Today's Gospel reading is the last section of Chapter 5 of Matthew's Gospel (Mt 5: 43- 48). Chapter 5 starts with the Beatitudes, and contains many of Jesus well-known pieces of instruction-- turn the other cheek; if your eye causes your to sin, tear it out; everyone who looks with lust has already committed adultery; and many others. They are challenging commands, even if some of them (like the one about plucking out your eye) are intended as hyperbole. All in, in this chapter of Matthew's Gospel Jesus is calling us to a higher standard of righteousness, a way of being that involves not just exterior righteousness, but interior love and obedience as well. Given that, I suppose it isn't surprising that the chapter ends with Jesus' most daunting command. He says we are to "be perfect, as (our) heavenly Father is perfect." Really, perfect? That's impossible, right? Sure, we can't be perfect. But sometimes I think we cut ourselves too much slack, with the result that we essentially ignore this command. That thought occurred to me last evening when I was up doing a communion service at Stillwater Prison. As is the case at Mass, in a communion service there is a "Penitential Act" part of the liturgy, where we ask forgiveness for our sins. It is commonplace to introduce that portion of the ritual by saying something about how we are all sinners and I did that. That's true, of course. And we all have things for which we need to ask the Lord's forgiveness. But the more we remind ourselves that no one is perfect, the more we seem to be saying that not being perfect is ok, that we shouldn't get too upset with our imperfections, since we all have them. It is almost as if we're saying: "Why try to be perfect? We can't be perfect anyway, so you're just banging your head against the wall by trying for what you can't achieve. Just be 'good enough'." But to paraphrase Robert Browning, a person's reach should exceed one's grasp. If we don't try to be perfect, we'll never be any better than we now are. Folks thought no one could run a 4-minute mile, or get to the moon, after all. Jesus tells us to be perfect as the Father is perfect not because we can actually do that. But I think He wants us to try, as diligently as we can and with the aid of all the grace God will give us, so that we can get closer to perfection than we are now. So let's not dismiss this culmination of Jesus' teaching in Chapter 5 as "pie in the sky" or simply a way to increase our Catholic guilt. We can be better than we are-- much better. What would a "morally perfect" you look like? What would you need to do to approach that reality? Why aren't you doing it?