Introduction: “Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt 5:48)
Hello there! My name is Fr. Matthew MacDonald, and you’re watching Lesson 6 of module 3 of the online Basic Evangelization Training. The module is “Theology for Evangelists.” The lesson is “Be Perfect as your Father is perfect”: Imitating God in the Work of Evangelization. In this course, we will cover what is – and what is not – holiness and perfection. We will also cover how we can reflect Jesus Himself in the work of evangelization.
I grew up on Long Island, New York. Ever since I was a kid, baseball has been important to me and the New York Mets were my favorite team. They started their first season in 1962 and finished it with the worst record in baseball history: 40 wins and 120 losses. Talk about hitting rock bottom as soon as you start! It took several years until they got great players such as Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, Bud Harrelson, Tommy Agee, Cleon Jones, and the legendary manager Casey Stengel. In 1969, the Mets won their first World Series title. They won because of their scrappy, solid playing style, earning them the nicknames: the “Amazin’ Mets” and the “Miracle Mets.”
The Christian life of faith, including the work of evangelization, is never just about scrappy play. It’s also never only about what we put into it. We live the Christian life in the grace of God, and we evangelize to find our purpose, peace, and salvation as well as to help others find them. The work of evangelization is united to the call to holiness and sainthood, a call for all of the baptized faithful. All the saints are perfect both in the life of grace and in the life of evangelization — through their own unique witness to Jesus. What then is perfection? Perfection is the state of being holy as God is holy, to let His divine life flourish within us. The saints are perfect so far as they manifest Jesus Christ fully to others, both in word and in deed.
When Our Lord states in the Gospel of Matthew, “Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect,” He means that He desires to fully blossom within us because we are cooperating with His grace and being fruitful. However, this call to perfection is not just something we do, nor is it only having the “right arguments” or “presentation” when we evangelize. When I have given my life over to Christ, He can then live in me. Like John the Baptist, I am called to let Jesus Christ “increase” in me to the maximum, so that I can be the person God created me to be and to manifest Him to others.
In speaking of this passage from the Gospel of Matthew, Saint Thomas Aquinas reminds us that the perfection that all Christians are called to is that of actual intention. In other words, it isn’t only about not sinning. Rather, it’s about having God as our end, our goal, in all of our actions. This call to perfect holiness poses to us the following questions:
ONE: What are the obstacles that I am placing in my own life to letting Jesus’ life fully blossom in me? This includes obstacles in our thought, use of time, relationships with people, and even ideals and motivations.
TWO: Why am I called to evangelize?
THREE: How do I share the faith with others? Do I imitate Christ in my own life? Or do I create obstacles when I evangelize?
Every Christian is called to holiness by living out the faith daily, and manifesting Christ to others. In the next lesson, we shall discuss the various aspects of this holiness, and how it manifests Jesus to others in the work of evangelization. This work is a miracle. The Lord invites us to cooperate with Him, regardless of who we are or our background.
Like the Amazin’ Mets of 1969, will you answer the call, “get in the batter’s box,” and play?