Written By: Miranda Lukatch, Editor, Vincentian Studies Institute
When you are always striving for something, it’s easy to think that what you are doing is not enough and to internalize things that reinforce that view. Although I am not Catholic, I attended 8 years of Catholic school, which required me to take several theology classes and reflect on the Bible. One of the verses that stuck with me was Matthew 5:48, which is one that perfectionists of all faiths or beliefs may find affecting or even disturbing. It reads, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” [1] As Vincent de Paul himself very relatably said, “That’s aiming high; who can reach it? To be perfect as the Eternal Father is perfect!” [2] This seems like an impossible standard, and it has troubled me for a long time. So, I began to research the verse.
It turns out that this is one of the most mistranslated and misinterpreted verses of the Bible. The Greek word that has been translated as “perfect” is teleios, which means “complete” or “mature.” Scholar Bonnie Bowman Thurston notes that the verse, which occurs within the context of loving one’s enemies, indicates a “perfection in love” that “contemplates all persons alike from the standpoint of God.” It is a call for “observable dedication to certain qualities of conduct. Perfection . . . does ‘not imply complete sinlessness and full virtue as matters of fact.’” [3] She adds that “perfection is not a completed state of being; it is not an abstraction. It is the person of Jesus whom we grow toward and follow after in order to complete or mature ourselves. Our perfection is, in modern parlance, ‘in process.’” [4]
Vincent had a similar insight. He observed, “Whom can we call perfect? No one on this earth. . . . Anyone who strives to know himself well will see many weaknesses and failings in himself, and will even acknowledge that he can’t help having them.” [5] He defined perfection as growing in holiness, which meant aligning a person’s will to God’s and imitating Christ’s behavior as much as possible. [6] Under this definition, we are always supposed to be striving, but we gain righteousness through God’s love, not through our own effort. In earthly life, the striving, the effort itself, is perfection because it’s as close as we can get to being like God.
You don’t have to be Christian or even believe in God to take comfort in the advice that Vincent gave his followers about pursuing perfection. He said, “True, solid holiness consists in this: doing well what you do.” [7] In a later conference he qualified it, adding the phrase “as far as our human weakness . . . allows.” [8] That is liberating for perfectionists. It is enough that we try our best while recognizing and accepting that we have limitations.
Reflection Questions:
What does it mean to “do well what you do” within the context of your work at DePaul?
How does your work contribute to your overall efforts to pursue goodness? If you’re a perfectionist, what are some ways in which taking stock of these efforts allows you to be gentler to yourself in self-assessments?
Reflection by: Miranda Lukatch, Editor, Vincentian Studies Institute
[1] New Revised Standard Version.
[2] Conference 195, “Purpose of the Congregation of the Mission (Common Rules, Chap. 1, Art. 1),” December 6, 1658, CCD, 12:68–69. Available online at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/vincentian_ebooks/36/.
[3] Bonnie Bowman Thurston, “Matthew 5:43-48: ‘You, Therefore, Must Be Perfect,’” Interpretation 41:2 (April 1987): 171, Atla Religion Database.
[4] Ibid., 172.
[5] Conference 207, “Charity (Common Rules, Chap. 2, Art. 12)” May 30, 1659, CCD, 12:219.
[6] For more on these ideas, see conference 180, “Observance of the Rules,” May 17, 1658, ibid., 12:2n5; conference 143, “Repetition of Prayer,” October 17, 1655, ibid., 11:286. Available online at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/vincentian_ebooks/37/; and conference 196, “Members of the Congregation and their Ministries (Common Rules, Chap. 1, Art. 2 and 3),” December 13, 1658, ibid., 12:93.
[7] Conference 116, “Uniformity (Common Rules, Art. 17),” November 15, 1657, ibid., 10:284. Available online at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/vincentian_ebooks/35/.
[8] Conference 195, “Purpose of the Congregation of the Mission (Common Rules, Chap. 1, Art. 1),” December 6, 1658, ibid., 12:69. Available online at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/vincentian_ebooks/36/.