On Christian Perfection, Part 3

On Christian Perfection, Part 1
On Christian Perfection, Part 2
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We have seen in what Christian perfection consists, and to whom we have to look as our model; but we must not close this instruction without asking ourselves whether or not we are all bound to aim at so high a standard.

Certainly we must aim at it, for our Saviour has commanded it, saying: "Be ye perfect." But, more than this, perfection consists in loving God above all things, and this love is also commanded us by the greatest and the chief commandment: "Thou shall" (note well these words) "love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind; this is the greatest and the first commandment." To aim at perfection is therefore commanded us; it is the primary commandment, enjoined on all.

Now spare me, I beg, the ordinary excuses of lukewarm, slothful, and worldly-minded Christians. Perfection is all very well for religious, for monks and nuns who have said good-bye to the world, for priests who are to a great extent relieved of its burdens, for women to whom piety is attractive, and for children who are not yet emancipated. But for us who live in the very midst of the cares and business of life, in the full stream of its perils and temptations, perfection is out of the question. Such reasoning, though very general, is absolutely false.

To strive after perfection is the duty of every one, be he priest or layman, monk or secular, married or single, young or old. There is but one God, one heaven, one Christ, one commandment; the end is the same for all men; the same perfection, namely, to love God above all things, is required of all, and without it there is no salvation; the only difference that exists consists in the fact of its being easier of attainment in the quiet of the cloister-not in its having no bearing on other lives; the commandment is binding on all.

O dear Lord and Saviour, master, teacher, model of all perfection, grant that Thy commandment may be ineffaceably impressed on my heart, that Thy life may be ever present to my mind, that Thy almighty hand may guide and support me so that I may follow in Thy footsteps in life and death, till I reach eternity. Amen.

Adapted from:
Popular Sermons on the Catechism, Bamberg & Thurston, 1914