Holiness

Homily for Tuesday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

“Be holy yourselves in every aspect of your conduct.” 

With this line, Peter gathers up everything he has been saying in his First Letter and hands it back to us as a renewed summons. We return now to Ordinary Time, but nothing about the Christian life is ever merely “ordinary” in the usual sense of that word. It is called “ordinary” because we use ordinal numbers (first, fifth, or in our case today, eighth) to keep track of where we are in the liturgical calendar.

Peter begins by reminding the community that the prophets themselves longed to see what has now been revealed in Christ. Holiness, then, is not an achievement; it is a gift long prepared. The prophets searched for it, the angels “long to look into” it, and now it has been poured into us through baptism. Holiness is not a project we undertake; it is a mystery we receive. It is God’s own life pressing gently into ours. For those who take seriously the universal call to holiness, this is the very shape of vocation: God desiring to share His life with His beloved.

Peter’s phrase is vivid. It means: be spiritually nimble, alert, ready to move when grace moves. This readiness often appears in small, hidden ways; such as a readiness to listen, to forgive, and to begin again when fatigue or discouragement settles in. Holiness is not perfection but availability. It is the willingness to let Christ act in us even when we feel inadequate.

Peter is not asking for dramatic gestures but for consistency. Holiness is not a moment but a manner of life. It is the slow, steady shaping of the heart until Christ becomes the instinct of the soul. In community, it appears in a life of shared prayer, of mutual patience, and in fidelity to the charism entrusted to the community. Holiness quietly transforms us and, thereby, the Church.

Peter’s question in the Gospel is honest: Lord, we have left so much—what now? The answer to his question is a promise of abundance. Whatever we give up to God, God gives back to us a hundredfold. However, notice that St. Mark adds “with persecutions” to this hundredfold. The community for which he wrote could see what was coming.

We return now to green vestments and the quiet unfolding of the liturgical year. But Peter reminds us that holiness is not seasonal. It is the daily work of grace. Ordinary Time is where holiness becomes real in our conversations, our periods of silence, and in our obedience to the commandments. Holiness is not the extraordinary moment; it is the ordinary, faithful moment.

“Be holy, for I am holy.”  It is as if God is saying: Let My life be your life. Let My love be your measure. Let My holiness be your joy. May this Ordinary Time be a season of quiet transformation, where the holiness God desires for you becomes the holiness God accomplishes in you.