What is Holiness?
by Rev. Eugene Hemrick
Until recently I knew very little about the Lay
Centre at Foyer Unitas. Thanks to a recent gathering it convened at
Visitation Preparatory School in Georgetown I learned more about it,
and I was also feasted to three scholarly presentations on holiness.
The Lay Centre is located in Rome, offering the laity a unique
opportunity to explore the history and theology of Rome. It conducts
week-long and weekend study programs for parishes, universities, and
other organizations that are built around liturgical prayer, study,
dialogue, and pilgrimages to various Christian sites in the Eternal
City.
To
live in Rome and enter into its spiritual life is to breath
holiness. Wherever one goes, there are churches that contain the
remains of saints, descriptions of their heroic lives, awesome
paintings of biblical scenes and of the church’s history. When you
sit in the coliseum, you can almost visualize the martyrs upon whose
blood the church is founded.
The meanings of holiness are numerous. As I listened to the
presentations on it, one concept in particular struck me: You don’t
work on holiness, rather you let God work on you.
As
I pondered this, I remembered when I first read the psalms in
Spanish and how it struck me that God wants us to turn toward him in
order to let his shining light shine upon us. In this case, holiness
means abandoning our self to God and just saying, “Lord do with me
as you will” — to look at God and let him draw out the holiness that
he instilled in us.
My
ears perked up when I heard the word authentic used in relation to
holiness. The word comes from Greek, meaning to be one’s self. As I
reflected on it, I recalled one of the early church fathers telling
us: “God loves us most when we are our self.”
When we strive to be our self, it causes us to raise the questions,
“Am I really happy with what I am doing? Is this what I am really
about?” Striving to be self causes restlessness and a holy anxiety
to strive better to be what God made us to be.
Closely related to authenticity is sincerity, which was another word
the presenters used to describe holiness. The word comes Latin,
meaning, don’t wax over. In other words, tell the truth. When we are
truthful we mirror Truth who is God.
At
the end of the evening I thought about the presenters themselves and
left feeling that they weren’t just talking about holiness, but that
they were striving to live it. They seemed to be ever so one with
it. This left me with yet another understanding of holiness: it
helps to be with people who are striving for holiness to be holy.
National Institute for
the Renewal of the Priesthood
6896 Laurel St. NW
Washington, D.C. 20012
202-543-4011
www.jknirp.com
Hemrick@wtu.edu
Partnered with The Catholic Church Extension Society
BACK TO THE TOP
