-discipline is meant to be undertaken with due control, not taken to excess. The dietary laws of the Jewish Torah and rules for fasting and abstinence are inter-related, seen as the practical dimension of a wholesome life of prayer and worship. 

Christian use of prayer and fasting is derived from Jewish practice adapted to a wider range of social and cultural settings. Traditionally, the weekdays of Lent were days of abstinence, with occasions for fasting recommended on Wednesdays and on Fridays, the day each week when the crucifixion of Jesus is particularly remembered in devotional prayer. The full forty day fast has been practised in some communities since ancient times, remembering the testing sojourn of Jesus in the wilderness. Islam's forty day fasting season during Ramadhan is derived from the practise of Christian ascetics in the Arabian peninsula before the rise of the prophet Muhammad.

Readings from the Jewish prophets used in the initial days of Lent are notable for their critique of decadent religiosity, in the behaviour of those whose exercises in piety are not accompanied the practice of social justice as required by the Torah, particularly in relation to treatment of the poor and powerless. 

Isaiah's voice is echoed by other prophets, and by the teaching of Jesus. 

“In the day of your fast you find pleasure and exploit all your labourers. Indeed you fast for strife and debate, and to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day. To make your voice heard on high. Is it a fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?"  (Is 58:3b-5)

“Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh?" (Is 58:6-7)

Hunger and thirst, as an expression of longing for God, cannot be separated from hunger and thirst to see social justice done. 

'My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. When your judgements come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.' (Psalm 26:9) 

Mary's song of praise reminds us that God does answer prayer.

'He fills the hungry with good things, but the rich he has sent empty away' (Luke 1:53)

The choice of life

At the end of their journey from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land, Moses calls upon the people of Israel to recognise that the gift of freedom and a place to be themselves relies for ever on choices they will continue to make in their new life. 'See, today I set before you life and prosperity, death and disaster.' (Deut 30:15) 

The best of life can be enjoyed, as Moses says: 'If you love God and follow his ways' (Deut 30:16), not just doing whatever we wish. The lesson to be learned from the sojourn in the wilderness was how much people left to their own devices would disregard God's law, revealed to guide and protect them, with fatal consequences. 

It's possible for the most part, to life a good enough life, abiding by high moral standards and obeying laws which govern society for the common good. The majority of people see this as being in their best interests, or simply take it as a necessary given of life, for whatever reason. Society would collapse into chaos without this. The re-iteration of 'choose life' in the exhortations of Moses, suggests that more is to be expected, a choice to be continually renewed, renewed out of love for God.

True motives for compliance and obedience to laws that regulate life together may range from fear to ambition, or a sense of security in conforming to expectation. Love for God is inseparable from love for neighbour. Jesus quoted the teaching of Moses when he said: 

"The most important commandment is this: 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. (Deut 6:4-5) And the second is this: Love your neighbour as yourself.' (Lev 19:18b) There is no commandment greater than these."

The choice to keep on loving is always before us, and affects all that we are and do. Jesus, like the prophets before him, spoke out against hypocrisy - acting in a way that is superficially in compliance with divine law, but actually serving one's own self-interest, with no regard for the need of others. Paul in Romans 13:10 writes: 'Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.' Love calls upon a higher obligation to look out for the interests of others, demanding responsibility in the exercise of personal freedom. 

In choosing the way of self sacrifice that would lead him to Calvary, Jesus put the best interests of humankind ahead of his own. He set the example of exercising his freedom totally in serving others, conscious this was indeed a burdensome responsibility. 

'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself, and take up his cross every day, and follow me. (Luke 9:23)

All are mortal

Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, takes its name from the brief ceremony during the Eucharist of the day in which worshippers are marked on the forehead with ash, prepared traditionally by burning palm leaf crosses retained from last year's Palm Sunday Eucharist. 

"Remember that you are but dust. From dust you came and to dust you will return." says the priest to each person, quoting Genesis 3:19. The story of the Fall gives an account of all the world's woes and misfortunes as an outcome of the disobedience of the primal couple Adam and Eve. They are told "You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die." (Genesis 2:17)

Before acquiring knowledge, the couple are innocently unconscious of the passage of time and that endings follow beginnings. The moment comes when they learn they are creatures, made of the same basic material as everything else in the universe and sharing the same ultimate destiny. Only God is over and beyond the material universe, not dependent upon it to exist, free of all material contraints. Human beings play at pretending there are no limits, but even if ageing can be deferred a while, mortality cannot be escaped and must be reckoned with.

