Monday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary time
(Galatians 4:22-24.26-27. 31-5.1; Luke 11:29-32)
A young man standing
near a stop sign, cup in hand, tugs at your heartstrings. You want to give him something to eat, but
that’s impractical at the moment.
Besides, you know that the beggar is really not interested in food. Should you give him a dollar which will
likely be spent on drugs? Or should you
just make a friendly gesture and leave the scene?
In today’s first reading St. Paul fears that something
similar to the beggar’s situation will develop among the Galatians. Some in the Christian community of Galata have
accepted the teaching of Judaizers who say that Jewish ritual acts must
accompany Baptism. Paul writes them that
Christ has freed them from the Law for good reason – it is impossible to
fulfill. He is telling them that they must
not adopt it. Nor, he indicates, should
they lose their freedom by submitting to another form of oppression. He has things like drugs, sex, or liquor in
mind. Rather, he wants the Galatians to
follow Christ who shows them how to live with integrity.
There are many kinds of slavery. All of them take away our ability to act as
we know we should. To avoid these traps,
we must develop a relationship with the Lord.
To an extent this is a spiritual endeavor, but it also can be quite a
quite palpable friendship. The Church is
Christ. When we entrust ourselves to the
good people within it, we will not submit to evil cravings.
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