The Silence Where Holiness Finds Us

When Peter writes, "Be holy, because I am holy," we instinctively reach for our to-do lists. We imagine holiness as something we manufacture through effort and moral rigor. But the contemplative tradition invites us to hear this invitation differently — not as a command to produce, but as a call to presence.

Thomas Merton once described holiness not as a spiritual achievement but as "the full discovery of who we already are in God." In centering prayer, when we release our clutching thoughts and descend into interior silence, we are not creating holiness. We are uncovering it — the way wind clears sand from ancient stone.

Teresa of Avila mapped this journey through her Interior Castle, room after room drawing closer to the center where the Holy One dwells. She understood that holiness is not the outer courtyard of good behavior but the innermost chamber of divine union. "Be holy as I am holy" is not a standard imposed from outside. It is an invitation inward, toward the God who has already made a home in us.

This is the paradox the contemplatives have always known: we do not achieve holiness by adding something to ourselves. We discover it by subtracting everything that is not God. In the silence, in the stillness, in the patient returning of lectio divina, the false self falls away and what remains is what was always there — the imprint of the Holy One.

This week, try ten minutes of centering prayer. Sit. Breathe. Release each thought as it arises. Let God do the work of making you holy by simply being present to the One who already is.