Lev. 19:1-2, 17-18; Ps. 103:1-4, 8, 10, 12-13; 1 Cor. 3:16-23; Mat. 5:38-48

Be holy as God is holy is our call to life in perfection.  Perfection is allowing Christ to be with us, through us and in us in word and deed.  How?  First, we don’t allow perfection in us meaning we don’t allow Christ to work in us and when we make a mistake, we are quick to acknowledge, “I’m not perfect”.  In the human dimension according to our will we cannot reach perfection even under perfect circumstances as is evident by Adam and Eve.  They had paradise and sinned.  Perfection comes in union with the perfect God-head.  Be still and call upon God actively listening for the sign that leads to the way of perfection. Pray, “God in three persons, reveal the way of perfection that I may follow.” 

The prayer in humility opens the soul to receive the way of perfection blessing the Lord for the Spirit of God already dwells in us.  The Spirit of God is what gives us ownership of health, wealth, life, death, present and future.  It is the miracle of the eternal now ready to manifest itself in the most perfect way.  Jesus in today’s gospel gives a command to “offer no resistance” even in the midst of evil or when called into service “for one mile, go for two miles”.  How is it possible to deny self for other, yet this is what Jesus did for us?  The call to resist not is to be open to God’s divine will so he may act for the greater good in all and through all.  The call to perfection is the summit of our Christian faith if we dare to seek it. 

God is the Spirit of truth that rights all wrongs and fulfills all needs “through Christ who strengthens me”.  This is the mystery of faith when we “fear not” then faith is now set free to work the miracles of life.  It is said “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin…for fear is only inverted faith” (The Game of Life by F. Shinn.  St. Mathew says, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?”  How often is fear and worry the resistance in trusting God preventing the pouring out of his grace for that moment in our lives?  God is good and we must seek the good in the moment to bring forth the work that is needed in our lives and in other.  God is love thus by offering love we are covered by God from evil and open to divine will as our mediator, redeemer, and protector.  Let us not be deceived by our fears but respond to fear by taking the next right step of faith.  “There is no fear in love but perfect love drives out fear…” (1 Jn. 4:18).  The next right step of faith is an act of love. 

The call to perfection comes right before Lenten season to be mindful of the next right step towards perfection in living a life in Christ.  The Word says, “be perfect” not “try to be perfect”.  To “try” is already a compromise with an escape clause.  To “be” is to take each moment without fear in in highest virtue being called to live out in the moment.  Perhaps it is patience, generosity, kindness, or courage among others which in the Latin “virtus” represents a moral perfection.  Perhaps in a world of rapid activity it is the courage to “be still” waiting upon the Lord who already in present dwelling in us to manifest his glory. 

“The Lord has compassion on those who fear him.”  What is “fear of the Lord”?  It is the fear of disobedience to the Law of God, the great commandment, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind (perfectly), and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27).  “Do you not know that you are the temple of God…Let no one deceive himself” we are very capable of destroying our own temple by disobedience to the Law so let us prepare ourselves this Lent.  The beginning of perfection is repentance recalling “The Lord is kind and merciful” when we return to Him to purify the temple in which he dwells.