Daily Retreat 03/02/09
2009 Mar 2 Mon: Lenten Weekday
Lv 19: 1-2. 11-18/ Ps 18(19): 8. 9. 10. 15/ Mt 25: 31-46
From today’s readings: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.... The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul.... Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of Mine, you did for Me.”
Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy!
In a word, “Holiness” is the goal of Christian living, and Heaven is the home of the holy. And God explains that the best reason to be holy is not connected with any reward for holiness - rather, God simply says, “Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy!”
So to be holy, is to be like God. Now, since we were made in the image and likeness of God, holiness is not something foreign to us - it suits us best, in fact, like a tailor-made suit fits best. Yet because of Original Sin, we all have an inclination to sin, even though that is something foreign to us. Suited in sin, we become like the teenage boy who wears ridiculously baggy pants, or the teenage girl who wears uncomfortable skintight clothing - by all objective standards, such teenagers are poorly dressed, even if subjectively they’re convinced by their peers that such styles somehow lead to popularity. No matter how hard they might assert that these funny fashions fit them, in truth, if they were separated from the subjective aura of their classmates, more practical fashions would prevail.
So it is with our sins - in our immaturity, we irrationally allow ourselves to become attached to things with only an illusory appeal, even though such things don’t suit our noble nature as children of God. Lent is a time to detach ourselves from the subjective aura of worldly views and return to the objective standard of what is good for us, namely, holiness, everything that God says is good for us!
Lv 19: 1-2. 11-18/ Ps 18(19): 8. 9. 10. 15/ Mt 25: 31-46
From today’s readings: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.... The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul.... Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of Mine, you did for Me.”
Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy!
In a word, “Holiness” is the goal of Christian living, and Heaven is the home of the holy. And God explains that the best reason to be holy is not connected with any reward for holiness - rather, God simply says, “Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy!”
So to be holy, is to be like God. Now, since we were made in the image and likeness of God, holiness is not something foreign to us - it suits us best, in fact, like a tailor-made suit fits best. Yet because of Original Sin, we all have an inclination to sin, even though that is something foreign to us. Suited in sin, we become like the teenage boy who wears ridiculously baggy pants, or the teenage girl who wears uncomfortable skintight clothing - by all objective standards, such teenagers are poorly dressed, even if subjectively they’re convinced by their peers that such styles somehow lead to popularity. No matter how hard they might assert that these funny fashions fit them, in truth, if they were separated from the subjective aura of their classmates, more practical fashions would prevail.
So it is with our sins - in our immaturity, we irrationally allow ourselves to become attached to things with only an illusory appeal, even though such things don’t suit our noble nature as children of God. Lent is a time to detach ourselves from the subjective aura of worldly views and return to the objective standard of what is good for us, namely, holiness, everything that God says is good for us!
posted by FrPitstick | 2/27/2009
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