“You must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48).
The creative love of God, on which we meditated yesterday, leads us along the path of sanctification, so that this exhortation of Jesus becomes a reality: “You must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect”.
These words should not discourage us, even though in their sublime light we see how unworthy we are. Let us remember the exclamation we make at every Holy Mass before receiving Communion: “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed”.
When our Father makes us realize how far we are from perfection, it is a great gift on His part that can become a milestone in deepening our conversion. In fact, there is no greater obstacle to perfection than believing that we already have all the virtues we would like to have.
It is the Lord who works our sanctification, but He does so with our willing cooperation. If we allow the love of God to enter our heart, it will begin to exercise its reign of love, gentle but at the same time firm. We can compare it to the gentleness of Mary, to whom we cannot and do not want to deny anything. It is this light of the Holy Spirit that pierces all darkness, so that our soul will never again want to stain the wedding garment, made white by the blood of the Lamb. Every stain on the garment, no matter how small, must be washed again by the Blood of our Redeemer.
Thus, little by little, the shadows of our soul disappear and the perfection of God is reflected in it. Then we recognize our Father more and more, both in His immanence and in His transcendence. We begin to adopt His way of thinking and His perception of reality. His love enables us to love. His mercy dissolves the hardness in our hearts. This is the victory of love in us!