THEREFORE, BE PERFECT AS YOUR FATHER IN HEAVEN IS PERFECT (Matthew 5: 48). Jesus included in his programmatic Sermon on the Mount this exhortation. Consequently, it is fundamental that any one who wishes to be our Lord's disciple takes these words to heart and strive to comply with them in his life. The first step in this process is rightly to understand what they mean. As is so often the case with more basic principles, upon closer examination we soon ascertain that what sounds evident at a first hearing proves to be rather elusive. Our attempts to grasp what our Lord had in mind require a very close look at his teaching as a whole, and in particular in the context in which this saying is embedded.

When Jesus uses the word "perfect" in our regard just what does he intend? The fact that this statement begins with the word, THEREFORE, is the key to discovering his intention. This sentence comes as the conclusion of the lengthy instruction in which he describes the behavior required of those who would enter the kingdom of the Father. It is the final verse of this whole chapter that describes in extended detail the attitudes and behavior that those who are considered worthy of membership in the household of God. The whole of the Sermon on the the Mount then is a description of what Jesus means by perfection. Because the pure of heart see God, for instance, those who receive Jesus' words are to cultivate purity of heart, along with the other characteristics that he has just listed as descriptive of those who are blessed by the Father. To be perfect as the Father is perfect means to take on the attitudes and practices that he has just proclaimed in this memorable and basic sermon.

To live in such a way is to become like the Father, he asserts. In other words, to be worthy to belong to the kingdom where the Father rules with his Christ we must take on the same dispositions that characterize him. It is only those who become like God who will be accepted by him into his heavenly realm; we must recover the likeness that has been lost through sin if we would enter the divine city and be united with God and those who are his. In his version of this same sermon, St. Luke makes the same point, but he sums up the matter by concluding with a different formula, which places perfection in a particular perspective. "Be merciful, therefore, as your Father is merciful (6: 36)." It is generous, forgiving kindness to the good and the undeserving both that best assures our becoming like God, he affirms. This manner of viewing perfection is certainly consonant with Jesus' teaching elsewhere when he summarizes the essence of God's law as love of God and of neighbor.

In our own time, we are much less comfortable with the concept of perfection as applied to human behavior and character than with the dispositions suggested by the term "mercy". Instead of conceiving of the idea human development as culminating in perfection we prefer to view the person as mature, fully integrated. By these terms we imply that a man or woman is at home in his body, comfortable in handling the spontaneous impulses that all are subject to. Such a person, we are persuaded, is equally at ease in dealing with affection and love, as well as with sexual drives and attraction; he has integrated anger and aggressiveness so is able to take firm stands in the face of opposition without undue stress. Such maturity is certainly implied in what Jesus taught about perfection, but his doctrine goes further and specifies the particular forms that love and anger are to take in given circumstances. Willingness to forgive, gentleness and humility, for instances, are possible only to the individual who has learned to direct anger and express it appropriately and who is able to go beyond natural attraction and impulse and extend his charity even to those who he finds offensive, even oppressively so. Accordingly, the ideal of integration and of the mature personality which is so dominant in the current culture, while being altogether compatible with the injunction of our Lord to be perfect as the Father is perfect is not an adequate substitute for the goal of perfection set out in the Gospel. Mercy, understood as Luke conceives it, comes close as an equivalent, but still the text of Matthew stands: we must be perfect as the Father is perfect if we would be worthy children of the kingdom of God.

In 1974 a major publication in Italy witnessed to the continuing pertinence of this challenge for our own times when it undertook to provide a relatively complete resource for study of the history of monastic and religious life in the Church, its nature and spirituality. The inspiration for the title given to this comprehensive work in nine folio volumes, Dizionario degli Istituti di Perfezione, came from Vatican II. The term "institute of perfection" is found in the decree Lumen Gentium 45.2; a related expression occurs in Sacrosanctum Concilium 98 and 101 where there is question of "any institute dedicated to acquiring perfection." This latter phrasing makes it clear that an institute of perfection is not one whose members are perfect, but one which has as its purpose attaining to perfection.

