Life of Perfection: A Universal Call
All are obliged to work towards the attainment of more sublime perfection. (OOCC, II, p. 4)
St. Vincent Pallotti did not expect every person to have the gift of transforming union in God, which involved God and the soul completely giving themselves to each other so that the soul was made divine and participated in God as much as possible in this life. For St. Vincent, such deepest level of union was not needed for Christian perfection. But he did expect that every person was able to seek the obligation to live the commandment of love. Hence, according to St. Vincent Pallotti, every person was called to be perfect. Jesus announced this universal call to holiness when he proclaimed the perfection of the heavenly Father as the ideal of Christian perfection. Therefore the universal call to perfection had its basis in the Lord’s words. Besides, this obligation stems from human nature as image and likeness of God. As the image of God, a person was also an image of God’s holiness and perfection. If a person does not become holy, then that person is constantly in opposition with his very self as the image of the perfection of God, because lack of holiness and being the image of God’s perfection are contrary to each other. Hence, for St. Vincent, the call to perfection was universal, i.e., a call addressed to every Christian.
Do I accept that the call to holiness is a universal call and is addressed to all? Do I attempt to live the ideal of the holiness of God in my life? Do I live my vocation to be the image of the perfection of God here on earth?
Since we have these [God’s] promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and of spirit, making holiness perfect in the fear of God. (II Cor. 7: 1)