God Sustains His Holiness in the Human Person
God is … holiness itself … He mercifully nourishes me with his infinite sanctity, and completely destroys my wickedness … Therefore, it is not I who am holy; but God who is holiness itself, who is in me, absorbs me, destroys me, and lives in me (OOCC, X, pp. 458 - 459; STA, 503)
St. Vincent Pallotti experienced God as Holiness Itself. In the bible we find God himself declaring that he is holy. When God revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush, he told him to remove his sandals, for the ground on which he was standing was holy because the holy God has visited the place. Evaluating himself in the light of God’s holiness, St. Vincent felt that he was full of wickedness and misery. Hence, he wished that God would nourish him with his infinite sanctity, thereby completely destroying his wickedness. Freed from all that is wicked in him by the presence of God’s holiness, he became aware that holiness, in fact, does not belong to him but rather to God. The Holiness Itself lives in him and makes him holy by destroying every evil within him. The same holy God lived in him and absorbed St. Vincent into himself. In this manner, God not only sanctified St. Vincent, but also sustained holiness in him. Thus, living in the God of holiness, he was able to manifest the very holiness of God in and through his actions.
Do I recognize God as the author of my holiness of life? Do I allow God to nourish me with his infinite sanctity, thereby destroying my wickedness and misery? Am I able to manifest the holiness of God in and through my actions?
Extol the Lord, our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for holy is the Lord our God. (Ps. 99: 9)