Be Holy. Be Perfect.

Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time February 18 & 19, 2023

Lv 19:1-2, 17-18 Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13 1 Cor 3:16-23 Mt 5:38-48

This may come as a surprise to some of you, but I’m not perfect. In fact, I’m so imperfect that I go to confession once a month, and sometimes more depending on how serious or grave the sin is that I have committed. If you ask my wife, daughters and siblings they can testify to just how imperfect I am. Just don’t ask my mom because she thinks I’m perfect just the way I am.

All kidding aside, our readings today challenge us to be holy as God is holy. To be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. Is that even possible? Yes, but maybe not in our lifetime here on earth.

The challenge to be holy, to be perfect, is something we are called to strive for. To seek out. To live our lives in such a way that we strive to attain holiness and perfection no matter how seemingly impossible it may be. To be willing to ask ourselves the following question: If I became the best I can be, is this version of myself the best one?

To become a great artist, athlete, or musician is not something that happens overnight. It takes years of hard work, practice, and overcoming obstacles. There are setbacks and failures along the way. Yeah, it’s true there is a gift or talent that these individuals have, but they still must nurture that gift if they want to improve on it and be the best they can be. Sometimes they must change what they are doing if they want to continue to grow and improve. It is often not enough to keep practicing the same routine or the same exercises.

The same is true with the Saints. All the saints had challenges they had to overcome. Many had to make big changes in their lives in order to become holy.

So, what is it precisely that we need to be working on, to improve upon if we want to be holy and perfect? Well, it just so happens that our Gospel reading today is a continuation of the Sermon on the Mount that we began reading three weeks ago, beginning with the Beatitudes, then on to being Salt and Light, now last week and this week the fulfilment of the law with teachings about anger, lust, adultery, divorce, oaths, retaliation, and love of enemies.

Jesus is challenging us to adjust our moral compass to become more than just a “check list” of does and don’ts. To change up our normal routine about what we think we should be doing and how we are doing it. This whole eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth, or love your neighbor and hate your enemy, is not going to cut it anymore. We need to grow beyond following simple rules if we want to perfect ourselves morally.

In fact, the word holy used in our reading from Leviticus comes from the Hebrew word qâdôsh (kaw-doshe'), which means sacred; more precisely “morally sacred.” So, to be holy as God is holy, is to become morally sacred. And the word perfect from Matthew’s Gospel comes from the Greek teleios (tel'-i-os), which means complete or completeness with regards to mental and moral character. So, to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect, is to be of complete moral character.

I don’t believe it is by chance that we have these readings just a few days before Ash Wednesday, where we begin our Lenten Season and get our Ash on. Lent is an opportunity for us to change things up. To get out of our normal routine and try something different that can help us work towards being holy and perfect.

What might some of this look like? For starters, how about… Being patient with a coworker or classmate who is annoying. Being forgiving and kind to the person who talks behind your back. Not yelling at the person who cuts you off on the road, but instead saying a prayer for them. Maybe doing the dishes when it is not your turn, or without being asked. Visiting with someone who is sick, in a nursing home, or in prison. Or how about reading up on the Corporal and Spiritual works of Mercy and seeing how to put them to practice at home, work, and school.

Now I’ll be honest with you, I was not very holy or perfect this week. I allowed my moral compass to point to worldly pride. I had volunteered to assist with being a Deacon this weekend at the men’s conference both at Adoration and Mass. Would have been my first time serving as a Deacon with the Archbishop. I was excited and really looking forward to it. Then I received an email this week that the Director of Evangelization wanted a Hispanic Deacon to serve at Mass who could speak Spanish, so he asked another Deacon to serve at Mass. I got upset and hurt because I AM A HISPANIC DEACON AND I SPEAK SPANISH!

My pride was hurt, and instead of accepting this gracefully, I sent a not so kind email to the Director of Evangelization about what I thought of the situation. I was not very meek and humble. I was not being a person with a complete moral character. I was being prideful, which is not sacred at all. I was neither holy nor perfect.

Well, as I was in Adoration Friday night, my reaction weighed heavy on my heart. I realized I had to reconcile with my brother, but not by email. So first thing Saturday morning, when I arrived at the conference, I went and sought my brother out. I said, “I need to apologize to you and ask your forgiveness for how I reacted to you and what I said in my email.” We reconciled with each other, and he gave me a big brotherly hug.

To be holy and perfect requires that we be humble, that we act with humility. Our sacredness must be rooted in humility. I was not humble enough to accept the change because of my pride. However, in prayer the Lord helped me set my pride aside, and to humbly ask for forgiveness.

Lately I’ve been praying the Litany of Humility, so I’ll share it with you as we contemplate what it means to be holy as God is holy, to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect.

Litany of Humility

Jesus, meek and humble of heart, Hear me.

From the desire of being esteemed, Deliver me, Jesus. From the desire of being loved, Deliver me, Jesus. From the desire of being extolled, Deliver me, Jesus. From the desire of being honored, Deliver me, Jesus. From the desire of being praised, Deliver me, Jesus. From the desire of being preferred to others, Deliver me, Jesus. From the desire of being consulted, Deliver me, Jesus. From the desire of being approved, Deliver me, Jesus.

From the fear of being humiliated, Deliver me, Jesus. From the fear of being despised, Deliver me, Jesus. From the fear of suffering rebukes, Deliver me, Jesus. From the fear of being calumniated, Deliver me, Jesus. From the fear of being forgotten, Deliver me, Jesus. From the fear of being ridiculed, Deliver me, Jesus. From the fear of being wronged, Deliver me, Jesus. From the fear of being suspected, Deliver me, Jesus.

That others may be loved more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. That others may be esteemed more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. That others may be chosen and I set aside, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. That others may be praised and I go unnoticed, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. That others may be preferred to me in everything, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.