The State of Perfection

The perfection of Christian life consists chiefly in charity. Charity unites a person to God by grace and love and friendship. Thus charity best attains the end of Christian life,which is union with God. Says St. Paul (Col. 3:14): “Above all things, have charity, which is the bond of perfection.”Charity bonds together in unity all other perfections.

Absolute perfection belongs to God alone, for what is absolutely perfect is lacking in nothing whatever, and is therefore infinite. Relative perfection is perfection in relation to a certain thing-person, state, condition, etc. Now, in relation to man, there is a perfection that belongs to the person who has finished his course and has attained the goal; this is the perfection of the blessed in heaven. Another perfection is that ofman the wayfarer who is still engaged in making the journey of this earthly life; this perfection is possible to attain here on earth.It consists, first, in the removal from life of all mortal sin. Secondly, it consists in getting rid of every attachment or appetite which hinders a person from tending wholly to God. It is possible to have charity without this full perfection, with both its elements, but it is impossible to have charity without freedom from mortal sin. In the proficient, and even in beginners, charity exists; but the perfection of charity is in the perfect.

Primarily and essentially, perfection consists in obeying the commandments. Our Lord said that we are to love God wholly, and to love our neighbor as ourselves for God and in God.He added, “On these two commandments dependeth the whole law,and the prophets” (Matt. 22:40). Now, the love of God and neighbor is prescribed in the Ten Commandments. And, since thistwofold love is the matter of charity or perfection, we rightly say that perfection consists in obeying the commandments. The counselsof poverty, chastity, and obedience to a religious superior, are instruments for the achieving of charity, but these are not prescribed for all; they are for those called by God to a special way of life. The counsels call for the giving up of good and lawful things (marriage, occupation in worldlybusiness,self-determination as to employment, etc.) which,none the less, can be a hindrance to charity.

If by the term, state of perfection, we mean the position that a person has in the Church, we see that a person can have the state without having the inner perfection. It is also possible for a person whose official status is not a state of perfection to be perfect in his spiritual life.

Those officially occupying the state of perfection inthe Church are bishops and religious. These have bound themselves,with religious solemnity, to the unobstructed service of God.

Priests and others in major orders have (in the Western Church at least) the vow of chastity which belongs to the state of perfection. But for the rest, though they are bound to attain perfection in their own lives and in their own souls as all men are(and they the more so by reason of holy order), they do not hold the official status of state of perfection. Only bishops and religious are officially in the state of perfection.

The episcopal state (that of bishops) is more perfect than the religious state. For in spiritual things it is not lawful to look back or to descend from higher to lower status. But a man may lawfully pass from the religious to the episcopal state; hence the latter is the more perfect.

The religious state, in point of total dedication tothe pursuit of perfection, is more perfect than the state of thediocesan or parish clergy.