Paradigm of Perfection: St. Peter and Everyday Holiness

02-19-2017Weekly ReflectionSeminarian Sam McCarty

Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.
—Leviticus 19

Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.
—Matthew 5

The Scriptures for this weekend are bold. “Be holy, be perfect,” they say – a weighty demand. I want topropose that this holiness and perfection looks like something in our daily lives, and that it is something entirelyaccessible with the help of God’s grace.

God's call to holiness and perfection takes place within the context of a vocation. Although there are certain similarities, my perfection will look different as a seminarian than perfection for a married couple or for a religious sister. For example, God's plan for my life meant giving up my plans and going to the seminary to study and prepare for the priesthood. Looking back, I can name different ways the Lord has used my time as a seminarian to draw me to himself: through time in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, through spiritual direction, through good brothers who called me on to holiness. The Father has poured a plentitude of graces out on me – like a waterfall into the little thimble that is me. However, life isn't without difficulties. There have been plenty of trials along the way: keeping up with studies, uncertainty in prayer, difficult pastoral ministries. No matter what our vocation, we are sure to experience closeness with the Lord and difficulty in following him, especially as we consider that lofty demand for perfection. It's important to realize that no matter what our state in life, God gives us the grace we need to fulfill his will for our lives (hear: waterfalls into thimbles).

One of my favorite saints is St. Peter, because he provides a paradigm for perfection that is within my ability. Quite simply, Peter teaches us to get back up. The paradigm: acknowledge our sin and then return to the Lord with confidence in his mercy. Peter betrayed Christ, but wept for his sin, and went on to preach the Gospel until they killed him for it. Peter as a man is a fisherman who didn't know how to swim, one who tries to convince Jesus to abandon his mission, and then ends up denying his Lord three times. Not a likely candidate for the "rock" of the Church it would appear. Peter failed! But he got back up, and the next thing we know great crowds are being baptized because of his preaching (Acts 2:14-41). This is why I love St. Peter: he gives me hope! In the end I'm just a fisherman who can't swim, and the best I can do is get back up when I fall.

What does it look like to get back up? In my daily life, it takes the form of the Examen Prayer. (If you're interested in this, check the parish website for an outline.) Essentially the Examen Prayer helps me look at my day and pick out where I've cooperated with God's grace and where I've resisted it, and ends with a concrete commitment to fix something for the next day. This sort of examination and resolution to change is most powerfully seen in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, where Jesus himself is the minister who lifts us back up to new life and freedom. Frequent reception of this Sacrament is the best way to grow into the perfection we are called to. No matter where we are in life, these two tools can help us follow the Petrine Paradigm, and can assist us in reaching the perfection to which the Lord calls us.

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