Therefore, be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew. 5:48)

"Therefore, be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
(Matthew. 5:48)
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Perfection is the quality of 'an infinite being.'

Imperfection is the quality of 'a finite being.'

Can a finite being be perfect?

Is it not like asking,
"Can a square be round?"

But, surely Jesus would not have asked us to do anything impossible.

So it must be possible.

It is possible.

How?

We are finite.

We are subject to further development and progress.

Our ideas, our mind, our opinions, tastes, desires, and our will, all change.

What we desire ardently today
may displease us tomorrow.

The very idea which seems so beautiful and fitting  today may appear inappropriate tomorrow.

What seems good and useful today may appear useless and disgusting tomorrow.

Our life on this earth is not eternal.

It is a  continual preparation for the eternity

which awaits us in the next world.

All the created things here on earth are subject to change.

They may  progress or decline.

A helpless child who requires so much help from others to survive,

gradually grows and develops,

becomes first a sturdy youth,

then a strong, mature man,

capable of great undertakings.

This is growth.

Growth continues till certain point of time whence it begins the reverse, decline.

His vigour decreases, giving way to  weakness.

The strong young  man   becomes a weak old man.

At the the time fixed by God, the man comes to an end.

His soul enters eternity

leaving the corpse behind to decompose under the earth.

  This is the path followed by every man.

Every life has its dawn,
its noontide
and its sunset.

But

Only God,

the uncreated, eternal Being,

has “no change

and no alteration”

  "Every excellent gift and every perfect gift is from above, descending from the Father of lights,

with whom there is no change,
nor any shadow of  alteration"    (James 1:17).

Being infinite,  

God does not change

and cannot change.

All His attributes are perfect, without limit.

He has no beginning and no end.

“For I am the Lord, and I change not.” (Malachi 3:6).

His mind does not change because His infinite wisdom embraces all truth, and only truth.

Absolute truth cannot change.

His will does not change because it wills only absolute good.

Our Lord said,

"Therefore, be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Now let us find the answer for the question,

"How is it possible for us,

imperfect by nature,

to become perfect like our Father in heaven?"

If a square wants to become round,  it must get into the round and become part of it.

That is also what we, imperfect people, have to do if we want to become perfect like our Heavenly Father.

We must unite our inconstant and changeable will

with  the immutable will of God!

We must will only what  God wills.

We must love  only  what God loves.

The more we will only what God wills and love only what God loves,

the more will our will be freed from its inconstancy and become fixed in good.

In other words, we must subject ourselves to the will of God.

It is what Our Lady did.

"Then Mary said: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your word.” (Luke. 1:38)

She  surrendered herself to the will of God.

It is what we pray for in 'Our Father'.

"Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven."

That means,  we on earth must carry out  God's will, which is carried out in heaven by Saints. 

When we carry out God's will,  our will becomes God's will.

Both become united.

God and we  are also united. 

We become one with God.

That means,

Our imperfection is united with the perfection of our heavenly Father.

Our imperfection has lost itself in God's perfection.

Now, we can boldly say like
St. Paul,

"We live;

yet now, it is not we,

but truly God, who lives in us."

It is God's will that we should live in union with Him in heaven for ever after death.

Surely God will receive us after our death  into His perfection to live in union with Him for all eternity.

Our enjoyment of heaven will be perfect as we will be filled with it to the brim.

Lourdu Selvam.