The Lord Jesus Christ calls love for God the first and greatest commandment because without this love there is no Christian perfection. In love for God is contained all the perfection of our life, which is confirmed by the Apostle Paul: "And above all these, clothe yourselves with love, which is the bond of perfect harmony." (Col 3:14).
The words of the Apostle Paul show that love for God unites all virtues and makes them perfect. Therefore, we are obliged to strive for love for God to become perfect, that is, we are perfect only when our love for God is perfect.
From what has been said, it is clear that our perfection consists only in love for God. Since we are destined to unite with God once and enjoy Him for all eternity, our perfection consists only in love for God, that is, only love for God unites us with God and leads to the enjoyment of the joy of Heaven. Therefore, if we fulfill the commandment of love for God in its entirety, then we have become perfect and do what the Lord commands: "Therefore: be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect!" (Mt 5:48).
We would be mistaken if we sought our Christian perfection in the performance of certain good works as well as in the mere observance of the evangelical counsels, that is, in voluntary poverty, perfect chastity and complete obedience.
Our perfection does not consist in voluntary poverty, because then, as St. Jerome notes, there would also be perfect pagan sages, many of whom despised earthly goods and lived in voluntary poverty.
Our perfection does not consist in perfect chastity either, because many pagans also believed in this virtue, and in the Gospel we can read about the five foolish virgins who were excluded from the wedding feast, although they were virgins.
Likewise, our perfection does not consist in complete obedience, because soldiers and robbers are often blindly obedient, and yet because of that they are not perfect.
The question arises, what does our perfection consist in?
The answer is always the same, our perfection consists only in love for God, because the Lord says to the young man who wanted to be perfect: "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me!" (Mt 19:21).
The rich young man had to leave his temporal goods only so that he could faithfully follow the Lord without any obstacles. In these words, by our perfection the Lord does not mean renouncing all earthly goods, but by renouncing he means that we are obliged to imitate him in our lives.
As St. Jerome and Ambrose say and teach, to follow the Lord means nothing else than to love Him. Only in love for the Lord do we completely surrender and consecrate ourselves to the Lord, we agree with Him, we become His disciples and we follow Him faithfully.
The question arises, what can be concluded from what has been said? As Christians, are we obliged to despise and belittle good works, virtues and evangelical counsels since our perfection does not consist in them? No, not at all, because even if our perfection is not found in these expressions, they are nevertheless necessary and necessary means to achieve that perfection. Amen!
The words of the Apostle Paul show that love for God unites all virtues and makes them perfect. Therefore, we are obliged to strive for love for God to become perfect, that is, we are perfect only when our love for God is perfect.
From what has been said, it is clear that our perfection consists only in love for God. Since we are destined to unite with God once and enjoy Him for all eternity, our perfection consists only in love for God, that is, only love for God unites us with God and leads to the enjoyment of the joy of Heaven. Therefore, if we fulfill the commandment of love for God in its entirety, then we have become perfect and do what the Lord commands: "Therefore: be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect!" (Mt 5:48).
We would be mistaken if we sought our Christian perfection in the performance of certain good works as well as in the mere observance of the evangelical counsels, that is, in voluntary poverty, perfect chastity and complete obedience.
Our perfection does not consist in voluntary poverty, because then, as St. Jerome notes, there would also be perfect pagan sages, many of whom despised earthly goods and lived in voluntary poverty.
Our perfection does not consist in perfect chastity either, because many pagans also believed in this virtue, and in the Gospel we can read about the five foolish virgins who were excluded from the wedding feast, although they were virgins.
Likewise, our perfection does not consist in complete obedience, because soldiers and robbers are often blindly obedient, and yet because of that they are not perfect.
The question arises, what does our perfection consist in?
The answer is always the same, our perfection consists only in love for God, because the Lord says to the young man who wanted to be perfect: "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me!" (Mt 19:21).
The rich young man had to leave his temporal goods only so that he could faithfully follow the Lord without any obstacles. In these words, by our perfection the Lord does not mean renouncing all earthly goods, but by renouncing he means that we are obliged to imitate him in our lives.
As St. Jerome and Ambrose say and teach, to follow the Lord means nothing else than to love Him. Only in love for the Lord do we completely surrender and consecrate ourselves to the Lord, we agree with Him, we become His disciples and we follow Him faithfully.
The question arises, what can be concluded from what has been said? As Christians, are we obliged to despise and belittle good works, virtues and evangelical counsels since our perfection does not consist in them? No, not at all, because even if our perfection is not found in these expressions, they are nevertheless necessary and necessary means to achieve that perfection. Amen!
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