Reading:“Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” Matthew 5:48

I’d like to say that the best soil in which to grow spirituality is in the cloister, or in a utopia or in some religious community in which one could live isolated from the tension of the world. True spirituality, however, only grows in the rough and tumble of life, the mundane, the trials, the difficult relationships, the bitter providences, the uncomfortable circumstances.

True spirituality is not in the increasingly popular “random acts of kindness” to a stranger, but in consistent acts of love and kindness towards those who are closest to us, those who get under our skin, and those who spitefully use us. This is where grace is developed, tested and proved.

This, in part, is what our Lord is saying; let your love be “complete.” Don’t just love those who are lovely and lovable, mature love reaches even to those who are your enemy.