Called to Holiness
Seventh Sunday of Easter
Acts 1:15–17, 20a, 20c–26 / Psalm 103:19a / 1 John 4:11–16 / John 17:11b-19
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Reflecting on the Word
By Dr. Karla J. Bellinger
As I came to the end of today’s Gospel, I got stuck on the word “consecrated.” Jesus says it three times—asking God to consecrate “them,” consecrating himself for “them” and that “they” be consecrated in truth. What in the world does “consecrated” mean? I went to look up it up.
From the Greek sense of the word, consecrated means to sanctify, make holy, purify, or set apart. Its opposite is “common.” Jesus asks his Father to make his apostles holy, set apart, to make them saints. He gives himself up for them. The Holy Spirit will come to sanctify, purify, and set them apart as special for God.
As I type this sentence about being “set apart,” I look up from my laptop. To the right of the dining room table where I write, is a cabinet of dishes that our family has “set apart.” On the top shelf in the back, are fifteen of my mom’s crystal goblets that we bring out only for Thanksgiving and Christmas. They are not “common.” We handle them carefully.
So does holiness mean to be “set apart,” placed on the shelf in the heavenly “cupboard of the saints” like those goblets? Is holiness limited to those whom we designate “consecrated” and those who live in monasteries? Does Jesus’ “them” include us common folks as well? Is he praying for our holiness, too?
In the same cupboard, we also have some heavy earthenware dishes decorated with oak leaves. They are not delicate. They are special to us, too.
God’s children are as inexhaustibly varied as fine china and earthenware dishes. You and I—we are each unique and distinct. Each of us is created to become holy, divinized, and godlike, in our own particular way. We each have a sacred purpose in this world.
Consider/Discuss
- Unlike the self-help books that tell us that we are special and “you can do this,” we cannot divinize ourselves. The self-help movement suggests to us that we can get “better” under our own steam. How is that working for you? To be made holy, to be divinized, and to become god-like—that is a high calling, a great adventure. We need a helper. Jesus prays for the coming of the Holy Spirit. What happens if we disregard the presence of the Holy One in our midst and try just to “do it” on our own?
- Our world begs for holy and ethical people, not just in the Church, but in families, business, law, carpentry, technology, politics, caretaking, medicine, plumbing, and teaching. It doesn’t matter where you rest your head. God wants you and me to be holy. What does it mean to be continually made afresh in the image and likeness of God? What is your route to holiness?
Living and Praying with the Word
Dear God, sometimes I feel that holiness is a word meant for someone else. I stumble around breaking things. I mess up. I am not fine china in a glass-enclosed cabinet. I am just as comfortable in my boots in the dirt as on my knees in a church building. But if that’s okay with you, then I offer myself to you for sanctification. It won’t look like someone else’s holiness, but I’ll give you what I’ve got. You have given me a sense of your presence deep in my heart. Since you want me to be holy and pure and good, then, please make it so.