Human beings always desire to attain greater heights, and this is true even in the spiritual realm. The young man asked about what he needed to do to be perfect. How many of us embark on such journey to be perfect, to be better than we currently are? This brief discussion with the Master has a lot to teach us especially during Lent. For many Lent is a period of avoidance, avoidance of pleasure and of sin. This is good and commendable. But there is more to our Christian life than just avoiding things.  For many Christians, they struggle to avoid, sin, “I don’t steal, I don’t fornicate, I don’t lie, I don’t cheat. Yet, that is where many of us stop, at the level of don’ts.

What good do they do? What value have they added to society or to the lives of the people around them? Hence, Jesus our Master shows us another dimension of the Christian life, the path of action, the path of productivity, the path of influence.  After accomplishing the great feat of the Don’ts, we must climb the mountain of the Dos. We must add the art of doing good to our list of values and let the actions commend us to the Lord God.

High on the list of what we need to do must be our care of the needy around us. These days, we wait for the poor to come beginning and then we bring the camera to capture our generousity.  We must learn to share our resources with the poor and give until it hurts and give to those who cannot repay us.  There are many things we can give to the poor. We can give them their basic daily necessity such as food, drink, clothing etc. But giving them new opportunities to better themselves must be counted as a higher good, so that we can deliver them from the shackle of dependency and any sense of entitlement.

During Lent, we must also embrace the opportunity to become sources of blessings to those around us. This is possible and everyone must make it a goal to be accomplished.  Our life must be a blessing to others, and this will be accomplished if we put our heart into the task of being present in a meaningful way in the life of others. When we speak, we must speak with consideration and love, we must love genuinely and love with the heart of God.  When we act, our actions must flow from the love of God burning in our heart. Let us look at others with the love of love and compassion, and this will enliven their day and give them hope for a better tomorrow. The gaze of love is the look we get when God looks at us, without acrimony, buy with love and affection, it is the gaze captured in the eyes of the prodigal father as he looked at his spendthrift son, now repentant. It is the gaze of love that transformed the sinner into son, that brought the dead back to life and gave the blind new vision, a vision of love and hope, a vision of life triumphant over death. This is the gaze that should be associated with every Christian.

Christians should be known for their life, and we are Christians because we walk in the footsteps of Christ, it is about who we are, and what we do because of the grace of God working in us and through us. By all means, focus on eliminating your weaknesses and avoiding sins, but equally do something good for God.  Jesus said, “My Father goes on working, so do I” (John 5:17) Christians must be at work always, continuing their father’s business and all that Jesus did, he did well.  Can we make this our goal not just at Lent but always? When we say God is perfect, it is because we look at ourselves and we see how infinitely different from us God is, the difference is  so fast that we acknowledge that God is the Good, that God is perfect. This mark is ontologically impossible for us to attain, otherwise we become God, and we are not God. But recognizing how perfect God is, is an invitation for us to aim higher, to be better, to be like God and the more we try, the better we become, the more like God we become. Perfection, therefore, is not to be feared. It is possible, it is attainable. As the French Philosopher Voltaire said a long time ago, “Perfection is attained by slow degrees; it requires the hand of time.” Let our journey begin this Lent and by Easter, we would have arrived at the dawn of a new life, the life God destined for us.  Happy Lent!