From the Pastor's Desk - January 18, 2026

Dear St. Martin’s Parishioners,

In this Sunday’s second reading St. Paul writes, “to the church of God that is in Corinth, to you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy . . .” He reminds the faithful of Corinth that they are called to be holy, but what does that mean? In Scriptural terms, to be holy means to be set apart for a sacred function. An altar, a chalice, priestly vestments, the tabernacle are all holy because they are set aside for the worship of God. They aren’t to be used for mundane or everyday purposes but only in service of God. Not just things but people are called to be holy, that is, to be set apart for a sacred purpose. All who are baptized and who receive the Holy Spirit are holy, meaning that we serve a sacred purpose different from any mere worldly one.

We tend to think of someone as holy if they pray a lot or have a certain pious demeanor. In truth, though, holiness simply means to have God living within you. Before it’s an action of any sort, holiness is a state of being. In the Church we call this the state of grace. By sanctifying grace, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit lives within us. We think of holiness relationally, then: God and us living in an intimate, dynamic communion of life. The modern striving for autonomy, independence, self-reliance and self-sufficiency is certainly the opposite of holiness. On the other hand, poverty of spirit or total dependence on God is a true mark of holiness. Growth in holiness means growth in our awareness of our relationship with God in every aspect of our lives. Nothing is closed off from him.

Holiness is a call to radical love: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself.” See how relational this call is! We can sometimes stress about our inability to grow in holiness or get frustrated by our sinfulness. That’s because we so easily turn the whole thing into a task or a project, which it is was never meant to be! Rather, holiness is a daring to live ever-deeper in relationship with God and others; an opening up when we would rather close ourselves off. Thanks be to God for our families and for our church, for they are truly schools of relationship and holiness for us.

In Christ,

Fr. Dave