Here, then, is the true Christian, the real just man. He believes himself to have done nothing; for, should he think himself virtuous enough, he is not virtuous at all. He must therefore be incessantly advancing and going forth from one state to another. ‘Be you therefore perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.’ [1] At least have the will to be so; for to rest upon what one has done, as if one thought it sufficient, is, in fact, to renounce the attainment of true justice. Nay, more, if you do not go forward you go back, contrary to the Gospel precept. For what does our Saviour decree about those who ‘ look back ’? [2] That they are ‘not fit for the Kingdom of Heaven.’ Hence it is that He declares it necessary to ‘hunger and thirst after justice.’ A mere ordinary desire is not enough; it must be such a desire as impels us to seek food to keep us alive: — a keen and unconquerable longing that we should constantly rouse up afresh in ourselves. In whatever state you may be, you should always have this hunger and thirst, because your interior capacity is infinite, as also is the ‘justice’ that you long for.
On this foundation of perfect Christian virtue
