Quick Links: Letter, Hungry for More, Moral Authority, Making the Connection, Further Reading, Next Steps

Hungry for More

The word “holy” has lost its original meaning in today’s parlance. It has now become a pejorative term. We make that which was profound into something silly, using it as an adjective for just about anything, “holy cow,” “holy Mackerel,” or negatively, for someone “holier-than-thou,” or a “holy Joe.” To be called “holy” in the past invoked awe and respect; now, nobody even knows what it means, let alone wants to be referenced as such.

The problem is that “holy” has slowly been subsumed into ethical or moral behavior. Therefore, it is associated with doing the right things or acting in a certain way given certain circumstances. Holiness indeed has to do with moral deportment, but not at its core. “Holy” is one of those biblical terms that, being so fundamentally associated with the Divine, is best explained by what it is not rather than what we can positively say it is. Essentially, the “holy” is the opposite of the “common.” “Common” is everything we experience in this mortal life of death, decay, and impurities of life. The “common” can range from the “clean” for things of everyday use, like one’s home, pets, possessions, etc., to the “unclean” such as dead things, impure sexual activity, or, back in the Old Testament, unclean foods.

We have to use our imagination to explore “holy” in a positive way. The visions of heaven in Revelation 21 and 22 do that. Heaven is our lost origins, that is, Eden restored, but even on a higher level. We have glimpses of the “holy” when we treasure good memories as we experience events in our day to day lives. We store them up and even embellish them, filling our longing souls with pleasure and delight. The holy is, therefore, everything the human soul longs for: the truly exciting, the unique, the beautiful, that which inspires awe, yes, even the terrifying, the glorious, etc. This being the case, the “holy” is everything everyone longs for, but most do not know this. Rather, they fall for Satan’s cheap imitations of the holy, which always leaves the heart empty.

Only God is Holy, the uncommon, incorruptible, the unique, the thrilling and the terrifying, the beautiful, and the loving. As such, He cannot come in contact with the common. We have an illustration of this in Exodus 19 and 20. Moses is preparing the people to meet God on Mount Sinai, which is understood to be a return to the Garden of Eden once guarded by the Cherubim with a flaming sword. Here, in a preliminary way, God invites humanity back into His presence on this mount.

They could not just come before God as is, but had to consecrate themselves, which took three days of preparation. To prepare, they had to:

come willingly
wash their garments
wait for three days
respect the boundary set at the base of the mountain by the pain of death, and
avoid sexual activity during these three days

We could spend a lot of time on each of these, but a few brief comments are in order here. We must be willing to come before God on His terms, not ours. The requirement for clean clothes takes us back to the Garden where our first parents were clothed with glory. After the fall, out of shame, they put on fig leaves, toiled and were soiled by the sweat of their brows. Waiting on God is fundamental; we do not simply storm into God’s presence just as we are. Sex is holy, but post-fall sex is “common” in comparison to encountering the Holy One. Moreover, pagan sex was fundamentally essential to religious magical rites. This command makes a clear line of delineation between pagan and Israel’s covenantal worship.

The notion of boundaries is crucial here. On the third day, Moses ascends the quaking mountain with the people at the foot. The first thing God does is to command Moses to go back down and warn the people and the priests not to break the boundary, lest He “break out against them” (Exodus 19:22). Moses is apparently annoyed about this and tells God this is not necessary because he clearly informed the people to keep the boundary. God emphatically tells him to go down again and warn them “lest He breaks out against them” (Exodus 19:24).

This double warning and the reason behind it are very telling. First, it shows God’s concern for the lives of the people. Second, it brings out the numinous character of God’s holiness, that is, something that surpasses understanding, creating a sense of awe and the terrifying presence of divinity; should they break the boundaries, God instinctively will “break out against them” because His holiness cannot exist in the face of presumption and disrespect, that is, evil. Something terrible will happen to them that is contrary to God’s wishes and mercy. We see that God’s wrath is essentially tied to His holy nature; it simply cannot abide chaos, and chaos, by definition, is the breaking of boundaries, whether moral or physical. It is not a matter of God being “angry” as we humans understand anger.

