How We Become Holy

‘BE HAPPY at all times … and may the God of peace make you perfect and holy … God has called you and will not fail you.’, says St Paul. 1 Thess 5.16-24 Ordinarily, when we think of perfection we have in mind no deficiencies, faults or flaws, measuring up to some ideal standard, completely whole, true, good and beautiful. To be perfect in this sense is never to sin.
In the scriptures, the ideal of perfection is quite different. It means simply to walk humbly with God despite our flaws. Perfection here means being in the Divine presence in spite of the fact that we are not perfectly whole, good, true and beautiful.
cf Micah 6.8
For many of us, our idea of holiness has been shaped by the former ideal of perfection. So holiness has been understood as a question of measuring up to a certain standard, achieving and maintaining moral goodness and integrity. Such a view has merits. It is a challenge against mediocrity, laziness, settling for what is second-best. This can be healthy.
But such a concept of perfection also has a nasty underside. In the end, we all fall short and this leads to spiritual pitfalls. We have false expectations that we can somehow fix all that is wrong with us through sheer will-power alone. We can’t; and because we don’t face this, we often grow discouraged and simply give up trying to break some bad habit.
When perfection means measuring up, we find it hard to forgive ourselves and others for not being God. When the dominant idea of holiness is something that only God can measure up to, it is not easy to give others or ourselves permission to be human. We carry around a lot of discouragement and a lack of forgiveness because of this
So without losing sight of the ordinary
concept of perfection we could profit from listening to the scriptures and accepting into our lives more of the Gospel ideal. Perfection here means walking humbly with God despite imperfection, as the following example shows.
The account of the rich young man asking Jesus what he should do to be perfect ends with an interesting exchange between Jesus and his disciples. The young man had just rejected Jesus’ offer ‘and went away sad.’ Jesus then turns to his followers and says; ‘It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.’ Luke 18.18f
The disciples were stunned! They knew they couldn’t do what was just asked. Peter spoke up for the rest; ‘If that is the case, none of us will get to heaven!’ – one of the few times the apostles actually got it right!
Peter voiced their helplessness, their inability to ever measure up. He is saying, ‘We simply aren’t capable of doing this.’ And Jesus is pleased. Why? Because he can make the point that ‘For you, these things are impossible, but nothing is impossible for God.’ Luke 18.27
On our own, none of us can ever be perfect. But that is not what God is asking of us. What God is asking is that we bring our helplessness, weaknesses, and sin constantly to him, that we walk with him and that we never hide from him.
God is like a good parent. God understands that we will all make mistakes and disappoint him and ourselves. What God asks simply is that we come home, that we share our lives with him, that we let him help us in those ways within which we are powerless to help ourselves.
St Paul wanted us to be happy at all times. That happiness is ours when we allow God to make us holy.
16/12/11 Peter Knott SJ