Perfect
Saturday of the First Week of Lent
Read this Gospel passage aloud to the family
Matthew 5:43-48 - Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers and sisters only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
(Parent) Reread this part a few times aloud
“…be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
(Parent) Read this meditation aloud to the family
Jesus says, “be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Okay, no problem! That’s easy! We’ll just go ahead and be absolutely perfect now! Of all the commands of Jesus, this one has a kind of comical ring to it at first, because it seems impossible that we could be perfect just like God the Father. And it is impossible to be perfect on our own. But we are not alone.
Through the Incarnation, life, suffering, Death, and Resurrection of Christ, Jesus is with us, and we have the opportunity to be one with Him. He became like us, so we could be like Him. He became man, so we could become like God. We can live in Christ and Christ can live in us. “Abide in me, and I in you” (John 15:4), He says. If we are one with Christ, part of His Body, in Him we are “perfect, just as the heavenly Father is perfect.” Only Christ is perfect and lives perfectly. If we are in Him and He is in us, we share in His perfection. Praised be Jesus Christ!
As a family, pray a portion of the Rosary together (very short if children are young) reflecting on the Scripture passage above.(Optional: allow a brief time for discussion or questions from children concerning their thoughts and prayer.)
Reminder for Parents: Pier is just meant to be a jumping off point. The real goal is that you pray & eventually use the fruits of your personal prayer as the content of your family’s prayer. Duc in altum.
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