+ “No one is perfect. We’re only human,” we hear it said frequently as we trudge along with heavy feet in a world full of far-from-ideal events and people – ourselves included. We quarrel with others and get angry. We may not physically murder people, but do so often enough with the sword that is our tongue through gossip and undue interference in others lives. Sagely, Saint Benedict reminds us of the teaching of the Book of Proverbs: “In much speaking, thou shalt not escape sin.” (Rule, ch. 6; Prov. 10:19)
This somewhat depressing disposition, which is a daily reality for many, is contradicted outright by Our Blessed Lord in the final verse of the fifth chapter of Saint Matthew’s Gospel – famously containing the Sermon on the Mount – from which the Gospel of this Holy Mass is taken, when He insists: “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt 5:48).
For to be “only human” is not to be weak and sinful and imperfect. To be human is to be like Christ. It is to be perfect. And the more we approach perfection in and through Christ the more fully human we become; the more we return to man as God created him in His own image and likeness, before the Fall.
So let us be done with excuses and put away the pretences, some of which we hear in the Gospel of this Mass. “I am not a murderer,” I like to say. That is good. But it is not enough Our Lord teaches. I must not only avoid the external acts of sin. I must also do battle with the inner impulses of the passions and not allow them to rule my heart, mind, thoughts and words. For, if they do, Our Lord teaches us this morning that we shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
One could be forgiven for thinking that this is itself a depressing reality. Who can manage such a conversion? Who amongst us can approach the altar with a clean conscience, reconciled with God and man?
We monks know well enough that the enclosure of the monastery is the necessary “school of the Lord’s service” (Rule, Prologue) to move us forward, step by step, in this conversion of life which even then can take decades to be accomplished in us. Those with different vocations in the Church and in the world know also that the conversion of the inner man is no small task and is not ordinarily accomplished overnight.
What is essential, however, is that we recognise this need and continue to take steps along the path toward perfection. The classical spiritual practices of a daily examination of conscience and of frequent confession are indispensable. Sunday Mass – also weekday Mass where this is possible – is essential. Joining ourselves to the daily Work of God in praying at least some of the Divine Office is a powerful tool. So too, we should turn to the saints who have themselves climbed this very path before us and ask their intercession. Personal prayer, which Saint Benedict teaches should be “short and pure” (Rule, ch. 20) is vital. Fasting, almsgiving and other penances are strong tools with which to clear the overgrown path to virtue.
If for some reason my progress is slow, or has ground to a halt, or if I have fallen back into old vices or even fallen victim to new ones, Our Lord calls me this morning to the radical conversion of my life which he expects of us all. Nothing less.
It is up to me to do what is necessary. If freely, knowingly and willingly I choose not to do so, then I must not be surprised if I am not able to enter the kingdom of heaven. If, however, I take the first step in doing what is necessary today, and persevere in so doing each day and make continual use of the classical spiritual practices, I shall finally come to know that reality of which the Psalmist sings in today’s Communion antiphon – a reality which the life of the monk anticipates on this earth in a singularly privileged manner:
Unam pétii a Dómino, hanc requíram: ut inhábitem in domo Dòmini ómnibus diébus vitæ meæ.
“One thing I have asked of the Lord, After this will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.” +
This somewhat depressing disposition, which is a daily reality for many, is contradicted outright by Our Blessed Lord in the final verse of the fifth chapter of Saint Matthew’s Gospel – famously containing the Sermon on the Mount – from which the Gospel of this Holy Mass is taken, when He insists: “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt 5:48).
For to be “only human” is not to be weak and sinful and imperfect. To be human is to be like Christ. It is to be perfect. And the more we approach perfection in and through Christ the more fully human we become; the more we return to man as God created him in His own image and likeness, before the Fall.
So let us be done with excuses and put away the pretences, some of which we hear in the Gospel of this Mass. “I am not a murderer,” I like to say. That is good. But it is not enough Our Lord teaches. I must not only avoid the external acts of sin. I must also do battle with the inner impulses of the passions and not allow them to rule my heart, mind, thoughts and words. For, if they do, Our Lord teaches us this morning that we shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
One could be forgiven for thinking that this is itself a depressing reality. Who can manage such a conversion? Who amongst us can approach the altar with a clean conscience, reconciled with God and man?
We monks know well enough that the enclosure of the monastery is the necessary “school of the Lord’s service” (Rule, Prologue) to move us forward, step by step, in this conversion of life which even then can take decades to be accomplished in us. Those with different vocations in the Church and in the world know also that the conversion of the inner man is no small task and is not ordinarily accomplished overnight.
What is essential, however, is that we recognise this need and continue to take steps along the path toward perfection. The classical spiritual practices of a daily examination of conscience and of frequent confession are indispensable. Sunday Mass – also weekday Mass where this is possible – is essential. Joining ourselves to the daily Work of God in praying at least some of the Divine Office is a powerful tool. So too, we should turn to the saints who have themselves climbed this very path before us and ask their intercession. Personal prayer, which Saint Benedict teaches should be “short and pure” (Rule, ch. 20) is vital. Fasting, almsgiving and other penances are strong tools with which to clear the overgrown path to virtue.
If for some reason my progress is slow, or has ground to a halt, or if I have fallen back into old vices or even fallen victim to new ones, Our Lord calls me this morning to the radical conversion of my life which he expects of us all. Nothing less.
It is up to me to do what is necessary. If freely, knowingly and willingly I choose not to do so, then I must not be surprised if I am not able to enter the kingdom of heaven. If, however, I take the first step in doing what is necessary today, and persevere in so doing each day and make continual use of the classical spiritual practices, I shall finally come to know that reality of which the Psalmist sings in today’s Communion antiphon – a reality which the life of the monk anticipates on this earth in a singularly privileged manner:
Unam pétii a Dómino, hanc requíram: ut inhábitem in domo Dòmini ómnibus diébus vitæ meæ.
“One thing I have asked of the Lord, After this will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.” +
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