Walking on the Path to Perfection
You who long to walk along the road to perfection … [must] act at every moment of your life as you would … if you were to rise from death to a new life. (OOCC, X, p. 51; STA, 226)
Every Christian is called to walk along the road to perfection. This is the whole purpose of Christian life. Therefore, in every Christian there must be an inner longing to embrace the path to perfection and to walk the way despite the many hurdles that may come along the way. To continue walking in the way of perfection, a Christian must realize that he, by his insertion into Christ, has been dead to the life dominated by the sinful self and is risen to a new life in Christ. Since he has put off the old sinful self that is dead and has been reborn into a new life, he must live every moment of his life as a person who has risen with Christ. He must give up his old ways of living. He must constantly make efforts to live the very life of Jesus. St. Vincent Pallotti lived his Christian life with the constant awareness that the life he is called to live is the life of Christ. This way of living has made him rise above his old sinful self and the behavior that emerged from it. In living this life at every moment, St. Vincent wished to have the attitude of the person who has died and risen back to life. It meant that he wasted no opportunity to grow into the life of Christ, and that he made use of every possibility to achieve the very life of Christ in his own person. Therefore, he pursued the path of perfection with genuine eagerness and constant effort and in the process living the very life of the risen Christ.
Do I believe that I, as a Christian, am called to walk along the road to perfection? Do I realize that by my insertion into Christ I am dead to sinful ways and have risen to a new life in Christ? Am I ready to give up everything that displeases Christ and walk on the path of perfection with genuine eagerness and constant effort?
It is he [Christ] whom we proclaim, admonishing everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. For this I labor and struggle. (Col. 1: 28-29)