Page:PracticeOfChristianAndReligiousPerfectionV1.djvu/84



"Be ye  perfect,  as  your  heavenly  Father  is  perfect"  (Mat.  v.  48), says our  blessed  Saviour,  in  that  admirable  sermon  he  preached to his  disciples  on  the  Mount. In his  discourse  on  these  words, St. Cyprian  says,  "If  men  feel  great  pleasure  in  seeing  their children  resemble  them,  and  if  a  father  is  never  better  pleased than  when  all  his  son's  features  are  like  his  own;  how  much greater  joy  will  our  eternal  Father  feel,  when  we  are  so  happily regenerated  in  spirit,  that,  by  all  our  actions,  and  by  our good  behaviour,  we  are  known  to  be  truly  his  children;  what palm  of  justice,  and  what  crown  of  glory  will  it  be  to  you,  that God  shall  have  no  cause  to  say,  I  have  nourished  and  brought up  children  and  they  have  scorned  me  (Isa.  i.  2):  but,  on  the  contrary, that  all  your  actions  tend  to  the  glory  of  your  heavenly Father?  For  it  is  truly  his  glory,  to  have  children  who resemble  him  in  such  a  manner  as  that  by  them  he  may  come  to be  honoured,  known  and  glorified ."

But how  will  it  be  possible  for  us  to  render  ourselves  like  to our  heavenly  Father? St. Austin  teaches  us  in  these  words: "Let us  remember,"  says  he,  "that  the  more  just  we  become, and  the  more  united  with  God's  will,  the  better  we  shall  resemble him;  and  that  the  more  holy,  and  the  more  perfect  we  are,  the greater  resemblance  we  shall  have  to  our  heavenly  Father." (Ep. 85.  ad  Consent.)  And  it  is  for  this  reason,  that  our  Saviour so earnestly  wishes  and  desires  our  holiness  and  perfection,  and so often  recommends  it  to  us;  sometimes  by  himself  in  St. Matthew,  in  the  passage  we  have  already  quoted;  telling  us  also the same  thing  by  the  mouth  of  St.  Paul  in  these  words,  "  That which  God  desires  of  you  is,  that  you  be  sanctified"  (1  Thess.  iv. 3):  and  also  by  the  Prince  of  the  Apostles,  saying,  "  You  shall be  holy,  because  I  am  holy." (1 Pet.  i.  16.)  It  is  a  very  great comfort to  parents  to  have  wise  and  discreet  children;  this  truth the Holy  Ghost  tells  us  by  Solomon,  who  says,  "That  a  wise son  brings  great  joy  to  his  father:  but  a  foolish  son  causes  grief to  his  mother." (Prov. x.  1.)  If  then,  by  doing  so,  we  attained no other  end  than  to  please  Almighty  God,  whose  pleasure, honour, and  glory  should  be  the  chief  motive  of  all  our  actions; we ought  continually  to  aspire  to  perfection. But that  we  may