Holy Week reflections on holiness, justice, and responsibility

Catholic faithful march along Kisii - Kilgoris road during a Way of the Cross procession. [Sammy Omingo, Standard]

As we mark the end of Holy Week and prepare our hearts for the resurrection of Christ, it is fitting to ask: Who is the holy God we worship? Why did He die for us? And what does His holiness require of us? Isaiah's vision offers one of the clearest answers in all of Scripture to the question of God's holiness.

"In the year that King Uzziah died," Isaiah writes, "I saw the Lord, high and lifted, seated on His throne..." Confronted with this vision, Isaiah did not congratulate himself. Instead, he cried out in despair: "Woe is me." The holiness of God exposed the frailty and uncleanness of man.