Wednesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
(II Corinthians 3:4-11; Matthew 5:17-19)
In the first reading today St. Paul recognizes that the new
law is not a list of dos and don’ts.
Rather it is a guide who prompts people to do good and avoid evil. The guide is the Holy Spirit who the Father
sends through the Son to human hearts so that humans might become holy like
they are.
The need for a guide and not a set of rules has become
obvious in the twenty-first century.
Sexual promiscuity has become the norm among young adults. God is more a proposition to be accepted or
denied than the creator and savior who holds human destinies in His hands. Unless
the Spirit prompts people to choose rightly, chances are they will be lost.
Unfortunately, many of our friends and family either don’t hear
or just ignore the Spirit’s promptings. We
must not take after them. There is
plenty of evidence among the saints and the sainted people whom we have known
that following the Spirit leads to virtue.
Virtue then ushers true happiness into the human heart. We might pray for those who deny the Spirit
and talk with them about Him but never follow their ways.
