One of the holiest people I know is my former pastor, Father Don Lomasiewicz. Between his parish responsibilities and his duties at the chancery, he is a very busy priest. But despite his busy schedule, he always seems to find time for prayer. And he always seems to have time for all of the many people that come to his door. He never seems upset or flustered, but instead is always patient, kind and willing to listen. Most of us probably know at least one person like this, someone who we would describe as holy. They can be found in virtually every parish. But what exactly does it mean to be holy? We often admire famous people whom we would call holy, people like Mother Teresa. But we usually stop there, and fail to consider that we too can be like this; in fact, that we are called to be like this. Of course, if you want an example of perfect holiness, you only have to look at our Lord Jesus Christ, at the way he lived and died and at his teachings. In his Sermon on the Mount, he gives us a blueprint for what it means to be holy. Perhaps that could be summed up in his words: “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48). How can I be perfect? If those words don’t stop you in your tracks, go back and reread them, and then think about what they are saying. Some questions might pop into your head, such as: What can this sentence possibly mean? How can I possibly be perfect as my heavenly Father is perfect? I’m just a regular person who makes mistakes all the time. I certainly have my share of bad habits that I can’t seem to break. Why would Jesus give us a standard we can’t possibly live up to? Jesus didn’t make a mistake when he told us to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. Fortunately, he told us (and showed us) what to do, and also gave us the means to achieve it. Simply put, to be perfect, we have to start by becoming Jesus’ disciples. Put another way, we have to enter into a relationship with Jesus. (Don’t misunderstand what I am saying; we don’t have to be perfect before we can enter into this relationship; rather, it is only by entering into a relationship with Jesus that we can grow in holiness toward perfection.) Being in relationship All of us have relationships. We have relationships of varying degrees with all kinds of people: acquaintances, co-workers, friends, family, spouses. One of the fundamental aspects of being human is being in relationship with others. None of us could survive long if we were completely alone in the world, nor did God create us to be alone (Gen 2:18). Our closest relationships are those based on love. And so too should our relationship with Christ be based on love. When we really love someone, we desire to please the one we love. And the more we love, the more we desire to please that person. The true test of love is when we have to do something difficult or even unpleasant; think of a mother or father having to get up several times a night to care for a crying baby, for example. But the greater our love, the easier it is to do even the things that require sacrifice. That’s the great thing about love — the more we love, the greater our capacity for love becomes. In other words, the more we love, the more we are able to love. That is what holiness is all about — growing in love, in our love for God and for our neighbor. It becomes easier to perform loving deeds as we become more loving. On the other hand, the less we love, the more begrudging we are in doing good. It is more difficult to do the right thing, and it takes greater effort. The laws given by God to humanity are ultimately about how to love — how to be in right relationship with God and with one another. First, he gives the Ten Commandments to Moses and the Jewish people at Mount Sinai after delivering them from slavery in Egypt. The first three commandments deal with being in right relationship with God, the final seven with one’s neighbor. They are followed by a whole code of living for the Jewish people which essentially governed every aspect of their lives, forming them into a functioning society. However, this law is more concerned with exterior actions rather than one’s interior dispositions. In other words, they are more about what we do (or don’t do) than who we are: honor the Lord your God, keep holy the Sabbath, do not kill, do not steal, and so on. Ten Commandments, expanded With the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus expands on the Ten Commandments, giving us God’s original intent for his law. Once again, the law he gives us is all about how to be in right relationship with God and one another. What we do is still of vital importance; Jesus says, in fact, that the true disciple is “the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Mt 7:21). But he broadens the law to include our interior dispositions, our inner motivations — who we are. For example, one of the Beatitudes, which begin the Sermon on the Mount, says, “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Mt 5:3) not “blessed are those who do righteous deeds.” Jesus goes on in the sermon to make strong, challenging statements, such as “You have heard that it was said ...‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment” (Mt 5:22). He also says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Mt 5:27-28). What at first sounds fairly straightforward and not that difficult to follow (not killing, not committing adultery, OK, I can manage those) becomes a lot more difficult when it is expanded to include not being angry and not looking at someone with lust. Yet this is what Jesus calls us to — yes, to do good unto others, but also to have pure intentions, even to desire in our hearts the good of the other. In other words, he calls us to grow in love, to grow in right relationship with God and one another. He calls us not just to perform acts of love for others, but to truly love God and neighbor — to be transformed by love into love. Furthermore Jesus sends this call out to all of humanity; it is not just for priests like Father Don or for saints like Mother Teresa. The call to love is for each one of us, to be lived out in our daily lives, in the relationships we share with everyone around us. It is in living this way that our heavenly Father will make us perfect even as he is perfect.