Friday of the
Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
(Romans 7:18-25a; Luke 12:54-59)
“How can something that feels so right, be so wrong?”
country crooners ask. St. Paul has a similar
thought in mind when he tells the Romans in the first reading today, “For I
take delight in the law of God, in my inner self, but I see in my members
another principle at war with the law of my mind…”
Paul is expressing the deceptive nature of sin. It appeals to our inner senses as something
good or satisfying, but our minds tell us it is hurtful. We might be willing to buy a stolen car to
get to work, but we know that such a vehicle belongs to its rightful owner. We would become accomplices in the crime by purchasing
it knowingly.
Paul finds in Jesus Christ the resolution to the dilemma
of feeling right about something but knowing it to be wrong. He provides a greater desire which transcends
any will to comfort or convenience residing in our strictly natural being. He loves us as his brothers and sisters so
that we might return his graciousness by always doing his virtuous will.
