All Saints' Day
Being Disciples by Rowan Williams
[T]here is no contrast, no tension really, between holiness and involvement in the world. On the contrary, the most holy, who is Jesus, is the most involved, most at the heart of human experience. And we really misunderstand the whole thing very seriously if we think that holiness means being defended from our own humanity or other people’s humanity: quite the opposite. To understand this, we need to bear in mind an all-important distinction between being holy and simply being good. There’s a fine phrase in one of Evelyn Waugh’s novels, when a character is described by another: ‘She was saintly, but she wasn’t a saint.’ The character in question is indeed saintly, very strict, devout and intense, but the effect she has on those around her is to make them feel guilty, frustrated and unhappy. They feel inadequate, and I suspect that many of us experience this when we encounter people we think are saintly or Very Good—they make us feel rather worse ... In contrast, holy people, those who are saints rather than saintly, actually make you feel better than you are. The pursuit of goodness can be experienced as if you are taking part in a competitive examination in which some people are scoring very well, others are on the borderline, and some are sinking below the line. But the holy person somehow enlarges your world, makes you feel more yourself, opens you up, affirms you. They are not in competition; they are not saying, ‘I’ve got something you haven’t.’ They are showing us something that it’s wonderful simply to have in the world.
