Be Ye Perfect, As Your Heavenly Father is Perfect

We would like to be perfect, if only in our own eyes. In fact, our world has been blessed with four perfect human beings. First we had Adam and Eve... that did not last long, much to the sorrow of all creation.

Then we had Mary and creation rejoiced.

Then we had Jesus, and creation was redeemed and once again we had a chance to be perfect. Jesus became man to show us the way of perfection. And we can follow this way every day of our lives. We were meant to be like Jesus. We were meant to join His perfection.

by Laura Weston, Deacon Michael's widow

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I'm sure we have many exceptions to this rule in here. I'm not an exception to the rule.

We're not perfect.

Especially when you get older, this has been a real revelation to me. One of the first things I encountered was that I hurt in places I used to not know existed. Normal things sometimes become a burden. Sometimes my stomach doesn't like me. I'm not perfect! I'm human.

Like I said, I'm sure there are exceptions in here, where everybody can say, "No, no. I’m,,, I'm perfect."

But we're not. We're not perfect physically; we're not perfect morally; and we're not perfect spiritually.

There are so many things that go on in the world that subject us to temptation. Various little things in our world affect how we perceive God, how we interact with Christ, how we rely on the Blessed Virgin Mary.

And, unfortunately, there's a "Oh, I obey all the rules of God." And then along comes something and we say, "Oh, except for the one. That really cute girl over there. I just can't resist her."

That's not normally how it works. It normally works like, you're sitting, this applies to me particularly, you're sitting somewhere in your house and your wife is off doing something, it's nice and quiet, you're occupied, she's occupied, you interact every once in a while, and then you go, sniff, sniff, "What's that smell? What is that smell? Oh, that smells so good."

And then you think, "No, I'm really not going to eat too much. I'm going to resist that smell."

"Wait a minute.” Sniff. Sniff. “Those are chocolate chip cookies with pecans in them. No, no, no, no. I'm not going to do it. I can get up and look at them. Oh they look so good and they smell so good! I know. I can eat one."

I have never in my life, except when they ran out, eaten one chocolate chip cookie. That first one just kind of entices you to the next ten.

That's what life is like. That's what sin is like.

And so when we face the world, we want to live a life that is what God wants us to live. And Jesus says it's real simple. Follow me as a child. A child follows me. A child has a simple world. Do it that way.

And you go, "Yeah, but... it's those chocolate chip cookies!" How do I get around that, or whatever the sin is? How do I get around it? How do I solve the problem?

And I look at the world and I go, "Whoa! Golly, there are a lot of people having problems with this issue. Look at all . Look at all that. They're not only going out and committing sin, but they're propounding it. They're advancing it. They're making it a cause, a wonderful thing.” St. Anthony Zaccaria: he's looking at a world... he grew up wealthy; became a doctor; decided to become a priest. He was favored. Back then, wealth made a big difference.

And he looks around and he goes, "This Church is a mess. What do I do?"

And the answer is real simple. It’s the same answer we have today. It is the answer that the Church provides us.

When you look at these situations, and what we look for is someone like St. Anthony to come forward and preach it and make sense to us. There is a simple solution. The truth. The truth of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the truth of His Holy Catholic Church. The Magisterium. Capital "T" Truth.

That when we face a situation in our lives, when we face a situation looking about..."How do I say something to someone who is doing, and propounding, and advancing and being a proponent for something that is wrong? What do I say? What do I do?"

You do what St. Anthony did. You tell the truth. The truth of Our Lord Jesus Christ. They called that the Counter Reformation that he was involved in.

You propound to the world, through your life and your words, the truth, pure and simple.

You go, "But I don't know the truth!"

If you don't know the truth, I've got a book for you. It's got the truth in it. It's called The Catechism of the Catholic Church.

And if you really are adventuresome, they have a Compendium. If you have ever read the Catechism, it has a whole bunch of footnotes and references. All of the footnotes are in the Compendium.

So if you really want to know what they are talking about, go back and read the original source. It's there. We don't hide it.

And if your are really interested, go back and read the original source in it's totality. It's all there. It tells you where to get them.

So the reality is, "Yes, life is complicated. Yes, there are temptations. There are chocolate chip cookies out there.” The world is a very chaotic place but what can we possibly do?

And ultimately the answer comes, and Jesus says it continually, "I am the Way." Not, "I am A way."... "I am THE way." And it's capital "T" truth, not lower "t" truth. It is an absolute. It’s natural law, which St. Paul puts forward, and other philosophers had talked about.

How do we face the world? How do we bring the world to Jesus Christ? How do we bring our lives to Jesus Christ?

We do what he did; what St. Anthony did. We preach the truth.

We preach it, not, "Oh I am so smart. I've got it figured out. I, Michael, know the answer. All you have to do is listen to me!"

It's not true. Just not true. The truth is for me to be the child. To me to look at the teachings of Christ and accept them as a child, knowing He's going to tell me the truth. He does tell me the truth.

How do I look at a situation? I do it through the truth of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It isn't complicated. Like I said, they even give you a book as a reference point.

The reality is that what St. Zacharias preached, the Counter Reformation, the Revival, his great preaching, what we face in our world in our normal circumstances of you and me and the world, the way that we bring evangelization, the way that we bring the world to Christ is very, very simple.

The Truth. The truth of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and as St. Paul says, "...Him crucified."

It is because the truth of Christ is the truth that will bring us to God.

And no matter how many crazy things that we might do or the world is doing, and the people around the world might be doing that you go, "Aghhh! How can it ever survive?"

One of the things that God placed within us in the image of Christ, in the image of God, when He created us, is this yearning to be with Him. There is a yearning within each and every one of us to move to God. And what would we be moving to? The Truth. And how do we bring it to the world? How do we bring Jesus Christ to the world, to ourselves? Through the Church. The truth of Jesus Christ through His Church, the Magisterium.

And we rely on them because we hold great hope that in times of trouble, personally, and in the times of trouble in the world, and the times of trouble in the Church. Ultimately what is going to overcome is God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit as expressed in the capital "T" Truth.

July 5, 2019 2