Using Imperfections to Seek Perfection

Homily Podcast

A homily for the 7th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Readings
Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18
1 Corinthians 3:16-23
Matthew 5:38-48

Spring Training has started. The world is objectively a better and more recognizable place when baseball is being played. Baseball, for all of its quirks, consistently reminds us how unpredictable life is. Think about it for a minute. Almost anything can happen during a baseball game or over the course of a season. The Cubs won the World Series -- this should be enough to prove all of this alone -- and a career journeyman could be an All Star or throw a perfect game. 

Baseball also helps us recognize the difference between human perfection and the perfection God calls us to in today's Gospel. The perfection of a baseball game is quantifiable and easily defined. The perfection we are called to by Our Lord is mysterious. In fact, the perfection Jesus calls us to is best experienced and challenged when we must face the imperfections of the world around us. 

Using the etymology of both the Greek and Latin words used to give us the "perfect" of today's Gospel, the perfection God calls toward is more about our intentions, our orientation, our end, our goal than anything else. To be "perfect," in other words, means to have my life, my heart, my mind, my soul constantly striving to fix itself on the goal, the end of my life -- union with God forever in heaven.

We are made for heaven and we are made to live our best lives when everything strives to reflect that reality.