Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
Leviticus 19: 1-2
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| Nuns on a Beach Carlo Canevari |
The readings for next Sunday
take a “blinders off” look at what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
Some dictionaries define
“holy” as consecrated or set apart for God. Nuns, for example. When I was growing up, they were objects of
mystery. They dressed differently. They closed themselves into convents. My
friends and I didn’t know what they actually did, but we knew they embodied
holiness. So, as a culture, we came to
accept that definition; that things holy were things set apart – segregated
form the rest of us.
Over time, I have begun to dislike
that definition. Being “holy” doesn’t mean that we should shut ourselves off from
the world in order to avoid being tainted by its toxicity. To the contrary, when God invites us to “Be
holy, for I, the Lord your God am holy” it is an invitation into the world; into
a world that is often unclean, unfair, and unruly. God is not asking us to be
set apart; God is asking us to jump in.
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