Homily21 November 2004

Last Sunday after Pentecost
On the Desire for Perfection

Willful lukewarmness is hateful to our Lord, “I wish that you were either hot or cold, but because you are lukewarm I will begin to vomit you out of my mouth.” (Ap 3:15-16) To root out avoidable lukewarmness, St. Alphonsus prescribes a remedy of five ingredients: the desire for perfection, the resolution to attain it, meditation on the eternal truths, frequent reception of Holy Communion, and prayer.

Today we present the first of these five, what St. Alphonsus calls “the desire for perfection.”

<>We know well that if we want to obtain anything in this life, we must desire it. If I want to eat a hot dog, I must first desire the hotdog; if I want to be in a beautiful place, if I want to ice-fish in Montana, I must first desire to go to Montana. <>

Now of all things, what should I desire most? Good health?; a keen intellect?; a fat bank account?. No, none of these. Above all things, I should desire perfection for only then will I have the firm hope to purchase my true happiness.

St. Alphonsus says those who really desire perfection constantly advance towards it, and they never give up until they get there; if they don’t give up, they will get there.

<>The saints say that not to go forward in the spiritual life is to go backwards in the spiritual life. St. Augustine put it, “On the road to God, not to go forward is to go backwards.” Therefore, those who make no effort are certainly lost. Again, unless we desire perfection, we will never achieve perfection; never please God; never obtain heaven.

<>But Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth, things seen and unseen, desires all men be saints. This has always been the teaching of the Church. St. Paul writes, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification” (I Thes. 4:3); and St. Alphonsus, “God wants all of us to be saints, and each one according to his or her state of life: the religious as a religious, laypeople as laypeople, the priest as a priest, married person as married, the merchant as merchant, the soldier as soldier, and so on, in every other state of life.”

The desire for perfection implies the desire to be a saint and the desire for heaven. Oh, but there are some Catholics who say, “Oh, if only I get to purgatory, then I will be happy.” These have, unwittingly perhaps, made purgatory their desire, not heaven, and, thereby, they desire something less than perfection. Unwittingly perhaps, these have said within themselves, “I will desire some imperfection in my life” and this is lukewarmness which St. Alphonsus warns against.

If we aim for purgatory we will likely miss heaven altogether. Purgatory catches those who aimed for heaven but fell short; if we aim for purgatory we may very well fall short and end up lower. Our aim is nothing short of heaven and that means we must desire perfection.

St. Teresa of Avila says, “we must not lower our expectations, but trust in God so that by pressing ourselves we may gradually get to the point where, by God’s grace, so many saints have gotten.”

God is pleased when we desire heaven and perfection; the simple desire for these even gains a degree of merit. St Teresa says, “God takes as much delight in our desires as if they were already carried out.” And elsewhere she writes, “God never fails to repay every good desire in this life.”

And we read in scripture, “The Lord is good to those that wait for Him, to the souls that seek Him.” (Lam 3:25); “Ye shall seek me and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” (Jer. 29:13)

So let us be comforted that if we desire perfection God will help us acquire it. St. Alphonsus says if we desire perfection, and seek God, nothing can stop us from acquiring perfection. The devil may discourage us but we should pay him no heed. St. Teresa says, “the devil strives to make it look like pride when we have great desires and wish to imitate the saints; but it is very useful to build up courage to do great things; because, although the soul may not immediately have the strength, it still launches out on a bold fight and makes rapid progress.”

Nor shall even past sin block our assault. St. Paul says, “all things work together for good for those who love God.” (Rm 8:28) And so St. Alphonsus says that even sins can play a part in our salvation, if their bitter remembrance makes us more humble, and more grateful; when we see the favors that God lavishes on us after we have offended Him.

St. Alphonsus says the grateful and humble soul reckons within himself, “I can do nothing, and I deserve nothing but hell. But I am dealing with a God of infinite goodness, who has promised to listen to all who call upon Him. Now that He has rescued me from eternal ruin and wishes me to be an eternal saint, and now that He offers me His assistance, I certainly can become a saint, not by my own powers, but by the grace of God, who strengthens me.”

If God is with us, it does not matter who is against us. If we desire perfection, desire to be a saint, God is thereby already pleased with us and will give us the added help of becoming one.

Finally, St. Alphonsus says, once we have determined to live for God and seek perfection, if we should then encounter any difficulty in obtaining our goal, let us find our peace in God’s will. We must prefer God’s will to all things, even to our most wholesome desires.

This is a good principle to remember. God wants our perfection and we must desire perfection, not for its own sake, but for the sake of God. St. Alphonsus writes that St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi preferred to lack any perfection rather than to have it without the will of God.

In summary, in order to avoid lukewarmness, St. Alphonsus first recommends we desire perfection. Afterwards he says we need a firm resolution to give ourselves completely to God and this will be our topic next time.