I-Thou rears its head

Above everything else, we must remember that holiness is a relationship and not an “it.” When we think of holiness as a thing in itself, something to be acquired or attained, as the Pharisees did, we immediately invite trouble. Holiness is a byproduct of a relationship. In a word, holiness is Jesus. Does God want us to behave in holy ways? Of course he does. It is written throughout the Bible, from cover to cover. But much more than that, he wants to live in us, and to have us live in him in a love relationship. This is what he really wants: that intimate, loving relationship that results from our complete surrender to his love and our happy obedience to his will.— Called to be Holy, page 191