The primal couple feel shame at being found out in defiance of their creator, and experience vulnerability and fear at the unknown prospect of death. These feelings are part of passing from infancy to adulthood shared by humankind. They can act as driving forces for human action, for good or for ill.

The Lenten journey is taken in the light of divine forgiveness. It can enable us to deal with the painful sense of shame, vulnerability and mortal fear, not by avoidance, but by learning what they have to tell us about ourselves in relation to God.

The imposition of ashes challenges any illusions we may have about our human capabilities, but it is not the final word. Rather it is the first serious word in the process of coming to our senses and responding to God's appeal to return to him. Sure, humans are not immortal, but being reconciled to God opens a way to life in and with him that is abundant and eternal, which mortality cannot take away. 'Turn from your sin and be reconciled with God' is the appeal to conscience and free spirit accompanying this reminder of mortality.

Two of the three readings in the Liturgy of this day remind us that we are not playing a game with God, by asking for forgiveness after expressing sorrow for the offence we have given others, unless we change our ways, and renounce the attitudes and actions that lead us into sin. We cannot do this unaided. Admitting our need to God in penitential prayer invites him to heal us from the inner depths of our being.

We can make the words of scripture our own in crying for help. Repeated slowly, often, and with feeling, they can anchor us in humility as we reach out and seek the source of our being.

'O God make speed to save us, O Lord make haste to help us' (Psalm 40:13)
'Make me a clean heart O God, and renew a right spirit within me' (Psalm 51:10)
'God have mercy upon me a sinner"  (Luke 8:13)
'Lord I believe, help thou my unbelief' (Mark 9:24)
'Lord to whom shall we go, you have the words of eternal life' (John 6:68)
   

Honest preparation

Shrove Tuesday takes its name from the verb 'to shrive', describing the action of examining one's conscience and admitting truthfully without excuses before God, in a the company of a priest, all those things which trouble the heart are are considered wrong and sinful. The objective of the exercise is to hear the declaration of God's forgiveness from the priest, and be offered help and guidance to put one's life right in a moral and spiritual way that brings peace and restores confidence.

It's a day for diagnosis of spiritual ailments, for reassurance that healing and growth are possible, no matter how catastrophically we may believe we have failed. It's an important preparation for the penitential journey of Lent, in which sorrow and regret for the past are overcome by the struggle to overcome faults and errors that lead to estrangement from God. 

It's also a day to consider making amends, giving apologies to others affected by one's wrong-doing, making steps towards reconciliation, where this is needed. It could take a long time to complete this initiative, but recognising the need and desiring to act upon it are the first step. It's at the heart of Jesus' teaching: 
 
"Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering." (Matt 5:23-24)

"As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled on the way, or your adversary may drag you off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison." (Luke 12:58)
 
Reconciliation with God and with one another is an appeal made with vigorous passion in the writings of St Paul. In his second letter to the Corinthians  he says
 
"All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation" (2 Cor 5:18) and 

"We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God." (2 Cor 5:20).

We have to start by honestly recognising the state we're in and the need we have to make a fresh start with God.

Penitence is an expression of gratitude a result of receiving unconditional forgiveness, from the One who 'knows of what we are made' (Psalm 103:14)

Sin is more than the symptomatic thoughts, words and deeds that cause suffering, it is the very evil of suffering itself from which God lovingly longs to free his wounded, straying children. God's appeal reaches out to humankind from heart of scripture, likewise his promise  of compassion


"I have seen their ways, but I will heal them; I will guide them and restore comfort to Israel's mourners" (Isaiah 57:18)

"I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them." (Hosea 14:4)

Shrove Tuesday is traditionally the climax of carnival celebrations, one last celebration of indulgence before the austerities of Lenten self'denial are imposed. It's a way of concealing the true nature of the day, and it's no surprise that many carnival goers wear masks. Is this to conceal inner grief and sorrow, and hide genuine intentions? 

It's doubtful all that many people look beyond party time while it's happening, to the serious matter of accountability to God for their actions. It's not unusual to hide inner turmoil and torment behind a cheerful face, for fear of having to explain to enquirers that something's wrong. This behaviour is so common that it was written in to one of the world's earliest explanations of why human beings feel bad about things they don't get right.

"They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?" He said, "I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself." (Genesis 3:8-9)

But, as St John remainds us in his first epistle

If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:8-9)