We risk making ourselves unhealthy when we stay down in the dirt with “any swarming creature that crawls on the ground.” God is the ultimate source of holiness and to become holy we need to stay close to God.

According to my dictionary, the words “holy” and “healthy” come from the same root. I like thinking of holiness in terms of health; otherwise I could get bogged down by a concept of holiness that is ethereal and removed from everyday life. As Hildegard of Bingen reminds us, “The truly holy person welcomes all that is earthly.”

Most of us don’t think of ourselves as holy, but that is what we’re called to become.