“You Alone Are Holy” by Colleen O’Sullivan

“You Alone Are Holy” by Colleen O’Sullivan

Wednesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

"Great and wonderful are your works, Lord God Almighty.  Just and true are your ways, O king of the nations.  Who will not fear you, Lord, or glorify your name?   For you alone are holy.  All the nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed." (Revelation 15:3b-4)

“By your perseverance, you will secure your lives."   (Luke 21:19)

Piety

Agnus Dei

   Michael W. Smith

Alleluia
Holy
Holy are You, Lord God Almighty
Worthy is the Lamb
Worthy is the Lamb

Study

Our liturgical year is drawing to a close and we find ourselves once again reading material written to earlier Christians who were subjected to fierce persecution.  I know more than one person who finds these end-of-the-year readings frightening.  Yet there are words of great hope to be found in both of today’s Scripture passages.

In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus doesn’t mince words.  Being a follower won’t be easy. There will always be those who despise the name of Jesus, who will be more than willing to turn us in or do us in.  The Lord tells us not to be surprised if we discover betrayers within our own circles of friends or even family.   In the last century, during the Nazi era, we saw neighbors handing over neighbors and children informing on their own parents.  People today turn in immigrants and refugees without papers, unable to see them as God’s children with needs.  Wherever hatred or prejudice reign, whether in the first century, the last century or today, in the church or in society as a whole, we can expect such behavior.  Jesus’ last word today, however, is a word of solace.  If we keep the faith, our lives will be secured forevermore.  Not our lives here on earth, but our lives for all eternity with Christ.

In today’s portion of John’s amazing vision of the scene in heaven before the throne of God, the faithful and the martyrs sing the songs of Moses and the Lamb, extolling the great works of the Lord and the holiness of God’s very Being.  I can easily imagine Michael W. Smith’s Agnus Dei being sung over and over by God’s people before that throne.  As much as I love my life on earth, John, today shares a vision of life in heaven that far surpasses anything we know here.

Action

“For you alone are holy” is the line that stands out for me in today’s readings.  According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, to be holy is to be “exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness.”  As I look around, it would appear we worship at the altars of a number of deities other than our God – the pursuit of the “right” college, the perfect career moves, the “in” fashions, our financial portfolios, our happiness, the latest video games, the “right” friends.  The truth is, God alone is holy and worthy of our complete devotion; the rest is going to disappear when we depart this earth.  The faith we have in God is the one thing that stays with us all of our days.  Why not spend some time today listening to Jesus tell us personally how to conform our lives to the truth that God alone is holy?