Holy Unto Me

Leviticus 20:26

And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine.

In the ways of mere creatures, in the strictly physical ways, weakness is a flaw and might makes right.  True power is an earthquake, a storm, a consuming fire.  A still, small voice is drowned out in the blowing of horns and the swirling currents of shouting.  To win is to merely survive.  To die is to lose.  And yet… And yet we believe that the All-Powerful One, Creator and Master of the Universe, Eternal and Infinite God, has a voice quieter than the tiniest whisper, deigns to condescend into the limitedness of human form, and, thus vulnerable, is killed by the State upon an executioner’s cross.  If these are the ways of the Divine, then what does this say about the ways of mere creatures?

 

As human beings, we are created by the Creator in the Divine Image and Likeness.  Divine freedom is ours… And yet we choose to exercise this freedom in separating ourselves from the Divine.  Fallen from the purity of union with God, our divinely given intelligence is darkened and our divinely given freewill is weakened so that we are overly self-conscious and, caught up in the mere physical, we ignore, forget, and neglect the spiritual truth of our humanity as Images of God.  No longer God-conscious, our self-centered quest becomes one for power, seeking to be like what we think God should be.  We want to dominate and use Creation for our own selfish wills.  Naked and afraid, we either use might to push our wills or, frightened by the force of those who are stronger than us, we succumb to the might and follow their will.  But… What of the Will of the One Who created us in His Own Image?

 

God has created us to be other than merely physical creatures.  All that God has created is good.  Reflecting upon all that is good in Creation, God creates human beings in order that we may reflect the goodness of God into Creation.  God gave us intellect that we may know Him and free will that we may love Him and serve Him.  United with the Divine Will, we willingly place our whole selves, body and soul, into the service of the Divine.  Thus, in the freely loving gift of ourselves to God, we become who we are created to be.  Only in remembering, focusing upon, and caring for who we are in our entirety can we ever be fulfilled.  For we are holy, as God is holy, set apart for infinite love and eternal relationship with God.  To live for anything less, misses the mark of our full potential.  To strive for anything less, is a profanation of our integral holiness.  For we are made to be holy unto God, who loves us infinitely.  We are made to be set apart from the ways of mere creatures by our Creation; and we are re-made, restored, saved, to be set apart from the fallen-world concept of power in destruction by Christ, through the humility of God in the Mysteries of the Incarnation and Paschal Sacrifice.  This is the true power of the universe, this is the true might of the Divine: quiet… humble … vulnerable … generous… holy… self-giving love.

Christina Chase