Click here to read the daily readings from the USCCB website.
I’m always intimidated by the Gospel today. I remember in college we always used to say to each other, “God doesn’t expect us to be perfect, He just expects us to do our best. One day our chaplain got up in a little bit of a huff and reminded us of Jesus’s words from this Gospel,
“Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Pretty tall order… and confusing because saints up and down the ages tell us time and time again that perfection this side of heaven is impossible. So what does Jesus mean?
I think He means be perfect. Mostly because Jesus says what He means. But I don’t think He means “be perfect” as we might understand it. We as humans, and especially as Americans, have a tendency to think that we attain all things by working for them. A lesson I have to learn the hard way almost every single day is that I can’t earn holiness. I can’t achieve it by anything that I do. I can’t tick the boxes and then “arrive.” Jesus wants us to be perfect in that we cooperate with His saving grace. The Holy Spirit is the sanctifier. He prompts us to love and we are free to respond.
In order to be perfect this side of heaven, we must be ever mindful of love. That’s what Jesus tells us in the Gospel. “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” To be perfect is to love at every opportunity with your entire heart, mind, and soul. I think this might seem like a somewhat vague command, but I invite you to take this command to prayer. Ask the Holy Spirit how He has invited you to deepen your love of God and neighbor and the places you’ve responded as well as the places you’ve fallen short. Just like an athlete, we won’t grow without evaluating our “performance.” The Holy Spirit is the coach of the spiritual life. He’ll help you run the race so as to win and thus attain holiness based entirely on His grace.
-Amanda Benner, Director of Evangelization