This obviously is a daunting and permanent goal to set for oneself in life. But it is not chosen arbitrarily or from some sense of superiority or a belief in having a higher destiny that most other people. Rather, as we have seen it is a task set by the Lord Jesus for every one who would be his disciple. Thus it is of fundamental importance that we properly grasp what perfection consists in. The fact that there are so many distinct Orders, each with its own purpose and spirituality, witnesses to the fact that there are many paths that lead to the fullness of Christina life to which all are called.

Already early Ecclesiastical authors had spoken of the power latent in the teachings of Christ.. St. Methodius coined a special word to indicate this spirit-filled force that can effect the perfecting of believers. He wrote of "the perfect-making dogmas of the faith of Christ." [For this and the following references, cf. G. Lampe "A Patristic Greek Lexicon "s.v.telepoios". St. Basil employed the same term in connection with the grace of the Holy Spirit "a perfect-making grace by virtue of which man becomes an adopted son." The commandment of love, he affirms, is by its nature"telepoios" perfect-making. His friend, Gregory Nazianzan, used this word as a title, in that it is distinctive of the Holy Spirit to bring the believer to perfection. Diadochus of Photike maintained that there is a kind of advanced joy that is associated with the truth revealed by the Holy Spirit and which is free of imagination. It acts to reprove and test the individual thus joy too is"telepoios"in that it works to bring about perfection. Some centuries later St. Maximus the Confessor maintained that the Eucharist is "the most perfect and perfect-making sacrificial gift". Obviously then,, there are a variety of means that bring the believer to perfection; different writers recommend particular ones depending on their point of view and circumstances in a given situation.

Our predecessors in the monastic way of life accepted with enthusiasm and fervor this teaching concerning the obligation to seek perfection. They took practical measures to put it into effect from the very beginning of their vocation; indeed, it was in order to work toward perfection that the monastic way of life was devised. The first generations of monks were strongly influenced in their manner of conceiving perfection by the example and teaching of the apostles and the early community of Christians at Jerusalem. Living as they did at another time and under quite different circumstances, they inevitably developed habits of mind and behavior adapted to their situation as they sought to imitate the lives of men and women who had been so signally inspired by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Here too it is instructive to note the different approaches to attaining the goal of perfection and the various manners of conceiving of its nature. The title of the first chapter of the Systematic Collection of Apophtegmata is "An Exhortation of the Holy Fathers to Advance to Perfection." Although the word "perfection" is not used often this chapter contains 37 sayings by different men of experience that are considered to treat of this topic, no two of them quite the same. Here are a couple that are representative.

16. A brother asked abba Macarius the Great about perfection. The elder answered and said: "If a man does not possess great humility in his heart and body and does not measure himself in any matter but rather puts himself below every creature out of humility, and judges no one but himself alone, and endures insults, and casts out of his heart every evil, and constrains himself to be patient, benign, fraternal, temperate and self controlled... 17. Abba Mark says: "The law of liberty teaches all truth. And many read this law with knowledge, but some conceive it according to the analogy of fulfilling the commandments. Do not seek its perfection in human virtues, for in them the perfect is not found. Their perfection is concealed in the cross of Christ. 25. They tell us of abbot Pambo that as he was perfecting his course, at the very hour of taking leave, he said to the holy fathers standing by him... I go to God as if I had not yet begun to serve him. (cf. Jean-Claude Guy, s.j. Les Apophtegmes des Pères, Sources Chr. 387, 111, 113, 117).

In this last saying the word translated as "perfecting his course", is the same Jesus used on the cross as he died. Depending on the context, it can mean "to complete, to perfect, or to die." Thus it suggests more than it explicitly affirms when it is used of the moment of death of one of the holiest of the desert fathers. Pambo, it is implied, was with Jesus on the cross, and he relied, not on his life of austere fidelity, but only on the mercy of God. This is what perfection meant for him, and for the monks who recorded and transcribed these words.

Abba Arsenius, the cultivated Greek and former member of the Emperor's household in Constantinople, contrasted the Old Law with the New. Jesus, he affirmed, "established the most perfect and the perfect-making law, teaching that one is simply to love, that it is necessary to do good, and to view nobody as an enemy (Ad Nomicum Tentatorem PG 66: 1624D).

