The Good Galilean: Lessons in Living from the Son of Man Himself

We all know imperfection, only too well. We are conscious of human imperfection, sin, and failure on all sides. We have been trained to suspect hypocrisy under every façade. And yet there was one man who was perfectly good, a perfect man in whom no fault can be found. That man can show us that goodness is not an illusion, that holiness is worth striving for, that our existence has a meaning and a direction.

Jesus Christ was the Perfect Man that philosophers and storytellers have searched for since the dawn of history. He was greater than storytellers have been able to imagine, more sublime than we had a right to hope.

Our Lord was Perfect Man because he was also God. By being divine he was able to show us our human nature as he had desired to create it, with his infinite power. He reveals the nature of man to us, at the same time as he reveals God.

We possess the historical and literary portrait of this Perfect Man in the Gospels, where we see him walking and talking among us, answering questions, healing and consoling the men and women who are drawn to him. The Gospels give us this portrait in order to provide us a model for our own lives, whoever we are and wherever we live.

The Saints demonstrate that it is possible, by grace, to imitate that model and share in his perfection – not by copying his outward appearance, but by living in his spirit.

It is Our Lord's example of love that calls us to become truly human. Love as he taught it was a new thing in the world. Love as he practiced it has made the world another place.

Fr. Alban Goodier (1869–1939) was a Jesuit who served for a time as Archbishop of Bombay, India. He was also a well-respected writer who contributed many articles to the magazine The Messenger of the Sacred Heart. He wrote over a dozen books, including Saints for Sinners and The School of Love.