The angel said to [Mary] in reply, “The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.” (LK 1:35)
Have you ever considered what makes a person or a place or an object holy? Perhaps a Holy Card or a Holy Rosary, Holy Water or Holy Oils, Holy Mary or the Holy Family, Holy Communion or the Holy Land? God is the One who makes everything holy for he is the source of all holiness. Through the power of the Holy Spirit and the mystery of the Holy Cross, God makes everything that is receptive to him and his grace holy. Mary is holy because God created her immaculate and without the stain of sin. She is perfected in holiness through the power of the Holy Spirit that consumed her in the fire of his Holy Love and in the Holy Child who is consumed in totality by Mary’s heart, mind, body and soul. Mary is most holy, since in all reality, she is the first to receive spiritually and physically the fullness of Holy Communion — the eternal and redemptive gift of God’s love — the precious Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of God’s dearly Beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. God has called us to be holy as he our Lord and God is holy. He invites us to be one with him in an unbreakable bound and covenant of unity and peace that is meant for ever. Would you desire holiness simply for the sake of loving God more perfectly? Meaning, freely loving God with all your heart, body, mind and soul? Holiness could seem like an impossibility but as we know, nothing is impossible for God. We must embrace the fact that we are in constant need of the Father’s merciful love and redeeming grace in order to live out more fully the call to holiness and to walk the Way of Jesus by living out his holy way of life. So let us pray for the grace to respond like Mary and allow God to overshadow us with the embrace of his Holy Love and make us holy. “Lord God, king of heaven and earth, direct our minds and bodies throughout this day, and make us holy. Keep us faithful to your law in thought, word and deed. Be our helper now and always, free us from sin, and bring us to salvation in that kingdom where you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.” Amen (prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours – Week III)