God, therefore, is infinite and eternal, above and beyond space and time. He can, therefore, only be terrifying to us who are finite and sinful. If we read the Gospels clearly, we see that Jesus is portrayed as holy in the same numinous way. People and demons are terrified of Him, as we see in the episode of the demoniac (Mark 5). Right before this, we find the disciples in awe when Jesus stills the storm with a roaring rebuke, filling them with great fear (Mark 4:39-41). Yes, the disciples felt Jesus loved them like no other love they had ever experienced. Still, they were terrified of him. They experienced Him as holy, numinous, full of mystery, inspiring them with terror of the “Wholly Other,” the revelation of Jesus as Rex Tremendae Majestatis, King of Awful Majesty.

All this theological freight lies behind St. Paul’s discourse in Romans 1.

Romans 1:18-32

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse; for although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man or birds or animals or reptiles.

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever! Amen.

For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error.

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a base mind and to improper conduct. They were filled with all manner of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity, they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them but approve those who practice them.

God is not pushing those who practice sexual deviations away. He has set moral boundaries at creation. We must come before Him on His own terms, not according to our desires. He does not wish “to break out” against anyone. For Paul, this “breaking out” takes the form of God “giving them up” to even deeper levels of moral chaos (repeated 3 times for emphasis, Romans 1:24, 26, 28), thus allowing them to fall away by the trajectory of their own choices, into the absolute horror of being separated forever and irrevocably from all that is good, true, and beautiful. Never before or after has the tragedy of humanity been as poignantly and clearly described as we have it in Romans 1:18 through 3:20.

God is not “giving up” on people; He is “giving them up” to experience the consequences of their choices when they persistently reject Him. This is the wrath of God, when God permits people to follow the path they have chosen rather than forcing them to repent.

Moral Authority

Scripture References

1 John 4: 9-10 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins.

Romans 5: 8 But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

John 3: 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Zephaniah 3: 17 The Lord your God is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory;

he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing

Romans 1: 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the truth.

John 3: 36 He who believes in the Son has eternal life; he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him.

Ephesians 5: 5-6 Be sure of this, that no immoral or impure man, or one who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for it is because of these things that the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

Romans 5: 9 Since, therefore, we are now justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

Catechism References

1040 The Last Judgment will come when Christ returns in glory. Only the Father knows the day and the hour; only he determines the moment of its coming. Then through his Son Jesus Christ he will pronounce the final word on all history. We shall know the ultimate meaning of the whole work of creation and of the entire economy of salvation and understand the marvellous ways by which his Providence led everything towards its final end. The Last Judgment will reveal that God’s justice triumphs over all the injustices committed by his creatures and that God’s love is stronger than death.

2302 By recalling the commandment, “You shall not kill,” our Lord asked for peace of heart and denounced murderous anger and hatred as immoral. Anger is a desire for revenge. “To desire vengeance in order to do evil to someone who should be punished is illicit,” but it is praiseworthy to impose restitution “to correct vices and maintain justice.” If anger reaches the point of a deliberate desire to kill or seriously wound a neighbor, it is gravely against charity; it is a mortal sin. The Lord says, “Everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment.”

2303 Deliberate hatred is contrary to charity. Hatred of the neighbor is a sin when one deliberately wishes him evil. Hatred of the neighbor is a grave sin when one deliberately desires him grave harm. “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.”

Vatican Documents

Deus Caritas Est Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical on Christian love profoundly explores God’s agape love. It focuses on how God’s love for humanity is unconditional, highlighting that being Christian is fundamentally an encounter with the love of God.

Dives in Misericordia Pope John Paul II’s encyclical focuses on Divine Mercy, explaining how the cross of Christ is the ultimate revelation of mercy and the victory of God’s love over evil, sin, and death.

Pope Francis’s General Audience on Wrath Pope Francis explored the concept of righteous indignation, noting that feeling indignant at injustice is part of being human and following Christ, who himself showed zeal for the Lord’s house.

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Making the Connection

A Real-Life Example

Here we share a story to help people relate to the lessons by example. It may be a story taken from the internet, the tale of a saint, or an illustration taken from among our own church family.

The Story of Fr. Steven Scheier

From: The National Catholic Register, published August 19, 2011

https://www.ncregister.com/features/wake-up-call-changes-priest

Father Steven Scheier should have died on October 18, 1985, in a collision while traveling back to his parish in the Diocese of Wichita, Kansas. He suffered a major concussion and fractured vertebrae of the neck. Doctors gave him little chance to survive. But he did.

