20-second Summary
Were we Made Perfect? Truly?
Yes! This week, we discuss Perfection, and what that means. This Week’s Free Thing! gives a much needed perspective on the readings for the Fifth Sunday of Lent as we plow through into the second part of Lent.
He Was Made Perfect
When this week is no longer the current Mass, the readings for the Mass can be found here
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Catechesis At Home – Fifth Sunday of Lent – Year B
He Was Made Perfect
REFLECTION – He Was Made Perfect
Perfection is something we talk a lot about at Holy Owned and Operated. But we and even the Church or even Jesus are not the first to talk about it. The Greek philosopher Plato explored it extensively 400 years before Christ, and that was because others argued about it before him.
When Jesus died on the Cross, his last words were, as we see them in English, “It is finished.” In the original Greek as they were written down, it is translated as “It is perfected.”
Jesus, in being who He was supposed to be on earth, and therefore doing what He was supposed to do, was and is perfect. And in the Sermon on the mount, He implores us to be who we are supposed to be, and do what we are supposed to do, as he sums up the Sermon on the Mount by commanding us to, “Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48)
We are in the second part of Lent, now, and the Catholic Church gives us Lent as a time of sacrifice, prayer, and almsgiving to help us perfect ourselves, getting ready for the Perfect Christ who died on Good Friday and rose on Easter, showing us what we will do if we are perfect: Do what we are supposed to do – Love.
DISCUSSION – Were We Made Perfect?
This week is a time for reflection upon our Lenten journey. Ask questions of yourself and your loved ones to get a discussion going around the dinner table, or instead of Family Game Night:
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- Have our sacrifices brought us closer to our own perfection?
- Have they brought us closer to Jesus, who thirsted for us on the cross and who knocks on our door, waiting patiently for the slightest whisper of an invitation to come into our hearts and perfect us?
- Are we going to be better after Lent than we were before Lent?
- Are we going to do better after Lent than we did before Lent?
- Will we be closer to the perfection we are called to? If so, how, and can we help others to achieve that? If not, why not, and what help do we need to achieve that?
- Since perfection is a destination, are we as a family on the right path that will get us there?
ACTIVITY – How do we be Perfect?
This week, each morning as we set out on our day, say to one another in parting, “Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
At bedtime, parents should whisper to each child, “You Remember?” and the child should respond, “I can be who God wants me to be.”
Perhaps this will become a nightly ritual as it has in our family.
Other Perfection-related items of interest on our site:
What are ways we can reach our personal perfection God knows we can reach?
Kristofer Cowles, MHD
HOO™ Co-Founder | Director of Catechetical Content | Catechist
Other Help on HOO
Being On The Road To Perfection – Episode 166
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:32 — 22.6MB)
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We are called to be perfect, as we discussed last week.
So, what does being on the road to perfection look like?
If Jesus was “finished” and his ministry was “completed,” as it means when He said, “It is done,” by saying, “It is perfected” just before He died on the Cross, He must have walked a road to perfection.
And so must we.
In this episode we discuss that concept, in terms of what we are doing and how we respond to the call for our life.
It’s a simple concept, and a difficult task, but we have the example of Our Lord which, from the proper perspective, is not an impossible example to follow and exemplify.
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