Transcription
It calls our attention a lot. The theme that arises in this first reading we have heard from the letter of the Apostle Saint Peter, who also speaks in the Gospel, is about holiness. The call to that holiness is not new; it comes from Leviticus, right? The holiness code that is spoken of in Leviticus and that phrase that the text just brought out saying, "Be holy because I, the Lord, am holy." Where is it that we have gotten stuck here, the issue that we don't manage to understand this? No, truly we are all called to holiness. We are called to holiness from baptism. From baptism we are called to be holy as God is holy. He is the only holy one with a capital letter. That is, we share and live in that holiness because he shares it with us. That is, it's not that we make ourselves holy. And here is where we have the hang-up that we don't manage to understand and that we have to be careful about. Because to speak of holiness and to want holiness and to love holiness and to reach holiness, we use the verb to do. And there we are completely confused. It is the verb to be, not to do. And see if it's not about doing things, because in the Gospel, the Gospel today has something further on that I will talk about because it is a little above that text. It got left there. The disciples are arguing, they are fighting, and the disciples say to him, "Hey, and then who can be saved?" And Jesus says to them, "You cannot." That is, it is God who can. That is, by your own strength you cannot, but for God nothing is impossible, Jesus tells them. And then Peter comes with almost a tone, hm, because the Gospel is not dramatized, but Peter almost has a sarcastic tone. Hm. saying, "Hey, see that we have left everything?" As if wanting to get a little bit out of Jesus this idea of, "Hey, we have left a lot of things for you. See what you are going to give us." And it turns out that when Jesus begins to speak with Peter, what he uses is a verb of leaving, not of doing and increasing. He says, "Whoever has left house, whoever has left mother, whoever has left, if you notice, it is emptying oneself, not filling oneself." And this is a topic within spirituality in theology that is very interesting because it turns out that God's dynamic, it turns out that God's understanding is completely different from ours. We think humanly that we have to do many things to earn things, and it turns out that God's logic is not human, it is divine. Who would think of leaving 99 sheep to look for one? Nobody. That would be humanly foolish. You would protect the 99 because you wouldn't go for one. God's math is not like that. And whoever humbles himself will be exalted, and then he who humbles himself will be brought down. That is, God's logic and holiness is not ours. And Jesus teaches us today in these texts as well, saying that the logic of holiness is not human. You will not become holy. Get that into your head. It is not you who does it. It is not you who achieves it. Holiness is emptying oneself. And I always like to give an example so that we can understand. A full glass cannot be filled. If the glass is full, it cannot be filled with anything more. That is, holiness is nothing more than emptying that inner emptiness, emptying many things to then be able to contain something more. When man empties himself, when the human being empties himself, when the human being leaves space for God's things, God can fill and fill what is empty. What is full cannot be filled. What is full cannot be filled. And it turns out that Jesus uses verbs of taking things away, right? That is, who leaves house, who leaves brother, who leaves this, who leaves responsibility, who leaves that. That is, the response to God will always entail a renunciation of something. Whoever chooses God must renounce things. They will renounce realities, perhaps people, perhaps concepts, perhaps ways of thinking, perhaps a past life, I don't know, whatever it may be. But the choice will always entail a renunciation. There is a renunciation. Therefore, Jesus uses this to teach the disciples. They have to learn to leave things. There are things that will be left behind. So, holiness begins not by using the verb to do, I have to do this, I have to do that, I have to do the other, but the verb to be, to be from the interiority. If we want to simplify it a bit more so that they can understand, without confusing what the father is going to say, because then they are saying what the father did not say and they say what the priest did not say. He already says, "Oh, the father said this and this was bad." I am not saying it is bad, but you will not become holy by the number of novenas you pray, nor will you become holy by the five rosaries you pray daily. Be careful. It is not about doing things, it is about being, being Christian, being a child of God. Interiority from the relationship within is not about doing many things. We will never earn holiness this way because it is a gift, because it is a present, because it is a surrender, because it is something gratuitous. We cannot pay for it. Therefore, Jesus explains it very well, and it's good, isn't it? It gives me hope because Jesus said, "For you it is impossible." That is, for us it is impossible. We alone will not get there. Now, for God nothing is impossible, Jesus says. That is, if you let yourselves be holy and if you begin to empty yourselves each day so that my Father and I can fill you, then we will talk about holiness. Otherwise, fill yourselves with many things so that you see that you will not advance. Let us ask the Lord for this. Let us learn from what he explains to us today about that path of holiness to which we are all called. Let us not serve ourselves with everything, because everything religious helps us and serves us. But in that interior response, it is important to give him more space each day, right? As so many saints tell us, the answer is in the saints, and sometimes we don't understand it, right? Learn to stop being me each day so that you can be you. And here we hear from uh Jesus' cousin, right? John the Baptist, who told us very clearly, I must decrease and he must increase. To the extent that each day we decrease a little, we diminish, we learn to die to ourselves so that God may be and so that God may grow, then we are on the right path. Let us ask Jesus for this, that we do not get discouraged, but that this is the path. Holiness is not a path of perfection. No saint was perfect; for the saints, those who did not tire of fighting. All of them, fall down, get up. Fall down, get up, keep going. And may the Lord reveal to us in that dynamic. Holiness is not perfection. There is no one perfect here. Holiness is the will not to get tired. As Paul says, Paul discovered it very well. I have to reach the end of the race, and if I remain faithful at the end of the race, I will deserve the prize. That is how much we have to ask the Lord, that he find us working every day, that he find us fighting every day to live that faith, to reach that path, and that we reach the end of the race each one, well, with that desire. Then God's mercy will come in. So be it.