Too often we judge things by the standards of the world and by our limited vision 'on this side of the pond'. Rather the Christian should be one who looks to Heaven in order to have a heavenly perspective and this gives us a greater sense of reality in order to understand the heights to which we must fly in order to encounter the Thrice Holy God. God is awesome in His Holiness, He is inescapable and penetrating Light. Nothing imperfect can exist in the presence of God. Not even a speck of sin. Even the inclination towards sin must be purified before we enter His presence. We must be free from all earthly attachment. Only the purified can enter His Holy presence that is the saints. Holiness is our calling as Christians to become like unto like that is in the image of our Creator God. Holiness is a necessity. In Jesus Christ is the very holiness of God that comes to us in person, not in a distant reverberation of his. He is "the Holy One of God" (John 6:69). And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. We must be assimilated into Christ sacramentally and through imitation. Not a fake imitation but a determinedness to follow him by taking up our cross and living by fervent charity. Purification of the heart demands prayer, the practice of chastity, purity of intention and of vision. CCC The holiness of God is the inaccessible center of his eternal mystery. What is revealed of it in creation and history, Scripture calls "glory," the radiance of his majesty. In making man in his image and likeness, God "crowned him with glory and honor," but by sinning, man fell "short of the glory of God." From that time on, God was to manifest his holiness by revealing and giving his name, in order to restore man to the image of his Creator. The mission of the Church must be to call all sinners to conversion and to a life of holiness in the bosom of the Church. You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
