"You have heard that it was
said, ´You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.´ But I say to you,
love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be
children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the
good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those
who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the
same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not
the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is
perfect.” (Matthew 5:43-48)
Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus, you became a man in
order to show me, in your own flesh and blood, the way to holiness. In every
word and deed of yours recorded in the Gospel, you teach and reveal to me the
secret of a life worthy of eternity. I believe that you are with me now, and
that you will use these moments of prayer to increase my faith, hope and love.
Here I am, Lord, to know, love and serve you with all my heart. Amen.
Petition: Lord, help me to seek holiness
out of love for you and others. Amen.
1. “Be Perfect.” Who is telling us
to be perfect?
Christ the Word, he through whom all things were made, through whom we came
into being: our Lord, our Creator, who from all eternity longs to see each one
of us be made perfect in love. This is not a suggestion; it is a command. He
says it to his disciples with energy, even knowing that for them alone it is
impossible. For God, though, nothing is impossible. We are reminded today that
our saintliness is a possibility; it is God’s plan. Miracles happen when we
believe. God is not through with any one of us yet. All God asks is that we be
perfect – not a whole life in one fell swoop – but, rather, every present
moment, one at a time. That is what I have – this present moment. This is what
I have to perfect.
2. Why Does God Command Us to
Become Perfect?
God’s demand that we seek and strive after the perfection of holiness becomes
more understandable when we contemplate the increasingly dire situation of our
world. That world, so gravely in need of Christ’s salvation, is the starkest
and most palpable reason why any one of us should pursue holiness. What is the
value of Christian holiness in the world? One early Christian apologist put it
in these terms:
To sum up all in one word –– what
the soul is in the body, that are Christians in the world. The flesh hates the
soul, and wars against it, though itself suffering no injury, because it is
prevented from enjoying pleasures; the world also hates the Christians, though
in nowise injured, because they abjure pleasures. The soul loves the flesh that
hates it, and [loves also] the members; Christians likewise love those that hate
them” (From the Letter to Diognetus).
3. Seeking Holiness is a Labor of
Love: In a world of
shifting sands, we can offer solid ground; in a world of blind forces of
spiritual and material violence, we can offer the persuasive power of Christian
goodness. Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta was heard to say that holiness is
not the privilege of a few, but the obligation of all. When with simple and
profound faith, we delve into that link between our striving for holiness and
the salvation of souls, we can discover a new impetus and a new strength. The
challenge of seeking holiness can become a labor of love, driven by a heart
aflame with zeal for the salvation of all our brothers and sisters.
Conversation with Christ: Lord Jesus, the world needs men
and women of God; the world needs saints. I know this. I know you call me in a
personal, urgent and insistent way to seek my holiness. For the sake of my
brothers and sisters, for their salvation, Lord, make me holy. Amen.
Resolution: I will dedicate some time today
to pray to Our Lady and entrust to her, with living faith and childlike
simplicity, the entire project of my personal sanctification.
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