A woman asked me what I meant by the word, "holy." I stammered, searching for an answer.

Jan and I were leading a workshop for a group of Benedictine Oblates, and I said something about the Rule of Benedict as a guide for living a holy life. That was when she asked the question - What do you mean by "holy"?

Two weeks later, I still have no definition. I do, however, have some answers:

• A holy life is one awake to wonder.
• It has little to do with rules, and much to do with reverence.
• A holy life is not a life of spotless polished surfaces, but of echoing scoured depths.
• Holiness treads lightly among all creation, treating each person and thing as a miraculous gift.
• At times holiness may be manifest in passive, patient endurance of suffering. At other times, it manifests as fierce, passionate struggle against injustice.
• Holiness is humble; the very opposite of self-righteous. A holy person is one deeply aware of sin, of his or her own human frailty. Holiness is always amazed by grace.
• Thus, holiness is never fully attained, but always pursued - not frantically or fearfully, but trustingly. In the words of Julian of Norwich, a holy life is lived in faith that "all will be well, and all manner of things will be well."
• Holiness, to borrow a phrase from St. Paul, "does not insist on its own way." I love this quotation from Jericho Brown: "I am a believer. True believers see their way as the way. That doesn't mean I can't stand someone else's way. It means that I am capable of joyfully getting lost in my own."[1]
• Maybe that's it: a holy life is one capable of joyfully getting lost in the wonder of God's love.
• Holiness is not withdrawal from life; it is turning away from a shallow life to passionately embrace life's finest gifts.

"What is holiness?" Jackie asks from the audience, throwing me off a little. Well, for the previous hour we've been giving a presentation on the "Tools for the Christian Life" from the 4th Chapter of the Rule of Benedict. Tools to become holy. And she's digging for a definition that turns out to be a discussion gold mine.

In Leviticus 11:44a, God said, "Be holy as I am holy." Jesus is the mirror image of God. Jesus lived every moment focused on the will of his Father. We mirror holiness when we live for God alone and make God's will our one aim. Benedict left us a toolbox of instruments in Chapter 4 --  #61 advises us: "Not to wish to be called holy before one is so; but first to be holy, that one may truly be called so." Let us strive each day to hold up a mirror between our actions and the goodness of God, always keeping our focus on the will of the Father.