I've been ardently searching the Bible for a proverb my wife keeps quoting. But somehow, I don't think it is in there. So, where did the notion that being clean had anything to do with being holy? I like to tell my wife that only my feet need to be clean (I know where that is in the Bible). Looking for historical answers from a Catholic tradition or if it really is in the Bible that would be good too. What I'd really like to know is how clean is clean enough not to be a slothful slob and how clean is so clean that you miss out on the "better part" that Jesus said Martha was missing out on.

We read in Lev 10:8-10 (NRSVCE): > And the Lord spoke to Aaron: Drink no wine or strong drink, neither you nor your sons, when you enter the tent of meeting, that you may not die; it is a statute forever throughout your generations. You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean We see the Lord categorizing the objects to be used for worship into holy/common and clean/unclean. The definitive instructions were preceded by the punishment imposed on Aaron's sons for violating them: > Now Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, each took his censer, put fire in it, and laid incense on it; and they offered unholy fire before the Lord, such as he had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord (Lev 10:1-2) Now, see St Paul writing to Corinthians in 1 Cor 7:14: > For the unbelieving husband is made holy through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy through her husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. Read with Lev 10, St Paul's mention of referring to 'unclean children' appears out of place. Is it that the Church considered children born out of marriages between two non-believers, as unclean? Going by Lev 10, they could at the most be called 'not-yet-holy'. **My question therefore is**: What is the significance of St Paul referring to 'unclean children' in 1 Cor 7:14 *vis a vis* God's instructions in Lev 10:8-10? Inputs from any denominations are welcome.

How is the idea of the ritual purity implemented in the Catholic Church? We know that in the Old Testament priests needed to be ritually pure in order to perform rituals. How is this idea implemented and performed in the Catholic Church through history up till today? What criteria does one need to satisfy to be ritually pure? I am interested in the Catholic viewpoint.

> Deuteronomy 12:15-16 >15 Notwithstanding thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee: the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the roebuck, and as of the hart. > > 16 >Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the > earth as water. . > Leviticus 10:10, 11:4-8 > Nevertheless these shall ye not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the hoof: as the camel, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you. > And the coney, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you. > And the hare, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you. > And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you. > Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch; they are unclean to you. Did Moses change the Levitical dietary law perhaps in favor of helping the oft murmuring and pagan worshiping Children of Israel even going so far as to allow them the pleasure of eating whatsoever their soul lusteth after? Am I missing something here?