"Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed."
We are familiar with this statement. We make it prior to our reception of Holy Communion. I have heard it say that this statement makes no sense for I have no roof over my head.
Yet we hear in 1st Corinthians: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God."
In other words we are each a temple of the Holy Spirit and thus we are inviting Christ present with us in the Eucharist to come and dwell under our roof.
Christ dares to enter under our roof why, but because He desires to give us the strength which is necessary if we are to undergo the journey of faith. Thus we can confidently proclaim: "be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy" as was stated to us from the Book of Leviticus.
This is precisely true for each of us because we are all called to holiness. The 2nd Vatican document "Lumen Gentium" "Light of the Nations" stated: "that all the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity; by this holiness as such a more human manner of living is promoted in this earthly society. In order that the faithful may reach this perfection, they must use their strength accordingly as they have received it, as a gift from Christ. They must follow in His footsteps and conform themselves to His image seeking the will of the Father in all things. They must devote themselves with all their being to the glory of God and the service of their neighbor. In this way, the holiness of the People of God will grow into an abundant harvest of good, as is admirably shown by the life of so many saints in Church history."
Saint Matthews's Gospel stated: "be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect." This is precisely the invitation that the Church is making to us through this universal call to holiness. The Church is inviting us to grow close to Christ and thus we in return are able to allow Christ to be at work through us.
Let us therefore invite Christ to enter into our roof thus we may begin to allow Him to be at work within us. Our life must become an extension of what we receive from the Eucharist. Thus we may assist the Lord in gathering souls for Christ, but first we must allow our soul to be directed towards Christ.
Lent will soon be upon us. I implore you to not allow the Lenten season to sneak up upon you without first giving it proper prayer and concern. Lent is the perfect vessel to assist us in preparing our heart to receive Christ and thus responding to this universal call to holiness.
We encounter such wonderous gifts here within the refuge of the Church we must be willing to invite others into this refuge and thus produce an abundant harvest for the Lord. May we thus invite the Lord under our roof and thus allow Him to assist us in this universal call to holiness.
