The Different Kinds of Perfection

Holy Scripture calls our free wills to different grades of perfection, according to the condition and measure of each mind. No single, uniform crown of perfection can be offered to everyone, because not all have the same virtue, or purpose, or fervor. And so the Divine Word has in a way appointed different ranks and different measures of perfection itself. [a]

The variety of the beatitudes in the Gospel shows clearly that this is so. Some are called blessed because theirs is the kingdom of heaven; blessed are those who will possess the earth; blessed are those who will receive comfort; blessed are those who will be filled. Yet we believe there is a great difference between the dwelling places of the kingdom of heaven and the possession of the earth, whatever that may be, and also between receiving comfort and the fullness and satisfaction of righteousness. And there is a great distinction between those who will obtain mercy and those who will be counted worthy to enjoy the most glorious vision of God. “For there is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead.”

So, by this rule, Holy Scripture praises those who fear God. It says, “Blessed are all those who fear the Lord,” and promises them for this a full measure of happiness. Yet it says again: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, for fear has torment. But whoever fears is not yet perfect in love.”

Again, it is a great thing to serve God, and it is said: “Serve the Lord in fear,” and, “It is a great thing for you to be called my servant,” and, “Blessed is that servant whom his lord, when he comes, will find doing so.” Yet to the apostles it is said: “I no longer call you servants, for the servant does not know what his lord is doing; but I call you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” And again: “You are my friends if you do whatever I command you.”

You see, then, that there are different stages of perfection, and that the Lord calls us from high things to still higher. One who has become blessed and perfect in the fear of God goes, as it is written, “from strength to strength,” and from one perfection to another; that is, with keenness of soul he climbs from fear to hope. In the end he is summoned to that still more blessed stage, which is love. And one who has been “a faithful and wise servant” will pass on to the companionship of friendship and to the adoption of sons.

So our own saying must be understood in this sense. We do not say that thinking about that endless punishment, or about the blessed recompense promised to the saints, is of no value. They are useful, and they bring those who pursue them to the first beginning of blessedness. But love, in which there is already a fuller confidence and a lasting joy, will take them from a slave’s fear and a hired man’s hope to the love of God. It will carry them on to the adoption of sons, and in a way make them, from perfect, still more perfect.

For the Savior says that in his Father’s house there are “many dwelling places.” And although all the stars seem to be in the sky, there is still a mighty difference between the brightness of the sun and that of the moon, and between that of the morning star and that of the rest of the stars.

That is why the blessed apostle sets love above not only fear and hope but above all the gifts that are counted great and wonderful, and shows that the way of love is more excellent than all of them. When he had finished his list of the spiritual gifts of virtues and wanted to describe the parts of love, he began like this: “And yet I show you a still more excellent way. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and though I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I can move mountains, and though I give all my goods to feed the poor and give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.”

You see, then, that nothing more precious, nothing more perfect, nothing more sublime, and, if I may say so, nothing more lasting can be found than love. For “whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will be destroyed”; but “love never fails.” And without it, not only those most excellent kinds of gifts but even the glory of martyrdom itself will fail.