Stuff Catholics Like

Is is not only the Seraphim surrounding our Lord in the Beatific Vision that like saying the word holy as we learn in the Book of Isaiah. Catholics really like saying the word holy also. We talk about the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Family, the Holy Cross, Holy Redeemer, the Holy Name of Jesus, Holy Scripture, Holy Tradition, Holy Mother Church, Holy Communion, Holy Hour, Holy Water, Holy See, Holy Souls, Holy Days of Obligation, Holy Matrimony, Holy Orders, Holy Rosary, Holy Saints, Hail, Holy Queen, Holy Card, the pope as Holy Father, and of course the creeds talk about the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

In fact we even have Holy Doors, though they won’t be found at your local Home Depot. The reality is we can go on and on about words we place holy before. Even the word holiday is derived from Holy Days.

Now does this mean that Catholics are much like Robin the Boy Wonder who managed to constantly say things like “Holy atomic pile, Batman!” Well if anything Robin got it from us and the first Robin, Dick Grayson, mother’s name was Mary so maybe he was a Catholic. Holy sidetracked, Batman. Let me get back on topic.

So exactly why is there this fixation on the word holy? Fr. Hardon’s dictionary defines holiness as:

In the Old Testament the Hebrew Kadosch (holy) meant being separated from the secular or profane, or dedication to God’s service, as Israel was said to be holy because it was the people of God. The holiness of God identified his separation from all evil. And among creatures they are holy by their relation to him. Holiness in creatures is either subjective or objective or both. It is subjective essentially by the possession of divine grace and morally by the practice of virtue. Objective holiness in creatures denotes their exclusive consecration to the service of God: priests by their ordination, religious by their vows, sacred places, vessels, and vestments by the blessing they receive and the sacred purpose for which they are reserved.

St. Thomas Aquinas defines holiness as that virtue by which a man’s mind applies itself and all its acts to God. So the word holy covers a lot of ground and so it is not surprising that us Catholics can always find a way to slip it in when it is appropriate. Now while we bandy around the word holy a great deal it does not mean that we don’t take it seriously or have diluted its meaning. The use of the word holy is always in relation to the holiness of God. Whether it is objects that have been separated from secular use for divine worship or persons whose holiness is seen by their sanctity, the object is always God.

Catholics also like the word saint and we use that word for persons who have lived lives of heroic sanctity and have been canonized by the Holy Father. The etymology of the word saint is related to the Latin sanctus, holy, sacred. So even when we are not directly using the word holy we are using variations on the theme.

Now it is fine and dandy to use the word holy in so many circumstances, but the most important thing is for us to be holy. The constant use of the word holy should remind us to direct ourselves to God and to grow in holiness so that we can be closer to him. Holiness is not just something for priests and religious to do, but there is a universal call to holiness. In Lumen Gentium (we also like dropping Latin words whenever we can), the “Dogmatic Constitution on the Church” from the Second Vatican Council taught that “all are called to sanctity” and that “all Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of love. . .”

So join in the fun with the Seraphim (one group of Holy Angels) and add holy to your vocabulary, but most of all be holy in your life.