True Perfection
I know that perfection consists in carrying out exactly and with right intention whatever is suitable to my state of life. (OOCC, X, p. 111; STA, 170)
A person may think that he must do extraordinary things, and perform out-of-the-way activities in order to achieve holiness of life. For St. Vincent Pallotti, perfection does not consist of doing exceptional and remarkable things. But rather, it consists of a person carrying out the ordinary duties of his everyday life in an extraordinary manner. By the “extraordinary manner” we mean that a person does his duties of daily life exactly and with the right intention. Doing the tasks “exactly” implies that he does the various tasks he is called to do in the way he is expected to do. It involves doing the tasks entrusted to one in a meticulous manner and in the way God wants it to be done. Doing the demands of life “with right intention” means that the motivation of action must be pure. The intention must be God-centered and other-centered, rather than merely self-centered. The intention of a person has to be similar to that of God, as he performs his activities of daily life. Hence true perfection consists of a person performing the daily duties that are suitable to his state of life in a manner he is expected to do them, and with the motivation of love of God and neighbor. The life of St. Vincent Pallotti is an external proclamation of this simple way of achieving sanctity.
Do I recognize the fact that true perfection consists of doing the ordinary tasks of life in an extraordinary manner? Do I perform the duties of my life “exactly” and “with right intention”? Which are some attitudinal changes that I need in order to learn to be perfect through the everyday events of my life? Do I imitate St. Vincent’s simple way of achieving sanctity?
I command you before God … and before Christ Jesus … that you fulfill all he [Christ] has told you to do, so that no one can find fault with you from now until our Lord Jesus Christ returns. (2 Tim. 13-14)