Simone Weil: Today it is not nearly enough to be a saint, but we must have the saintliness demanded by the present moment, a new saintliness, itself is without precedent.

From Matthew Fox, 5/23/20

Simone Weil warns that

…today it is not nearly enough to be a saint, but we must have the saintliness demanded by the present moment, a new saintliness, itself is without precedent.

Holiness is a word worth retrieving.  One of the most telling questions that can be asked about a period’s spirituality is, what is its understanding of holiness?

A people’s grasp of what constitutes holiness will affect its entire way of living, questioning, celebrating.

I reject the fall/redemption definition of holiness as “perfection” and this for psychological reasons (Otto Rank called perfectionism “a disease”); and for feminist reasons–poet Adrianne Rich warns us: “Let us return to imperfection’s school/ No longer wandering after Plato’s ghost.”  Patriarchy countenances perfectionism.

In nature, beauty and imperfection abound together.  Every tree is beautiful–but also imperfect.  Theologically, we need to realize that the Greek word in Matthew’s gospel often translated as “perfect” actually means “ripe” or “come to maturity.”  Furthermore, in the parallel passage in Luke’s gospel the word is “compassion.”

Having criticized the dominant definition of holiness as perfection, I propose that holiness consists in hospitality–cosmic hospitality.  Creation has been laid out for us as a banquet.  God is a host; we are guests.  Through the Incarnation God becomes a guest and ourselves hosts.  Jesus offers an “eschatological abundance” that the prophets envisioned. (Amos 9:13-15)

From Richard Rohr OFM, May 17-22, 2020

Our common home is also God’s own house, permeated by the Spirit of God from the dawn of creation, where the Son of God pitched his tent in the supreme event of the incarnation. —Joshtrom Isaac Kureethadam (Sunday)

Saint Francis, faithful to Scripture, invites us to see nature as a magnificent book in which God speaks to us and grants us a glimpse of his infinite beauty and goodness. —Pope Francis (Monday)

We cannot jump over this world, or its woundedness, and still try to love God. We must love God through, in, with, and even because of this world. (Tuesday)

Without a sense of the inherent sacredness of the world—in every tiny bit of life and death—we struggle to see God in our own reality, let alone to respect reality, protect it, or love it. (Wednesday)

For all its presumed innocence, this way of life lived by well-off North Americans is both unjust to those who cannot attain this lifestyle and destructive of the very planet that supports us all. —Sallie McFague (Thursday)

We’re the only creature who can decide not to do something we’re capable of doing. That’s our superpower, even if we exercise it too rarely. —Bill McKibben (Friday)