St. Augustine, whose Rule exercised such a marked influence on Western monasticism, dealt with this topic in a work he entitled On the Perfection of the Justice of Man. In the course of this book he provides a lengthy series of citations from the Old and New Testaments that inculcate the obligation to strive for perfection. The first of these, found in Deuteronomy (18: 13), may have been in the mind of our Lord himself as he enjoined perfection on his followers. It reads: "You will be perfect before the Lord your God." Augustine then makes the following comments.

Some of these passages exhort those who run to run perfectly; others make mention of the end itself to which they are running. It is not absurd if the man who is not yet perfect but who runs without fault toward perfection, enters in without blemish, being free of anything worthy of condemnation and not neglecting to cleanse away venial sins through almsgiving. For pure prayer cleanses our entrance, that is to say, our path by which we move towards perfection (De Perfectione Justitiae Hominis IX. 20- PL 44:502).

Another sense of the word"teleo" that became important in the life of the Church is "to initiate" and the related concept "to consecrate"to the priesthood. It is used of baptism and the Eucharist as well as of other rites and solemnities. These are sources of grace that serve to contribute to the work of perfection for the faithful, so that participation in these mysteries is a major practice of those who are on the way to perfection. That Jesus himself taught this wisdom is evident from a number of texts in the Gospels. However disconcerting, even scandalous, it may be for many of our contemporaries, our Lord was categorical in affirming the necessity of baptism for salvation. "The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; he who does not believe will be condemned(Mark 16:16)." And as regards the Eucharist, he made its reception a condition for remaining his disciple: " I am the bread of life that comes down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread he will live forever. (John 6:51). Perfection depends then on the reception of the sacraments; in order to arrive at the fulness of holiness that is perfection, we must believe in the efficacy of the sacraments and participate in them with faith. Only then will we receive the graces needed for the completion of the work of the Spirit in our souls.

One of the great paradoxes of the spiritual life is that those who advance most surely toward perfection are best able to see their imperfections and become keenly aware of how unworthy they are of friendship and intimacy with God. People like St. Teresa of Avila who receive special knowledge of God's purity develop a deep sense of unworthiness and fear as a result.

Sorrow for sin increases in proportion to the grace received from our Lord and I believe will never quit us until we come to the land where nothing can grieve us any more. A soul so advanced as that we speak of does not think of the punishment threatening its offences but of its gross ingratitude towards Him to Whom it owes so much and Who so justly deserves that it should serve Him, for the great mysteries revealed have taught it much about the greatness of God (The Interior Castle 7.1, London 1946 p. 169, 170).

Isaiah had already demonstrated this phenomenon in his inaugural vision. Having had a vision of God seated in majesty on his heavenly throne, his reaction was one of dismay at becoming conscious of his uncleanness. "Alas for me! I am undone for I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell among a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. (Is. 6: 5). While accepting the principle that we are to strive for perfection, St. Augustine, like St. Teresa long after his time, was too sharply conscious of the shadows of this life to hold an idealistic conception of what the highest attainment in our present existence might be.

Only then will she (the Church) be without spot or wrinkle or anything of the like, then indeed, when she is glorious. For not now, situated in so great evils, in such great scandals, in so great a mixture of the worst sort of men, among such great insults from the impious, can she be called glorious.... Only then will she be called glorious when that occurs which the apostle says: "When Christ, your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory (Colossians 3: 4)." (op. cit., XIV.35- PL 44: 310)

Though we are far from attaining our goal of purity of heart and the perfection of life that we are aiming at, let us renew our purposes in seeking after it with all sincerity and dedication of purpose. We can find consolation in St. Augustine's words cited above that were a source of encouragement to him, and which he lived by so consistently: " It is not absurd if the man who is not yet perfect but who runs without fault toward perfection, enters in without blemish, being free of anything worthy of condemnation and not neglecting to cleanse away venial sins through almsgiving" and especially through the other acts of fraternal charity.

Abbot John Eudes Bamberger

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