We are not called to be mediocre Catholics. We are called to be saints and to perfection. As Jesus Christ himself implored in the Gospel of Matthew, “Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt 5:48).
Perfection is a difficult concept to ponder. What exactly does it mean for someone to aspire to perfection? When Christ ascended into heaven and the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and the Blessed Mother, he united the Church to himself and “brought it to perfection” so that the entire Church, from the simplest layman to the Holy Father, might strive for holiness (Lumen Gentium, 39). Saint Paul emphasizes this point to the Thessalonians: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification” (1 Thess 4:3). So it is that we, in our various states of life, are called to strive for perfection.
Now, it would be easy to shrug this off: “Sister Mildred in the cloistered convent—she’s called to holiness, but not me,” you might say. “I’m just a simple man trying to make a living and take care of my family.” True, and yet even the engineer or the stay-at-home mom or the line chef are called to holiness. Saint Thomas Aquinas goes further. Man is not only called to holiness, but he is naturally inclined to strive for holiness by virtue of his end, which is unity with the most perfect being: God (ST I-II, q. 1, a. 8; q. 2, a. 7).
This same human nature that tends toward God is both spiritual and corporal, and so we have an interior and exterior inclination toward perfection. The interior man seeks to conform his soul to the perfection of God and the exterior man manifests that perfection in acts. Thus, moved by God’s grace, we must rightly order ourselves interiorly before the exterior manifestation of our perfection will blossom and witness to the glory of God through acts of charity. As Saint Basil the Great famously admonished in a homily, “Give heed to yourself,” inspecting the motivations of one’s actions so that the inner man may distinguish “between the injurious and the salutary.”
It can be tempting to reduce perfection to an interior and, therefore, sentimental matter, gushing over this or that in a state of melancholic or schmaltzy personal soliloquy. But to the contrary, it is so much more than this! According to St. Basil a man grows in the interior life through self-sacrifice and constant recollection in God. First, we must take the emphasis off of ourselves, focusing on others, and seeing God’s hand in every facet of creation. That was the ethos of Saint Teresa of Calcutta in her service to the poorest of the poor, recognizing God in each individual. In our day-to-day lives, self-denial can take simple forms such as giving up sleep for an upset child or using valuable resources to take care of an elderly parent. It’s easy to forget that these simple acts, supported by grace, can bring us to perfection. One may also consider the more overt modes of self-denial, such as fasting or giving money to the poor. But whatever the sacrifice, we must constantly recall the presence of God in everything we do and ceaselessly love our neighbor. In this way, we can imitate the charity of God, however imperfectly, and strive to unite ourselves to him.
As we grow in perfection, we must seek the heavenly kingdom, praying for God’s grace to act in our lives. When we perform good works in God’s grace, they are elevated in merit, furthering the goal of unity with God. So let us look to the saints for inspiration, read of their lives, be inspired, love God, love our neighbor, and above all else, be a saint!
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Image: Louis Gallait, Monk Feeding the Poor (1845)
