But be as perfect as you are perfect, your heavenly Father (Matt. 5:4

To imitate God?

Plato established the principle of our moral life – to imitate God according to our means. Because God is the idea of ​​supreme goodness and beauty, he is the ideal of perfection for man, especially in spiritual matters and in the effort to free oneself from bodily passions. Thus, the set ideal is sublime. But he can achieve it anyone living on earth? Plato believed this and claimed that we are an “image of God” naturally directed to your prototype. These are gorgeous words, though, in a particular life, we ​​realize how immense distance separates creatures from their Creator. However, even the Holy Scriptures teach us that we are created “To the image of God and according to him about the form” (cf. Gn1,26-27). The Church Fathers turned their attention to the biblical expression “according to its form” to overcome the difficulty of immense distance. This suggests the idea that God would first create an image of His infinite perfection and then, later, man “according to” the original image. If we ask who is the original perfect form, the Scriptures correspond clearly: Christ, who “was like God in the way of being” (cf. Ephes 2: 6), “God’s image “(cf. 2 Cor 4: 4). And through Christ, God descends to earth, and so, imitating Christ, we can gradually improve his resemblance to the Father in heaven. Through Christ,e become sons, and son ship involves true kinship. After all, the face of the saints often radiated the glory of God, as the face of Moses became radiant when he descended from the holy mountain of Sinai after an interview with God (cf. Ex 34:29). King Boleslav of Poland (+ 1173) carried with him everywhere.A portrait of his Father made of gold. In moments no doubt how he should decide, he looked intently at this portrait and said, “I will never do anything would not be worth your name. “A Christian wears a portrait of his heavenly Father in all his person. His decisions must, therefore, correspond to this fact. Personal occupation In paradise, God called Adam, and he answered him. In the conversation, the first word belongs to the Lord, for by this word, the Lord gives existence to every creature. Man is called to be one way or another; he has his own, individual, occupation. God’s calling is very different from what we call vocations in a secular sense. The first difference concerns a certain moment in life. When it’s a young man who decides to choose a profession, his studies, his work is believed to have reached certain maturity that he exists, living in time. So first, there is in existence and only then the choice of its path—the divine vocation proceeds oppositely. God will predestine from eternity a man gives him work to do existence, time, and all necessary conditions to carry out a divine plan. However, the ability to realize to take this vocation and accept it comes in time, later, in a moment that God also foresaw. The second difference concerns natural suitability to the intended work. They are carried out in different countries’ psychological examinations to reveal what one’s job has gifts. It is supposed to be happy when he chooses an activity that he will perform easily and with gusto. God’s calling that we know from the Holy Scriptures, surprise with their opposite method. One hears God’s voice suddenly, against all expectations, the profession feels incapable of performing the work, to which they are called, stutter in surprise for example, the prophet Jeremiah: “The word of the LORD came to me:” Before I created you in the life of my mother, I knew you before you came out of the womb, I sanctified you But be perfect I have given you to the nations as a prophet. ‘Then I said, Alas, O Lord GOD! I know not how he spoke. I am a boy, ‘but the Lord said to me,’. Please don’t say: I’m a boy. Everywhere I send you, you go and all that I command you will say ‘” (Jer 1: 4-7).St. Ignatius has long tossed in uncertainty, carry out their profession in some form. He decided to go to Rome to seek help. When it’s approached the city, he got in the church in La Storta following confirmation from God – he seemed to see Christ with the cross on his shoulders and near him eternal A father who told him, “I want you to marry this one his servant. “So Jesus took him and said, “I want him to serve me.” And so the practical question is: Where and how do we hear God calling? Much of this question has been discussed in the specific case of the priesthood call or religious profession. Some authors have placed the main emphasis on the mediation of the church. He is therefore called God is one who is called by rightful church leaders to serve. On the contrary, Saint Thomas Aquinas prefers the inner vocation in the heart inspired by the Holy Spirit, which manifests a persistent desire to follow a particular spiritual path. It presupposes a sincere and constant prayer to be human enlightened. Indeed, both voices of God, both inner and external, must be aligned. Church service is concentrated primarily to help distinguish which the inner voice is truly divine and illusory. What is claimed about priestly and religious vocations applies to vary degrees for all of God’s calling?