Immersed in Christ: February 27, 2021
Saturday of the First Week of Lent
Deuteronomy 26:16-19; Psalm 119; Matthew 5:43-48
A Magnanimous Father
Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:48
If Jesus says this, it means our Father wants us to be perfect, invites us to be perfect as he himself is perfect, and makes it possible.
The bishops at the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), knowing how Catholics think, called aiming at perfection a “must,” an obligation:
It is evident to everyone that all the faithful of Christ… are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of love… Every Catholic must therefore aim at Christian perfection (see James 1:4; Romans 12:1-2)...
The Church no. 40; Ecumenism, no. 4.
But it is more than an obligation; it is a privilege and a promise, a proof of the Father’s love.
See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are… and if children, then heirs… joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him (1John 3:1; Romans 8:17).
Made perfect as the Father is perfect, glorified with Christ glorified! Truly “No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1Corinthians 2:9).
Our Father is magnanimous.
ACTION: Ask what steps you could take to move closer to the “perfection of love” for God and others. (Hint: Read Reaching Jesus: Five Steps To A Fuller Life: www.immersedinChrist.org).
PRAYER: “Lord, make me perfect as my Father is perfect.”