First Reading - Leviticus 19:1-2,11-18
Gospel - Matthew 25:31-46
The one of the teachings of the Catholic Church is the 'Universal Call to Holiness'. The same theme of holiness appears in the readings of today to remind us in the season of Lent to prepare ourselves keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus.
The first reading extends an invitation to a life of holiness. The Hebrew word for holiness is 'qadesh' which means to set apart for God and His purpose (paraphrasing can mean belonging to God). God recurrently reiterates in this chapter to imitate Him in His holiness by overcoming hurdles that prevent to love Him and fellow brothers and sisters. The portion that is given to us for our reflection concentrates on, how to show our love for our brothers and sisters. God instructs Moses to enjoin on people the guidelines to follow the path of holiness by loving their fellow Jews. This involved that they should provide for the poor, avoid cheating employees and seeking revenge on others etc. Apart from that, many of the commands here given are similar to the Ten Commandments, the Ten Words of Life. They differ in two ways. Firstly, they are more explicit, explaining themselves more, so that the value of the actions is more immediately appreciated, Secondly, they are positive, instead of the ‘Thou shalt not…’ formula. Each of the Ten Commandments conceals a whole positive way of life. Here they are applied to positive several positive situations. So ‘Thou shalt not steal’ includes paying wages on time as well as not defrauding. ‘Thou shalt not lie’ includes especially slander of one’s own family, a very easy gambit. Another positive duty given is to have the courage and honesty to criticize colleagues where this is due.
The guidelines given by Moses to the path of holiness are so designed to encourage people to manifest one's belonging to God (holiness itself means belonging to God). The manifestation of our belonging to God lies in our showing of love, concern, care and in doing justice to our fellow brothers and sisters. Such guidelines for our belonging to God is also expounded in the gospel where Jesus stresses that our belonging to God is manifested in our belonging to our brothers and sisters. Jesus unravels the glimpse of the last judgement. He emphesises that we will be judged on the basis of our love we show our brothers and sisters particularly in their needs. He also further implicitly alludes to the creation story of Genesis, 'man created in the image and likeness of God' to pin on the supreme dignity of humanity, hence to mistreat or disrespect a person is equal to mistreatment or disrespect given to God.
Dear friends, the path to holiness is not only something which is confined to our prayers in the chapel or church but is coincided with life; the way we treat or live our life. Our life of holiness speaks about our belonging to God, and our belonging to God is manifested in our life with our fellow brothers and sisters. The gospel and the first reading clearly show that our indifference towards one another or our lack of openness and love towards one another are the vices that displease God and occlude our salvation. The towering instances of cruelty, injustice, partiality, immorality etc. against people are against the path to holiness.
Our belonging to God or holiness consists in our life of kindness, generosity, love, compassion, and justice etc. towards one another. They constantly make us realise the importance of God and people in our lives. They in fact manifest our life of holiness in concrete sense and this life will certainly find favour with God like those who heard from Jesus, "Come, you whom my Father has blessed.... ."
Let's pray that we may grow in holiness everyday.
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