207. The limits of perfection in this life
207. The limits of perfection in this life
Can we be perfect in this life?
(Objection:) The divine law does not prescribe the impossible. Yet it prescribes perfection, according to Matthew 5:48, Be you . . . perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect. Therefore seemingly one can be perfect in this life. . . .
(Reply:) We may consider a threefold perfection. One is absolute, and answers to a totality not only on the part of the lover, but also on the part of the object loved, so that God be loved as much as He is lovable. Such perfection as this is not possible to any creature, but is competent to God alone. . . .
Another perfection answers to an absolute totality (only) on the part of the lover, so that the affective faculty always actually tends to God as much as it possibly can; and such perfection as this is not possible so long as we are on the way, but we shall have it in heaven.
The third perfection answers to a totality neither on the part of the object served nor on the part of the lover. . . . Such perfection as this can be had in this life, and in two ways. First, by the removal from man’s affections of all that is contrary to charity, such as mortal sin. Secondly, by the removal from man’s affections not only of whatever is contrary to charity but also of whatever hinders the mind’s affections from tending wholly to God. (This is rare. However charity is required of all Christians and) charity is possible apart from this perfection. . . .
Those who are perfect in this life are (still) said to offend in many things with regard to venial sins . . . Now in the love of our neighbor we may observe a . . . perfection . . . as to the extent of love, through a man loving not only his friends and acquaintances but also strangers and even his enemies. . . . Secondly as to the intensity of love, which is shown by the things which man despises (turns from or sacrifices) for his neighbor’s sake, through his despising not only external goods for the sake of his neighbor but also bodily hardships and even death, according to John 15:13, Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends (II-II,184,2).
It becomes increasingly clear the more we read St. Thomas how necessary and effective is his method of answering questions by beginning with relevant distinctions.
One meaning of “be you perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” is unattainable except in Heaven, by a radical transformation of consciousness. But we can and should cultivate here the desire for that Heavenly transformation. As Robert Browning wrote, “A man’s reach must exceed his grasp, or what’s a Heaven for?”
We cannot aspire to attain Heaven on earth. But the way in which we can aspire to be perfect (perfectum, “completely made, finished”) in this life is to aspire to the freedom from sin and from all impediments to total charity. Except for pre-fallen Adam and Eve and the Blessed Virgin Mary, none of us attains this total freedom from sin in this life. But the will to remove all sins and obstacles can also be also perfect in hope and intention even in this life, though not in actuality and in execution. Imperfect charity is still genuine charity. (“Charity is possible apart from this perfection.”)
The test of love’s intensity is sacrifice. That is why martyrdom is the supreme test of love, for the martyr gives up literally everything for the thing he loves more than life itself. It’s not so much how much you give as how much you have left that measures your generosity. Remember the widow’s mite (Mk 12:41-44).
(“Intensity” of charity here does not mean merely “emotional heat or passion”, since that is not charity’s essence but only its accident. It means quantity of love, and thus of will, especially the willingness to sacrifice.)