Being perfect is not the key to a healthy faith life!

Ok, it's time I admit something. I sometimes don't say grace before meals, don't always get my intended hour of prayer in a day and I have arrived at mass either right on the time it starts or after.

To be honest, I know it's not that big a deal. I know that if I was to say this on the street, it wouldn't bat an eyelid- but if I'm being honest, I wouldn't have admitted this a couple of years ago to anyone.

You see, I grew up in the school of thought that if you weren't doing these things- you weren't being truly in your faith. That God would not take kindly to this as you weren't respecting him. That to be a truly strong person in the faith- you had to say grace before meals, not just go to mass every Sunday but ensure you were there at least 15 minutes beforehand- to not do these things was to sin and sin badly.

Well I now know this isn't the case at all. Sorry everyone who believes this thought, but being perfect and saying grace before every meal and making mass 30 minutes before it starts to ensure you have quiet time with God does not make you any more holy than the person who doesn't do these things.

Now before I continue, I will say that we are called to do those things I mentioned above because they help strengthen our relationship with God and allow us to give thanks to our creator for all the great things he has done- or to spend time with him seeing how he is affecting our lives. These things are important and if you can do them, I'd suggest you do as they are great ways to get into the habit of living out your faith in life and to see that there's more to the world than just the material lives we sometimes live.

The thing is though, while they are important, as I have said many times before- God's love is unconditional, which means that he will love us just as much whether we are horrible sinners or the closest thing to saints. 

We need to stop feeling as if we can no longer live the faith just because we may have forgotten to say grace before a meal, or forgotten to reflect on God in two days out of seven, or that we might have a young family and have arrived at mass five minutes late because the kids took a bit more time to get into the car than usual one Sunday morning.

You've only got to look at the bible passage that talks about the Pharisee and the sinner who were praying to see what God finds truly important. The Pharisee followed the law and prayed to God to the letter as he was taught, while the sinner beats his chest and wails to God for forgiveness. Despite his lack of abiding by the law, Jesus explains that the sinner is the one who is more open to God's grace as he is willing to accept he's not perfect and ask for God's help.

As human beings, we are bound to have times where we make slip-ups in our faith, no matter how devout we are and God accepts that as he knows that we have a tendency to sin. No matter how much we try to do God's will, there's going to be times where mistakes are going to be made. Rather than sit in these and wallow about how much less of a Christian we now are- God wants us to realise the mistakes we've made- ask for his forgiveness and then continue on trying to live his path. We just have to look at how Jesus treated Peter after he was betrayed by him to see the way we are called to move on from mistakes.

I know personally for me it's hard not to want to be perfect. To do everything God calls me to gives me a sense that I'm serving him the best I can and when I stuff up, I know I feel pretty annoyed at myself for it. I'm learning though that it is in those times that I sometimes see God more clearly than when I'm just doing what I'm called to do and following the path because at least when I stuff up, I'm needing to turn back to God for his grace, rather than just putting my faith on autopilot and making sure I don't hit the obstacles.

The other thing about being perfect is that it blinds you from what God might truly be calling you to. For example, if you are trying to make Church in time to have 30 minutes before Mass but on the way you ignore a person in need to do so- you aren't living out your faith as while you might be at Church and praying- along the way you've forgotten to address the one key commandment from Jesus- "Love one another as I have loved you."

Finally, one of the biggest no-no's our Church talks about is Spiritual Elitism. Basically this means that you think that because you going to Church more often than others or spending more time in prayer- that you are better than them.

No one person is better than another just because of what they do- everyone is made unique, and equally valued by God and so to say anything otherwise is to deny the real faith that God taught us- to love our neighbours as ourselves.

Further from this, if all people see in us when they see the Church are people who are always doing things perfectly, are always abiding by the rules and who are constantly discouraging those who can't reach this level- they will think that the Church is a place that's too hard for them to be in- as they aren't at the same level of holiness or perfection as those around them.

We would rather create a place where we try to live by the canons of the Church as much as possible but in which people know they are able to make mistakes, that they won't be judged by that and that the community will support them in helping them grow on their journey.

So the next time you forget to say Grace before a meal or make it to Mass late- make sure you apologise to God for doing it- but don't think you are any less Holy, because God certainly doesn't.

Till next time...