Shortly after returning to his parish, as he read the Gospel of Luke about the unproductive fig tree, the page illuminated, enlarged and moved toward him from the Lectionary. Shaken after Mass, he remembered that after his accident he found himself before the judgment seat of Jesus. Our Lord went through his whole life, showing him sins unconfessed and unforgiven since his last confession.

Father Scheier could only answer, “Yes, Lord.” Although a priest, he admittedly was not very spiritual and had practically no prayer life. The judgment was hell, to which Father Scheier agreed. He said the Lord was merely “honoring his choice.” But then he heard a woman’s voice pleading to spare his soul. He knew it was the Blessed Mother.

He heard Jesus say: “Mother, he has been a priest for 12 years for himself and not for me; let him reap the punishment he deserves.” Our Lady responded, “But Son, what if we give him special graces and strengths and then see if he bears fruit? If not, your will be done.” Jesus replied, “Mother, he’s yours.”

Since then, he has been hers. That extreme wake-up call with its eternal consequences has made all the difference in Father Scheier’s life and priesthood. Moreover, he wants it to make a difference in the lives of others. In the 1990s, he appeared as a guest on Mother Angelica’s EWTN show to recount his experiences.

In terms of near-death experiences, the Register reported on this topic in 2001. “I cautiously treat these experiences as a good thing, but not as a major argument for life after death and our belief in the Resurrection — the big thing is Jesus’ victory over death,” said Father Gerald O’Collins, professor of systematic theology at the prestigious Gregorian University in Rome. “However, he added, ‘Some people have quite a big change in their lives for the better after one of these experiences.’ Father O’Collins also sees no reason why theories about near-death experiences being a glimpse of the eternal have to be in opposition to those that attribute the effect to chemicals released by the brain. As he put it, ‘Who made the brain anyway? God.’”

Today, Father Scheier is pastor at St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church in rural Caldwell, Kansas.

Did your judgment experience transform your life?

It has changed my priesthood. More than anything else, I am very conscious of the pilgrimage here on earth. This period we have is a test, and time is so relative here compared to eternity — and so much depends on my time here.

What important things did you learn?

It wasn’t any question of belief in the tenets of the Church. But now, to me, heaven and the saints are not merely things on paper or in the books I read or at services; they are real. I believe with the head and the heart. A lot of our priorities are mixed up. My priority should have been to save my soul and others — what a priest should do, investing in that future, not investing in happiness here on earth. If we run from the cross, there is a bigger one awaiting us. We have a heavenly Mother. Since then, she’s been everything. Any one of us in the same stead would suffer the same consequence and experience the Divine Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ I experienced. His mother is the one who interceded for me.

Any other reason you were allowed to live?

My mission is to let you know that hell exists and we as priests are liable to it. But also his Divine Mercy exists. His love outweighs justice.

But mention of hell and sin are so unpopular today.

These are things that have to be talked about because they are real and are probably the most important things we can talk about. I remember years ago visiting Cardinal William Baum in Rome, and he said, “You have a problem in the United States. People are not going to confession anymore.” People don’t think they sin anymore. There are no longer lines for the confessional. Sometimes a priest sits for an hour without hearing one confession. How strange to me everybody goes to Communion on Sundays and nobody goes to confession. I see Communions being a matter of routine — no thinking about who we are receiving. The idea of the Real Presence is less and less in the minds of Catholics. We are depending more on science than religion.

When you once gave talks around the country (he no longer does), what did you see happening then — and now?

The Church as I saw it was changing. I’m seeing a remnant that is holding on to the traditions and to the doctrines of the Church, and the Church is growing less in numbers. Things are not relevant as they used to be, such as confession, devotions, novenas, Holy Hours, Benediction, perpetual adoration, and prayers for souls in purgatory. If (scheduling) is not convenient, people are not coming to any rites we have. Sports are taking over as precedents to religious activities.

People are following their consciences, and their consciences are not being directed by the Church in grave matters. I’m finding people do not want any constructive advice today. Remember the book I’m OK, You’re OK? We’ve taken that to the ‘nth’ degree: I’m okay, and you’re here to please me and affirm anything I say or want. Whatever I do or say is okay because I’m a good person.

