What does it mean to be perfect? Perfect is defined as that which is
complete or whole. So a perfect house, or a perfect car, is one that
is complete—it has everything it needs to function well, as a house or
as a car. The imperfect is anything that lacks wholeness and
completeness. So a house without a roof is imperfect, and a car with no
motor is imperfect. My reason for raising this subject is that Our Lord tells us, in Matthew 5:48, that we should be perfect as our heavenly Father is
perfect. Also, I have noticed, in reading St. Thomas Aquinas, that he
often uses the distinction between what is imperfect and what is
perfect.
Our ultimate goal in life, a supernatural goal, which is the face-to-face vision of God in heaven for all eternity, is a state of perfection. Everyone in heaven right now is perfect. Each one is perfect, according to the degree of grace attained, according to divine providence, something similar to the hierarchies of angels. God alone is infinitely perfect in every way.
Perfection in this life means developing all of one’s faculties, and
practicing all the virtues, especially the theological virtues of faith,
hope and charity, and the moral virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude
and temperance. For example, what is required by the Church in the
canonization process is that the individual under consideration must be
proven to have practiced heroic virtue, that is, to have achieved a
certain perfection.
Read (here) the full article by Fr. Kenneth Baker, S.J. at Homiletic and Pastoral Review
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