The Crown of Human Perfection

By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky ( bio - articles - email ) | Feb 17, 2025

Jesus says, “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt. 5:48) That’s a tall order. But with our cooperation with God’s grace, perfection is our destiny. A doctrinally correct understanding of original sin, its effects, and its remedies directs us on the path to the glory of Jesus in heaven.

God created man—male and female in communion—in His image and likeness. Original sin defaced His image and brought sin, suffering, and death upon us. After the Fall, God removed the Tree of Life from the Garden. We would no longer live forever. St. Ambrose teaches that death (on God’s terms) is an act of mercy. Death limits human suffering. Sometimes our bodies don’t want doctors to place obstacles to our rendezvous with death.

Every human person suffers from the effects of original sin. Baptism removes the stain of sin, but the effects remain. Henceforth, our wounded nature has a pronounced inclination to sin. Chesterton observes, “Certain new theologians dispute original sin, which is the only part of Christian theology which can really be proved.” If you need proof of the existence of God, look at the sky. If you need proof of original sin, catch up on the news.

Mistaken views of original sin are dangerous. According to classic Protestant theology, original sin obliterated man’s nature. Martin Luther uses the image of a dung heap to describe the hellish effects of sin. So God’s grace covers the garbage of human nature like snow.

In the old-time religion, the evangelical Protestant tradition, we experience a powerful born-again emotional experience when we acknowledge Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. The born-again experience “saves” us. The immaculate snow of God’s grace covers our human dung heap. And our salvation is assured—regardless of future sins. Or so goes the narrative.

The snow-covered-dung-heap metaphor helps explain Protestant reluctance to speak of virtue. Virtue suggests the perfectibility of nature. But it is futile to expect perfection of a hopelessly corrupt nature. At root, the classic Protestant view of fallen man denies the compatibility of grace and nature, faith and reason, religion and science, and God and man reconciled in the Person of Jesus.

Christians must reject this view in the strongest possible terms. God did not allow sin to obliterate His handiwork. We remain images of God, even in our fallen state. We are not junk. Our children are not junk. Many good Protestants do not practice what they preach. Need evidence? There are too many virtuous Protestants.

Catholic teaching maintains the compatibility of grace and nature. Original sin seriously crippled human nature. Without a Redeemer, Hell is our destiny. But God promises a Redeemer, and Jesus—the Word made Flesh—enters the world to reconcile God and man and rescue him with His Cross and Resurrection. He founded His Church, His Mystical Body, with a human hierarchy wounded by original sin.

Our free encounter with Jesus in the seven sacraments begins to bring our nature to perfection through virtuous living. A virtue is a good habit, but good habits are difficult to develop. Our encounter with Jesus—above all, in the Mass—impels us to live a life purified and elevated by grace.

Jesus instructs, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (Jn. 14:15) The Church clusters His laws around the Ten Commandments. Conscientious Catholics aim to live by His law. The Liturgy of the Word at every Mass teaches us the law of Jesus. We receive Jesus in Holy Communion. Empowered by God’s grace in the struggles of life, we gradually grow in virtue—prudence, justice, temperance, and courage. Virtue isn’t cheap. Virtue comes with the hard work of cooperating with God’s grace, and we grow in perfection.

The “pulses” of God’s actual grace direct our every action with the gentle give and take of God’s sacred covenant. Our encounter with Him in the sacraments elevates our fallen nature. We do good and avoid evil. Repetition cultivates good habits and breaks bad habits.

God’s so-called actual grace nudges us on the path of His saving love. When we live according to His law, God infuses sanctifying grace—the light of Christ that enlivens our souls—into our hearts. The sacraments, instituted by Christ to give grace, “effect what they signify.” Sanctifying grace increases in our hearts with prayer and good works. We grow in virtue.

The glory of the Beatitudes crown virtue with heroic attributes (Mt. 5:1-11 and Lk. 6:17-26): the poor in spirit, those who mourn because they love much, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure of heart, the peacemakers, those persecuted for righteousness.

Mortal sin—and venial sins—subvert the good habits of virtue. We can lose sanctifying grace by the commission of a single mortal sin. We return to God’s grace with perfect sorrow, and the Sacrament of Penance provides the certainty of forgiveness and peace of soul. A good Confession infuses sinners with the life of grace. Even the greatest of sinners have hope on their deathbeds—or insult God with cynicism and despair. Sanctifying grace brings us across the finish line of salvation at the end of our lives. But we mostly fall short of integral virtuous perfection.

The Church’s doctrine of purgatory comes to our rescue. After death, purgatory continues to liberate us from our unholy attachments that distort Christian virtue. The finishing school of purgatory prepares us to enter heavenly glory in perfection and helps us understand the interplay between God’s mercy and His justice.

God rewards a life perfected by His grace and our virtuous response. We receive the comforts of His mercy, become children of God, inherit the kingdom of heaven, and see God face to face. In Jesus, we overcome every sin. We are beatified!

“O truly necessary sin of Adam, destroyed completely by the Death of Christ! O happy fault that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!” (Easter Exultet)