The Great Fast is truly a wonderful time to think about God’s call to us to be holy. Why? Because we are more focused on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Although we the life of Jesus is always in our thoughts throughout the entire year, the liturgical life of the Church during the Great Fast is much more focused on how Jesus actually met the challenges of His life – the greatest challenges of His life! We are called to focus on how He lived out the life that was given to Him.

For example, it is reasonable to assume that Jesus knew that if He preached a message of “inclusion” and “love of enemies” to others, that He would necessarily disturb the leaders of His religion. He knew this as a man. And yet, because He knew this to be right, He chose to preach what He did. So at some level He knew that He would “tick-off” the leaders of His faith. He realized, however, that things had to change if people were to have a true relationship with God.

And so He chose to preach the truth, even know He would have to face the consequences. (An aside. All the prophets before Him faced the same thing. They all felt that Israel had to change. All were also killed because they opposed the status quo. Does this sound familiar?). He chose to lead an authentic life, living in accord with His beliefs.

Of course the “call to holiness” is a call to live in accord with our beliefs and not be hypocrites or Pharisees. That was truly a real part of His message. LIVE AS YOU BELIEVE! When you think about it, however, you realize that He said this to people within His own religion. He didn’t push His beliefs down the throats of those who didn’t believe like Him. He only sincerely lived the way He believed. So the call to holiness is a call to truly be the persons we profess to be. Faith is not a game!