Wednesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
(Romans 8:26-30; Luke 13:22-30)
Fr. Richard Rohr speaks convincingly of the two halves of
human life. In the first half people learn
to control their egos from running wild.
Then need to have laws imposed so that at least they may live with others
without mortal conflict. During the
second half of life, Rohr sees a different challenge. By this time people have learned some self-control,
but there is still need to be transformed into gentle, caring subjects. They may be driven by their culture or
perhaps their instincts to work against this need. For this reason believers at least are
endowed with the Holy Spirit of which St. Paul writes to the Romans as seen in
today’s first reading.
Paul says that the Spirit intercedes on behalf of
believers asking for what the heart does not know it needs. The heart wants solutions to what it sees as
problems confronting the human person.
But the Spirit knows that what is essential is not outer domination but
inner peace that comes from knowing God as Father. We may pray for insight and strength, but the
Spirit prays in us for docility and humility.
The human project which each of us faces is an enormous
task. Simply put, it is to become a
saint. Unfortunately, we have only one
opportunity to work it out. Fortunately,
we have the Spirit within moving us to sanctity and praying for us to succeed.