Do you find not shying away from telling people the truth is unpopular?

Right now, to tell the Truth is to pay a consequence. The consequence being we’re not going to be liked, and we’re going to be talked about and avoided. That’s martyrdom, in a way, unbloody martyrdom. But we’re all called to be martyrs. We can be and will be if we stand up for the truth, even to the point other people are going to ridicule us for it.

He never promised us we would be popular being his followers. He only promised us crosses. But the crosses are bearable because he is there and because his Blessed Mother is there to lighten them.

Crosses are also unpopular to talk about, aren’t they?

I’m still very much afraid of crosses. Oftentimes, we avoid crosses. But our Blessed Mother and Our Lord have said crosses are like jewels, ways for us to get to heaven. The cross is the only way to get to heaven, Our Lord said.

When I look at the crosses, I look at the three on Calvary. The Blessed Mother said we can choose one of them. Remember the Bad Thief who cursed his suffering and the good thief Dismas? Which do we choose?

It’s only in suffering we come to know religious values. Proof is people who spend time in the hospital. Their suffering seems to bring them to their knees. I think that’s what God is trying to do to us now, to the point where we fall on our knees and stay there. The Twin Towers were a wake-up call. We didn’t heed it. At Akita, the Blessed Mother said that she could not hold back her Son’s arm anymore.

Do you propose we have a healthy fear about all this?

I don’t think we’re conscious of the fruit of the sacrament of confirmation. But this is the role of the Holy Spirit, making us soldiers of Christ: being unafraid, giving witness of the truth of the Catholic Church; and we become devoid of fear by our devotion and prayer to the Holy Spirit.

What do you see in regards to our Blessed Mother showing us how to lighten the crosses?

What is really paramount, to me, these days is the fact that the majority are not paying any attention to the locutions or appearances of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is marking out for us a detailed plan on how to get to heaven. That’s how concerned she is. It’s not a surprise, because we’re her children, and she loves us more that our own mothers. I found that out.

At the wedding feast of Cana at Galilee, she says, “Do whatever he tells you.” That’s what she has said in all the apparitions and locutions for centuries. “Do whatever he tells you.” Revelation has ceased. She’s said nothing new. What she’s done is what the Holy Spirit is doing in our time. He’s reminding us of what Jesus said we should do. The Holy Spirit and our advocate, the Blessed Mother, have the same job.

If young people want to know their vocations, who do you suggest they ask to help and to show them?

As far as I can remember in my early childhood, I had a special devotion to our Blessed Mother. Not expecting anything from her, I would go and write special prayers to her. She was always important to me — and remains so, even though I went off and did my own thing for awhile. But she didn’t forget, and it was to my advantage she didn’t forget. Early devotion to our Blessed Mother played a great part in my vocation to the priesthood and led me to the priesthood. I always relied on her for everything, especially getting through the seminary and my studies.

Why is the devotion to our Blessed Mother you have now so important for all of us?

The Blessed Mother is like our lawyer, our advocate. She is closest to God as mother of his Son and the spouse of the Holy Spirit. I don’t think we know how powerful she is. The Blessed Mother pleads, “Please pray.” What queen pleads with her subjects? She’s humility personified. In her mind and words, priests are special. They are to be likened to her Son, who is the most humble person who came upon the earth.

The one thing God does not stand for is arrogance and thinking more of ourselves than who we are. Look at the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee.

What major insight did you get about the Trinity and our Blessed Mother?

One thing I’ve learned is this beautiful truth: the Trinity — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — none of them, not one, can say “No” to her. They cannot. They will not. It’s impossible. St. Bernard said the same thing. Even here on earth Jesus could not say “No” to her. And that’s because his will and her will are one. Isn’t that somebody we want on our side?

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Next Steps

Ready to Take the Next Step?

It is not a sin to be sexually attracted to those of the same sex. The Church makes it clear that this attraction only becomes sinful when a person gives in to temptation and performs sexual acts outside of marriage. Since marriage, by nature, must be between a man and a woman, sexual acts between same-sex couples are always a sin. How can we better understand the Church’s teaching on homosexuality? Study, prayer and practice!

