“The Lord said to Moses: Speak to the whole Israelite community and tell them: Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.”[1]
The readings today remind the faithful that during this Lenten season to strive to answer God’s call for all to live a life of holiness. The Vatican II Council’s dogmatic constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium explains, “Therefore in the Church, everyone whether belonging to the hierarchy, or being cared for by it, is called to holiness, according to the saying of the Apostle: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification.”[2]
The first reading from Leviticus gives several commands that are no doubt familiar to those who were raised in a Judeo-Christian culture as they recall those of the ten commandments. The ten commandments are often portrayed on two tablets. The first tablet with the first three commands is concerned with our duty to God and the other tablet with seven commands is concerned with our duty toward our fellow man. The African Bible Commentary informs, “In this passage, two types of relationships are explored: first, the vertical relationship between God and human beings and second, the horizontal relationships between human beings[3]
Jesus in the Gospel reading also is concerned with our duty toward our fellow man. Jesus gives a prophetic message of the judgment of all at the end of the world. Jesus teaches us that our actions toward our fellow men are indeed a sacramental act of worship.
Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.[4]
The importance of the apocalyptic passage from Matthew’s Gospel is concerned with the second tablet of the ten commandments. Proper worship and our duty to God are important, but the call to live a life of holiness is incomplete without the second tablet—our duty to our fellow man. The early Church’s understanding of sacrament, the visible sign of invisible grace, was understood both in the sacrament of the Eucharist and works of charity as Gary A. Anderson writes, “Early in the development of the church, the giving of alms was linked to the celebration of the Eucharist.”[5]
So, if you find yourself today seeing anyone as an impediment to your call to live out a life of holiness like your co-workers, friends, family, strangers, or even enemies then take this to the Lord in prayer. The Lord will provide the grace and understanding that those who are put into our lives are not roadblocks to holiness—but the means to it!
[1] New American Bible, Revised Edition. (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Le 19:1–2.
[2] Catholic Church, “Dogmatic Constitution on the Church: Lumen Gentium,” in Vatican II Documents (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2011).
[3] Tokunboh Adeyemo, Africa Bible Commentary (Nairobi, Kenya; Grand Rapids, MI: WordAlive Publishers; Zondervan, 2006), 160.
[4] New American Bible, Revised Edition. (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Mt 25:41–43.
[5] Gary A. Anderson, Charity (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013), 8.