The sacredness of modern life has too often been obscured by the idea that the only holy place is the built church. Such a notion is wholly at odds with the idea teaching that God is present in all places; while Jesus’ own specifications have nothing to do with buildings, but rather any place ‘where two or three are gathered together in my name’. The ground on which we all stand is holy ground. It is good to recall the words of the Sufi mystic, Rumi: ‘I searched for God and could not find Him. I looked into my heart and there I saw Him. He was nowhere else.’
Tag: holiness
Saints alive
We tend to place saints on a pedestal as paragons of virtue way beyond the rest of us, whereas in fact all of us, saints as well as common mortals, begin as a mass of imperfections which gradually we weave into a whole, becoming ever more integrated as human beings.
A perfect example is Dorothy Day. After much promiscuity and drifting in her early life she went on to found the Catholic Worker Movement, setting up houses all across America where members could live for free, and providing services for drop-outs, alcoholics and vagrant people. In this way she put into practice Jesus’ command to love her neighbour as herself, and became fully realised as an individual in the process.
Holiness is wholeness.