📖 Study

God’s love and wrath are not contradictory, but rather two sides of the same coin. God’s holiness is the coin. God’s wrath is the reaction of His holy love against sin and evil, which threatens the creation He loves. Read more about God’s love and wrath:

Exodus 34:6-7: Describes God as “abounding in love” yet not leaving the guilty unpunished.
Romans 1:18: Expresses the revelation of God’s wrath against all ungodliness.
The Cross (Calvary): Shows both the seriousness of sin (wrath) and the depth of love.
The Wrath of God from the Eden Project further discusses the concepts of God’s love and wrath as being part of God’s nature.

To see how God’s holiness connects His love and wrath, follow this 14-day reading plan. It traces this theme from the Old Testament law to the New Testament gospel.

Week 1: The Foundation of Holiness and Wrath

Day 1: Isaiah 6 – Witness God’s overwhelming holiness and the proper human response of repentance.
Day 2: Exodus 19 & 20 – Observe the boundaries set around God’s holy presence and the giving of the Law.
Day 3: Leviticus 18-20 – Understand the practical, everyday lifestyle God demands because He is holy.
Day 4: Psalm 5 & Psalm 11 – Explore how God’s love for the righteous requires a holy hatred for wickedness.
Day 5: Romans 1 – See how God’s wrath is a passive and active response to humanity abandoning His design.
Day 6: Romans 2 – Learn why God’s kindness is meant to lead people to repentance, not complacency.
Day 7: Reflection – Pray through what you learned about God’s standard this week.

Week 2: The Convergence of Love and Wrath at the Cross

Day 8: Isaiah 53 – Prophesy the Messiah taking on the holy wrath meant for human sin.
Day 9: Romans 3 – Discover how God remains perfectly just (holy) while justifying (loving) believers through Jesus.
Day 10: Romans 5 – Meditate on how Christ died for us while we were still enemies and targets of wrath.
Day 11: Ephesians 2 – Contrast the reality of being “children of wrath” with being “alive together with Christ.”
Day 12: 1 John 4 – Connect God’s love directly to propitiation—the turning away of wrath by sacrifice.
Day 13: Revelation 19 – Contemplate the final, victorious return of the Holy King who executes perfect justice.
Day 14: Reflection – Journal about how this view of God changes your daily obedience.

How to Process Each Day

Ask: What does this passage reveal about God’s purity?
Ask: How does Jesus bridge the gap in these verses?
Ask: What is one specific action I must take today to align with this truth?

💖 Prayer

“Lord Jesus, I confess that I have sinned and have fallen short. I am struggling with [name the sin] and I confess I cannot overcome it on my own. I renounce this sin and turn from my old path. I ask that you wash me in your blood and purify my heart. Fill me with your Holy Spirit to give me the power to walk in purity, righteousness, and truth. Thank you for your grace and your power to change me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

From: Prayer for Freedom from Habitual Sins | Wild At Heart

✝️ Practice

Embracing God’s design requires aligning your daily actions with His character. His holiness is the bridge between His love and His wrath; because He is perfectly pure, He fiercely loves what is good and righteously opposes what destroys it.

Here is how you can practically live out this understanding every day.

Practice Intentional Repentance

Name specific sins. Avoid vague prayers like “forgive my flaws” and name the exact behaviors that miss God’s holy standard.
Keep short accounts. Make a commitment to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Make your confession once a month, every two weeks, or even once a week to prevent sin from hardening your heart.
Cultivate holy fear. Treat sin as a destructive force that opposes God’s good design, not just a minor mistake.

Align Your Daily Routine with His Design

Honor your body. View physical health, rest, and boundaries as stewardship of a temple designed by God.
Surrender your Schedule. Dedicate the first moments of your day to prayer, recognizing His authority over your time.
Audit your entertainment. Filter media choices by asking if they celebrate things that violate God’s holiness.

Pursue Relational Justice and Love

Speak truth gently. Do not compromise holiness to keep a false peace, but never weaponize truth to hurt others.
Protect the vulnerable. Stand against moral impurity and injustice fearing God’s wrath for ourselves and others.
Give benevolent interpretation to the actions of others. Only God really knows a person’s heart.

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Hungry for More

Moral Authority

Scripture References

Catechism References

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Making the Connection

A Real-Life Example

The Story of Fr. Steven Scheier

Further Reading

Additional Reading Materials

Next Steps

Ready to Take the Next Step?

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