11th Week in Ordinary Time 2025 - Tuesday - The Call to Christian Perfection

In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives us a command that may feel overwhelming: “Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” At first glance, it may seem impossible. How can we, limited and sinful as we are, ever hope to be perfect like God?

This command to be perfect comes at the climax of a chapter where Jesus has redefined righteousness—not as merely following rules, but as a transformation of the heart. He tells us not just to avoid murder, but to let go of anger. Not just to avoid adultery, but to purify our thoughts. Not just to love our neighbor, but to love even our enemies. These are the marks of Christian perfection: a heart conformed to the heart of God.

Perfection is not something we accomplish by our own efforts. It is a grace, a work that God accomplishes in us if we cooperate with Him. As St. Thomas Aquinas taught, the perfection of the Christian life consists chiefly in charity—in loving God with our whole heart and loving our neighbor with God’s own love.

So, the command to “be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect” is a calling to the perfection of love, to grow into the fullness of charity that is a greater and greater share in the love of the Father Himself.

That means that Christian perfection does not happen overnight; it is a lifelong journey. It happens through prayer, the sacraments, self-denial, forgiveness, and service. It happens when we resist the urge to retaliate, when we speak the truth in love, when we are generous with our time and patient with the people who challenge us.

Again, we do not grow in perfection on our own; it requires effort to cooperate with the grace of God. Perfection is the result of grace and free will. You can’t have perfection without both.

To strive for Christian perfection is not to aim at being morally superior or scrupulously correct—it is to aim at becoming a living image of Christ, who reveals to us the perfect love of the Father.

So today, as we come to this altar, let us ask the Lord for the grace to grow in holiness. May our lives be built more and more on the foundation of Christ’s love, until we are made perfect—not by our efforts alone, but through our cooperation with His, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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With confidence in God’s mercy, let us offer our prayers to the Father, who calls us to perfection through His Son.

 That she may continue to proclaim the call to holiness and help all the faithful grow in love through the sacraments, prayer, and acts of charity.

For all leaders in the world: That they may govern with wisdom and justice.

For our parish: That we may cooperate daily with God’s grace, growing in holiness through prayer, self-denial, and acts of service.

For the poor, the sick, and those who suffer:  That they may be comforted by the love of Christ and supported by the generosity and compassion of His disciples.

For our beloved dead:  That, having sought to conform their hearts to Christ, they may now behold the perfection of God’s glory in heaven.

Heavenly Father, you call us to be holy as you are holy. Strengthen us to follow your Son with sincere hearts, cooperating with your grace, that we may one day be perfected in your love. Through Christ our Lord.

11th Week of Ordinary Time 2024 - Tuesday - Sins of parents and leaders and seeking perfection

 Yesterday, from the first book of Kings, we read of the many sins of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel in conspiring to have the vineyard owner Naboth killed, so they could steal his land. Today, we read how they even denied Naboth proper burial—truly despicable behavior for a king and queen.

Then we read how God sent Elijah to confront Ahab to pronounce God’s great displeasure and judgment upon him. Now, Elijah was not some stranger to Ahab. By this time Ahab knew Elijah's credentials. Ahab had enough wisdom to recognize that this was very serious, and so he humbles himself and repents. And God judged Ahab’s repentance sincere, and extended his mercy.

No sin is too great that it cannot be forgiven. God’s acknowledgement of Ahab's repentance is one of many signs throughout the Old Testament of God's mercy to a repentant sinner—even a covetous, idolatrous, conspiring, murderous, thieving king like Ahab. 

However, Elijah announces that there will still be earthly consequences for Ahab and Jezebel’s sins. Although Ahab's repentance was genuine, repentance does not erase the temporal consequences of our actions. The sins of parents can have long-lasting consequences on their progeny and the actions of leaders can have long-lasting consequences on their nation. This story serves as a lesson about the importance of righteous parenting, leadership and the enduring impact of sin.

The Word of God emphasizes the need for future generations to learn from the mistakes of their predecessors and strive for righteousness. 

In light of the first reading, the Lord’s teaching in the Gospel today carries an interesting lesson. Jesus teaches, “be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect." Oftentimes, children learn terrible habits from their parents. The sins of parents, the fractures in their marriage, their personal vices, their acts of selfishness can have terrible ripple effects in the lives of their children—effecting how their children relate to the world, to others, and to God. 

And so the Lord’s teaching, “be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect” means that children should strive to break the familial cycles of sin—to unlearn the sinful habits of their parents. Don’t simply imitate your biological Father, strive for the perfection of your Heavenly Father. 

The teachings of Jesus are to supersede, replace, and perfect our family’s ways of doing things, especially those behaviors which contradict the commandments of God. 

Thank God for the good holy example of good parents. But we know that there are some Ahab’s and Jezebel’s out with kids. May we set good Christian example for those children and for those Ahab’s and Jezebel’s because they can repent too. May we all seek the perfection of soul God desires for each of us through Christ, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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That during this month of June, dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, all Christians may witness to the tender love of Christ through our prayer, fasting, and works of charity. 

For our young people on summer vacation, that they may be kept safe from the errors of our culture and kept in close friendship with Jesus through prayer and acts of mercy.

For all married couples, that they may be faithful to the Gospel in every dimension of their married life—and that single and celibate Christians may witness to the sacrificial, all-embracing love of Christ for all.

For the sick, the impoverished, the lonely, those suffering from mental illness, those most in need, and those near death: may God, through the mercy of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, be close to them in their trials

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord