Rev. Mr. Adi Indra, alumnus.
Jesus often speaks about the goodness of the heavenly Father; how loving and providential He is, but today, he specifically tells us about the perfection of the Father.
He who “makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust” (Mt 5:45) is perfect, and we are asked by our Lord to be perfect just like him.
This poses a question: Is Jesus, having known our sinfulness hence imperfection, asking us for the impossible?
I invite you to imagine two different people with very different characters, responding to this question.
The first responder is an ambitious perfectionist. He would probably say that he could achieve perfection by himself, because everything depends on him, the ball is always in his court. All you need to do is to try harder.
The second responder is a frivolous idler. He would probably get a fix on the impossibility of being perfect, hence doesn’t even bother about striving for perfection.
As Catholics, we are invited to respond differently than the above two characters. Having presented by the facts that one, God is perfect, and two, we are imperfect, we are looking at a third way, which I think can be found in our entrance antiphon for today’s Mass:
The law of the Lord is perfect; it revives the soul.
The decrees of the Lord are steadfast; they give wisdom to the simple.
(Psalm 19:7)
Friends, the perfect law of God helps us to be perfect like He is, because his law revives our soul. His decrees, are so firm and steadfast, that we can rely on them in order to be wise. His laws and decrees will only bring us to what is good and true. And, lest we forget that God himself has planted his Law in our hearts (cf. Jer 31:33, Heb 8:10) and He assures us that this commandment is not too hard for us, nor is it too far away (cf. Deut 30:11).
So, is Jesus asking us for the impossible? The answer is no. He knows us better than we know ourselves, but He also knows that we can be perfected by Him, only if we allow Him to do so. We are invited to understand and follow his perfect Law in order to think like He does and to love like He does. Hence Jesus asks us to love our enemies, pray for those who persecute us, love those who might not love us back and greet not only those whom we know (cf. Mt 5:46-47).
One last thing, the psalms seem to imply one condition in order for us to effectively live out this Law: our simplicity of hearts. This is congruent with the modus operandi of God, who always brings down the arrogant and lifts up the lowly (cf. Luke 1:55).
We pray that we be guided by his perfect Law,
we pray for the help of His Grace that we be faithful to his decrees, and
we trust that He, who has begun the good work in us, will bring it to perfection.