Holy Challenge

The call to holiness is the challenge of the texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary. The text from the Book of Leviticus instructs the Israelites to be separate from the peoples around them in the way in which they live a moral code which makes the adherence to the Law from God visible and obvious. Other concepts of holiness are noted by Friar JudeWinkler. We fall into these practices today. Our concept of holiness is mistakenly linked to perfect obedience to Law. Our striving in Pharisee like over attention to our keeping of the letter of the Law sets up a very legalistic relationship with God and prohibits the triumph of Love in our relationships with others. The religiosity through which we can find comfort in mouthing the prayers and observing the rituals but not modifying the way in which we relate to the people around us falls to present the love, patience and compassion of God to whom we pray. The 25^th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew takes us to a dramatic judgement scene where Jesus, coming in glory at the end time assembles all the nations and separates them into groups based on their practice of holiness. The sheep, which Friar Jude explains, behave less selfishly in nature than the goats by maintaining the foliage from which they graze and not disturbing the water for other animals, are described as those people who saw to the hunger, thirst, nakedness and oppression of their neighbours. These are described as the righteous and they are invited to be in eternal communion with God. The pattern of their striving for holiness by making obvious to the world of their mission to live selflessly in adherence to a moral code modelled by Jesus is the challenge for us.