"You must be perfect - just as your Father in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)
By Fr Ernest Timchia TUBUO, Principal of Sacred Heart College, Mankon; & Lecturer at St Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary, Bambui; Bamenda, Cameroon.
Seeing the floods of wickedness, mediocrity, incompetence,, corruption and injustice; with their many painful effects in the world - conflict, poverty, misery - we doubt whether civilization and salvation are taking the world forward or backward.
But in this post, Fr Ernest TUBUO tells us that excellence or mediocrity is a matter of choice. Let's follow him! "You will Know the Truth and the Truth will set you free" (John 8 :32).
Human beings are created in the excellence of God (Genesis 1:26); and "With God all things are possible" (Mark 10:27)
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| BE THE EXCELLENT ONE |
The excellence of God is attained by, and manifests as love, forgiveness and charity. Love is the obedience to God (John 14:21) and the care for one another (John 13:34). Forgiveness is the requirement for us to receive God’s mercy (Mathew 6:14-15) and charity is selfless sacrifice for others (Mathew 6: 2-4).
God is the essence of excellence and anyone who seeks God possesses the excellence of God.
Thus the cry of blind Bartimaeus to Jesus to restore his sight is a sign of excellence (Mark 10:46-52). The excellent human being, therefore, is the one with a sense of direction - moving to an understanding of what makes the world a source of harmony for self and for others.
Excellence is not what we have but what we are. Unfortunately, the drive to have and to consume, here and now, leads many in the wrong direction. And most of these are young people, in the search for some meaning to life. This is a form of blindness and victims must call to Jesus, as did Bartimaeus, to open their eyes.
Who we are is a continuity from where we are coming, to where we are going. Our parentage, religion, culture, tradition and education, therefore, make us who and what we are.
We are all created in total freedom and liberty, and God gives everyone the right to choose between right and wrong.- and, hence, the right to choose their destiny (Deuteronomy 30 : 1). But liberty is not a license to do what ever thing we like. It is, rather, our right to choose excellence - which gives life and every blessing from God. If we use our liberty to do evil – then we choose death, in all its forms and with all their consequences. Two other forms of blindness are pride and selfishness. On the other hand self-sacrifice, humility and confession constitute human excellence.
The humility to accept our weaknesses and to seek the grace of God to change our lives or improve our beings are our excellence.
Thus, the cases of Bartimaeus who asked Jesus to restore his sight (Mark 10: 49); and of the Samaritan women - who asked Jesus to give her the living water (John 4: 15); are true examples of excellence.
Furthermore, excellence is the absolute trust and total surrender to God - in all the circumstances of life. A good example of this is the acceptance - by Jesus, Mary and Joseph - of the abject condition of the manger for the Nativity (Luke 2:7). And, in fact, all of us at one time, face this reality of the manger in our own lives.
Above all, excellence is the desire to know the truth and to attain the light of God.
This is clearly illustrated by the story of a short man, Zacchaeus, who in order to see Jesus, had to climb a tree (Luke 19: 1 - 10). To cover the wrong we do or to avoid the truth we know, are the signs of shortness – and this is the mediocrity. But excellence is the knowledge or the act that enhances our personality and uphold our dignity.
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The three pillars of excellence, therefore, are love, forgiveness and charity.
Love is obedience to the commandments of God, in response to his infinite love for us. Forgiveness justifies us for his mercy and cancels all the evils that vengeance perpetrates in the world. Finally, charity is our gratitude to God for his perpetual and unconditional providence. Be the excellent one; Amen!
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